Waterford-Halfmoon star Payton Galuski commits to play for Penn State women's soccer

Waterford-Halfmoon soccer star Payton Galuski made a college commitment to Penn State. (Stephen Weaver) Waterford-Halfmoon rising junior Payton Galuski is always looking for her next challenge.

>As a middle-schooler, that meant playing up on her school's girls' varsity soccer team, as the Fordians won back-to-back state titles in 2022 and 2023.

>Then, during her freshman year, Galuski joined Waterford-Halfmoon's boys' soccer team. The following season, as a sophomore, she was named a captain on the boys' squad.

>"I've always wanted to be somewhere where I have to really work to be the best," Galuski said. "I definitely put myself in those positions, where that has to happen. It's something that I look forward to, since I know it will help me reach my goals."

>"She's a player that leads by example. She asks a lot of herself and she wants to instill that in her teammates, too, to work as hard as you can to get to where you need to be," said Waterford-Halfmoon boys' soccer coach Ryan Hardy. "It was an easy choice to put her in that captain role, and she took it and ran with it. She's gotten more vocal, and is very supportive of her teammates."

>Earlier this month, Galuski decided on one of her next challenges. On July 8, Galuski announced her commitment to play Division I soccer at Penn State, less than a month after her recruitment window opened on June 15.

>"I got lots of phone calls and texts, and - obviously - one of those calls was from Penn State," Galuski said. "I really enjoyed talking with Erica (Damback), the head coach. I had a gut feeling that Penn State was where I should be. Whenever I talked to other schools to see if they would pique my interest, it always came back to Penn State."

>Galuski's top five choices included Penn State, North Carolina, Tennessee, Michigan State and Notre Dame.

>When it came down to her college decision, Galuski kept her ultimate goals in mind.

>"I want to go pro, and that's something that I talked about with the colleges, and let them know my goals," Galuski said. "That's part of the reason I chose Penn State, because of how open they were to hearing about it. … It's a place that will develop you as a player and that's really what I'm looking for in the college I attend."

>Galuski will join former Section 2 standout Kennedy Ring, a 2025 Columbia High School graduate, on the Nittany Lions. Based on current eligibility, Galuski would enter her freshman year at Penn State when Ring is a senior.

>"She just kept telling me that I should come here and that it would be amazing," Galuski said of her conversation with Ring about Penn State. "We've trained a lot together, but haven't ever really played on the same team. She played a lot with my older sister, Addyson."

>During her time at Waterford-Halfmoon so far, Galuski has scored a total of 116 goals between the girls' and boys' teams. She racked up 80 goals and 39 assists during her middle school years with the girls' team and, as a seventh-grader in 2022, she was named the New York State Class C and Times Union Small School Player of the Year.

>Over her first two seasons on the boys' team, she's tallied 36 goals and 30 assists. Following her sophomore campaign, she was named to the boys' all-state team, and is believed to be the first girl to accomplish that feat.

>"I'm just so proud of everything she's done," Hardy said. "Last year, when she was the first female to be named to the boys' all-state team, we had a conversation that other girls are going to be looking up to her, and wanting to be like her.

>"But she knows the work's not done. She knows she has to keep working even harder than she has been. Yes, she's getting a well-deserved opportunity at Penn State, but she knows that she has to keep it up and do even better."

>Galuski has a constant reminder of the goals she's still looking to achieve in friend Claire Hutton, a graduate of Bethlehem High School who plays for Bay FC in the NWSL and is already a regular for the U.S. women's national team.

>"It definitely brings me motivation, since my ultimate goal is to go pro and play for the national team," Galuski said. "Claire's definitely someone to look up to, since she's been through all of it now, and is always there to help me out if I ever need it."

SubscribeThere’s more to Albany with the Times Union. Subscribe today for just 25¢.This article originally published at Waterford-Halfmoon star Payton Galuski commits to play for Penn State women's soccer.