As a captain for his team, Carter Spolyar was a leader and as a player, he was a scorer.
But as an Indian, he is leaving a legacy he can be proud of, regardless of stats, wins, or losses.
One of the most decorated players in recent Anderson memory, Spolyar was three-time All-North Central Conference, two-time Academic All-State, is a four-time All-Area player and, in 2026, he became the first player in Madison County history to be named All-District First Team for three straight years.
For his efforts, Spolyar has also been named the 2026 Herald Bulletin Boys Soccer Athlete of the Year, edging Anderson Prep Academy’s sophomore scoring machine Christian Ramirez.
After leading the North Central Conference in assists his sophomore and junior seasons, he elevated his own scoring game this fall. He led his team with 13 goals and, with three assists as well, finished second in the conference for total points as a senior.
For his career, he finished with 28 goals and 28 assists and was a three-time team captain for the Indians.
A memory that stands out from this season was Anderson’s game against Richmond. While the game ended in a 1-0 loss, it was the competitiveness of the contest that Spolyar appreciates.
“Anderson versus Richmond, it doesn’t matter the records, it’s always competitive,” he said. “It always will be.”
He concedes that the season, which ended with a 6-9-1 mark, did not meet the criteria most expect for a season to be considered successful.
But he says there is more to success than wins and losses and that this season, which he knew would be “different,” was a good one regardless of the final record.
“It wasn’t rebuilding in the sense that we were coming off a zero-win season,” he said. “We lost very key players that scored goals and defended well. We had to find somebody, and that was very difficult.”
Soccer is the family business for the Spolyars. His older brother Conner was a star at Anderson and currently plays at Marian University in Indianapolis, his younger sister is a sophomore and the top scorer for the Indians girls team, and their father Chris has been the Anderson boys coach for the last 17 seasons.
He said that time as a family, particularly his first two years when he played for his father and alongside his older brother, has been special.
“It’s very special to not only be coached by my dad, but to also play with my brother,” he said. “I take people calling me a coach’s kid as a compliment. Yeah, I got to play with my dad, I got to do something you didn’t get to do, and my dad got to be in my ear for four years. It was probably one of the best things ever.”
A successful product of the Indiana Olympic Development Program, Carter has aged out of the program as a player but is still participating and giving back as a coach.
He is undecided on where he will attend college, but does plan to play while studying sports management and does expect to follow in his father’s footsteps as a coach.
This article appeared in The Herald Bulletin.