Photograph by Tony Lewis, Jr.
Crofton High School senior is one of the highest-ranking field hockey goalies in the nation
Ryleigh Osborne played the midfield position with comfort and confidence for the Freedom Field Hockey club as a sixth grader. So, when a Freedom coach looked for a tall player on the team to volunteer to jump into the goal, Osborne was surprised, but intrigued. She ended up as the goalie.
The experiment gave Osborne, now 5-foot-8, a new level of excitement for field hockey. “I really fell in love with it,” Osborne explains. “It was just the position for me. I really liked how you are able to see the whole field. You have to be obsessed with it to get to the level of field hockey I am playing.”
And the Crofton High School senior is playing the sport at the highest level, ranking as one of the best field hockey goalies in the country. She earned a spot on the MaxPreps High School Sports Class of 2025 100 Players Watch List and was a member of the 2023 USA Field Hockey U16 National Team. Atop of recent accolades, Osborne was among the USA Today Top 25 nominees for National Player of the Year last season.
“She is really that good,” says Freedom Coach Kyler Greenwalt, who also runs the Stevenson University women’s field hockey program. “She owns the goalie cage. The experiences she’s had at such a young age helped make her the great goalie she is now.”
It’s not surprising the 17-year-old Osborne will be attending one of the best women’s college field hockey programs in the country—the University of Maryland—on an athletic and academic scholarship. She carries a weighted 4.4 grade-point average and plans to major in business, or psychology.
“Maryland is a very competitive program, but she is definitely ready and built for it,” Greenwalt says. “She is excited to continue her growth before she gets there. She never stops with field hockey.”
The Terrapins’ winning tradition appeals to Osborne. Maryland, coached by Severna Park resident Missy Meharg, who is in her 37th year, has won eight national and 29 conference championships.
Maryland had some competition. About 35 Division I schools recruited Osborne and she received five scholarship offers. Osborne says the number of offers was low because she verbally committed to Maryland “really early,” a month after college coaches were allowed to contact her. She will sign the equivalent of a contract, a National Letter of Intent, in mid-November.
“It’s my dream school,” Osborne explains. “In my heart, I knew that’s where I wanted to be. When I was younger, I would always go to the Maryland Field Hockey Camp. It will really be an honor to represent Maryland.”
At Crofton, Osborne, a four-year starter, will leave quite a legacy. She served three years as the Cardinals’ co-captain, led the program to consecutive Class 4A state championships (2022 and 2023) and, so far, has amassed a whopping 29 shutouts across four years. Now, Osborne and her teammates will be gunning for a third consecutive state title in early November.
“I have been coaching for 16 years and she is the best high school goalie I have seen,” Crofton Field Hockey Coach Amy Skrick says. “She is extremely athletic. She can dive for a ball and get up very quickly and easily. There are balls that you don’t think she is going to save, but she does. She is just so quick to the ball.”
From time to time, Greenwalt will see Osborne, who also plays varsity girls lacrosse, shine for her high school team.
“I like how she can make great decisions and saves in the heat of the play,” Greenwalt says. “She has such confidence in goal and is very calm. When things go wrong, she is definitely able to rebound, self-evaluate, and make changes right away. That’s so important.”
Osborne’s coaches rave about her character. She’s shown that with an affinity for working with students with disabilities. Osborne does that at Crofton as a member of the Unified Bowling team and Best Buddies club.
Osborne also belongs to the American Sign Language Honor Society and has taken four years of sign language classes. She’s put them to good use, communicating with an elementary school student she babysits and several Crofton students.
“I just like to see people grow, making connections and friendships,” Osborne says. “Working with students allows me to use my platform as a student-athlete to help them.”
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