Top photo caption:RBC sophomore Lexi Sinatra considers soccer her top sport, but she doesn’t mind reaching out to lend a hand to the Caseys flag football team after her brother Frankie was a varsity football star several years ago. Courtesy photo
By Rich Fisher, Contributing Editor
Lexi Sinatra is a soccer player, first and foremost, and she’s hoping to play that sport in college.
But the Red Bank Catholic rising junior is also pretty good at her “second job”.
Coming from a football family, Sinatra starred for the Casey’s flag team this past spring and earned several post-season honors.
A dual threat at receiver and running back, Sinatra rushed for 560 yards and had 442 receiving yards, giving her a team high 1,0002 total yards. She tied for the team lead with 10 touchdowns and as a defensive safety had three interceptions.
Sounds like she can play everything but quarterback.
“Definitely don’t put me there,” Sinatra said with a laugh.
Besides, the Caseys have a solid quarterback in Lila O’Neil, who threw all those TD passes in a season where RBC went 5-3 and won a Shore Conference Tournament first-round game.
Sinatra was an integral part of the Caseys first winning season in their three-year history, despite a hectic schedule in which she also played club soccer during the same period football was played. And of course, there are classes to worry about.
“It is very stressful at times,” Lexi said. “You just gotta make it work. When I was in the car on the way to practice, I’d be studying, kind of just applying when I have time.”
As an outside back and defensive center-midfielder, Sinatra works at soccer year-round and only plays football in the spring. Her speed and agility coach, former Monmouth football standout Clark Coe, also gives her pivot drills to help with football.
But the fact she spends so little time to football makes her ability that much more impressive.
It might have to do with the fact her dad, Frank, has been a long-time youth coach and her older brother, Frankie, is a former RBC star now with Regina Salve University in Rhode Island.
“I’ve always had the football gene in me for some reason but soccer was more of my thing,” Sinatra said. “But growing up and watching Frankie and all his friends play football, I learned from them.”
Her dad laughed when discussing Sinatra’s foray into football.
“I don’t want to say Lexi had no choice,” he said, “but having a father that ran a program, having a brother that was a football player … when she was younger, you’d see her playing against the boys and she didn’t back away from anyone.”
The elder Sinatra started a flag program in Freehold in 2021 and got it from 80 participants to 200 by 2024. Lexi started in that league during her eighth-grade school year, and RBC varsity football coach Mike Lange brought in some players from his hometown. Lange would eventually oversee the RBC flag program.
Having known Lange from watching Frankie play, Sinatra jumped at the chance.
“When I first saw it, I thought it was cool and started playing with Freehold,” she said. “When I found out that coach Lange was the coach at Red Bank Catholic, it was ‘OK I know who the coach is so I’m not walking into something blind.’ I figured I’d try it out and ended up liking it.”
And while it makes for stress at times trying to juggle soccer and football, Sinatra said the football end of it becomes more fun while playing with her soccer teammate – goalie Heidi Wierman.
“We have a lot of chemistry there,” Sinatra said. “She plays safety and wide receiver so we’re on opposite sides on offense but are both back at safety on defense.”
Lexi feels that the two sports help her skills with each of them.
“It’s a lot of change of direction and it’s also a lot picking your head up,” said Sinatra, who started soccer at age 3. “When I’m dribbling, I have to keep my head up so when I’m running with the ball in football, I have to keep my head up and look for the defenders.”
Lexi is the second RBC flag player who had siblings star on the varsity team. Last year it was senior Kat Bauman, whose big brothers Alex and Kevin played at Notre Dame and Miami.
“She was always so aggressive, she never stopped,” Sinatra said. “I learned a little bit from her about never stopping on the field.”
One thing – the most important thing, in fact – that never stops with Sinatra is her faith. A parishioner of St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral in her hometown of Freehold, she stated “I walk with faith in everything.”
Right now, she is leaning on it after the recent passing of her grandfather, saying “I know he’s with God and looking down on us. Just a lot of faith helps.”
As does a lot of prayer.
“With soccer we pray before every game, we’re starting to implement that more,” she said. “I pray before every soccer game even if it’s not with RBC. I’m big into prayers.
“I strongly believe in not just praying when times are bad and you’re just asking for help. I feel if you pray every day that will help you more because you’re not just praying to Him when you need Him.”