Goalie. Wing-back. Winger. Holding midfielder. Center back. Forward. Sophomore Lily Baker has played every position.

But an MRI threatened to halt her 12 years on the field.

The verdict? She had been playing on a torn meniscus for two months.

“In March of last year my [left] knee started to really bother me,” Baker said. “I couldn’t sit down, I couldn’t stand [and] it hurt to bend it. I just thought, ‘Because I’m playing on it a lot, I just need a few days off.’ After two weeks, I was finally like, ‘Maybe I should go get this looked at.’ The nearest appointment was in May.”

Because she played with the injury for so long, Baker didn’t know exactly what caused it, and chalked it up to overuse. When she found out, she was “annoyed.”

“It [meant] that I was out for six to eight weeks,” Baker said. “I was glad that I finally got to know, but the other annoying thing is that it’s going to be recurring. I will feel pain in my knee for the rest of my life and there’s also nothing [I] can do to help it because of where it’s located.”

She got through games by using KT tape, taking Advil and “sucking it up,” but the tear affected her playing.

“I could run, but you could definitely see in my stride that I couldn’t fully bend this knee and that I was running slower,” Baker said. “I wouldn’t jump as much because landing really hurt. It was tough.”

Despite the recovery challenges, Baker immediately started playing after the eight weeks of mandated rest were up.

“I can’t see myself without soccer,” Baker said. “I’ve been doing it since I was so young that it’s a part of who I am.”

Baker began playing recreational soccer at her local YMCA when she was four. As she advanced, Baker transitioned to club soccer at 6 years old with Rise and then joined HTX at 10.

“My dad grew up playing soccer and so when I was little, [my parents] started putting me in,” Baker said. “I really liked playing. I started out as a goalie and then pretty quickly moved out to wing when I was 6.”

When she was in seventh grade at Lanier Middle School, Baker decided to try out for her middle school soccer team. She then became co-captain in eighth grade.

“I have no clue [why I started] playing for school,” Baker said. “[It was] the right thing to do, I was like, ‘Why not.’ It was fun to play for your school, especially in the big games.”

Baker became the only freshman on varsity last school year, and going from middle to high school soccer added to the culture shock.

“It was definitely weird because I’m coming in from middle school where I’m one of the oldest,” Baker said. “[In high school] I was 13 and playing with 18-year-olds, which was really weird at first. Everyone was older, bigger and more experienced with high school soccer.”

Despite her age, Baker was able to prove herself on varsity. Junior and soccer teammate Laila Hakki has seen Baker improve over the past two years.

“Initially, I do feel like she was a little nervous coming on the team, as anyone would be,” Hakki said. “It is a new team [with] new people that you’re meeting, but she has definitely stepped up. She’s only a sophomore, but she plays such an important role on our team and is always very confident in her abilities. I think that she’s truly an amazing player.”

This sentiment isn’t unique to Hakki. Special Education teacher and head girls’ varsity soccer coach Erin Casey feels similarly.
“Lily is a natural athlete and willing to help others be a better player and person,” Casey said. “If I could duplicate Lily, I would do that in a heartbeat. She is an asset to our program.”

Playing on two different teams helps Baker with her skills, especially because she plays defense for club and offense for high school soccer.

“[Playing two different positions] is definitely weird because I’ll go periods where I’m only playing for high school, so I am playing forward, which is the complete opposite of what a defender does,” Baker said. “It’s very different, and being both of them helps me know what the other one is thinking.”

Baker plays around seven hours of soccer a week during off season: three hours for club and four for school. She is currently on HTX’s GA2 Team, meaning she goes to regional soccer matches once a week during soccer season. The games can be as far as Dallas. Baker spends another 45 minutes in the car traveling to and from practices three times a week. All the time taken up by soccer means less opportunities to finish homework.

“School work kind of becomes car work,” Baker said. “[Some club games are] in Dallas, and that is a four-hour drive, so if I can get on a hot spot I’ll try and do some of it in the car.”

All of Baker’s practicing “paid off.” Over the 2024-25 season, she scored 12 goals. Out of the total points she scored this season, Baker’s goal in Bellaire’s second game against Lamar stood out to her the most.

“The goal against Lamar was a really big thing,” Baker said. “It’s probably something [I’m going to] think about for a while. This was the only goal scored against Lamar in their district season. [They are] our biggest rival and we almost won the game. We got unlucky in the last few minutes, but it is going to stick with us for a while.”

Even after 12 years, Baker still has challenges playing soccer. Health problems like asthma, concussions and knee problems have hindered her playing for periods of time. Additionally, at 5-foot-1, Baker is shorter than most players.

“[It] takes a while to recover,” Baker said. “You have to slowly build back what you lost. I am not tall. I’m going up against center backs [that] are six-foot [or] five-nine. So I’m trying to push through them or run faster than them when they have double my stride.”

Baker plans to play soccer in college, a goal that pushes her to always improve.

“The chance of getting a scholarship [is] something super exciting to me,” Baker said. “I want to be able to prove that I’m good. There’s a chance that in the future I can get a scholarship and [that] means that my parents will have to pay less money, which is really good. [Scholarships] keep me wanting to [play].”

After two years on the team, Baker is able to make an impact with her words as well as skill.

“[Being on a team with her] is amazing,” Hakki said. “I couldn’t ask for anything better. She’s always really cheerful and positive and makes amazing suggestions to incorporate into different practices and even the games. She’s just an amazing person to be around.”