Dryden’s Bennett begins pro career in Iceland

For six years, from 2010 to 2015, Taylor Bennett was an outstanding soccer player for Dryden. Her personal stats and accolades were unfathomable, leading the Lions to three IAC championships. After four years as a starter for Syracuse University, Bennett has made the next step in her career and signed a professional contract with Afturelding in Iceland.

It’s a wild time to make life-changing decisions, and for Bennett, she’s moved to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean to join the team. The coronavirus pandemic has essentially been nullified in Iceland, with the entire country reopened. Still, the prospect of international travel is challenging this year.

“It’s been kind of a whirlwind couple of months with the coronavirus and pandemic and everything,” Bennett said. “So, basically what happened was I was called about two weeks ago asking if I’d be OK with playing in Iceland. Since then, I’ve gone through immigration and doing a bunch of paperwork, which proved to be pretty difficult because it was in a different language, but I got it all figured out.”

Bennett arrived in Iceland at the end of June and has been adjusting to her new home since then. She discussed the ups and downs of the transition.

“I would say that people here are very nice and very accommodating,” Bennett said. “If you speak English to them, they talk in English back to you. I think the most difficult part so far has been during practice when the coach is talking in Icelandic and I have to try to figure out what’s going on.”

It’s been a period that she believes she would not have been able to get through without the people around her, both in America and in Iceland.

“My family and friends made it really easy to get all my stuff together and help me get out here in a timely fashion,” Bennett said. “Out here, I also have a really good support system of coaches and managers who are helping me through everything and helping me get settled, doing all the little things. The team has been really accepting.”

Bennett has dedicated her life to soccer. From the fields in Dryden and Syracuse, and now in a foreign country, she has achieved a lifelong dream.

“It’s always been kind of a pipe dream for me since I was 4 years old,” Bennett said. “I think I’ve always wanted to be a professional soccer player and I just wasn’t sure until recent years or even recent months how it was going to happen, but it’s happened.”

A huge boost to Bennett’s strides towards that dream was the guidance of her mother, Janine Bennett, who coached the Dryden girls soccer team for 18 years, retiring after Taylor’s graduation in 2015. Taylor was the captain of the team by the end of her high school tenure, and she recalled the biggest lesson she learned.

“[My biggest takeaway was] learning how to talk to different people who come from different backgrounds,” Taylor said. “Even in a small town like Dryden, people come from many different backgrounds, and you have to know how to deal with certain people, whether that be positively or negatively. I’ve had no negative experiences so far [in Iceland]. So, I think that really helped me.”

Taylor explained that playing at a small school like Dryden helped her perfect her craft before moving on to a Division I school like Syracuse. She discussed what her soccer journey as a whole has taught her, beyond playing in Dryden.

“Control the controllable,” Taylor said. “Some things that you can control are your attitude and how hard you work. You can’t control other people. You can’t control other people’s decisions, but you can control how you respond to it.”

Taylor will be playing center back for Afturelding but will always have a knack for scoring goals. She holds Dryden’s school record with an astounding 48 goals in a single season and also tallied two game-winning goals while playing defense for Syracuse. Now, she’ll look to continue making an impact at an even higher level.

“I’m just looking forward to the experience,” Taylor said. “I’m really excited to see something new. I’m really excited to continue playing soccer. I feel like I haven’t played soccer in forever because of the shutdown. I’m just excited to see where this takes me. I feel like this is the start of something, and I’m excited to see where I go.”

The season is underway in Iceland and Taylor’s team, Afturelding, is currently 2-3. She’ll continue carrying on the legacy of being a professional athlete from Dryden as she seeks success overseas.