For high school and country,
Streamwood's Colin stands out
By Patrick Z. McGavin
The move was spontaneous. And electric.
In just her third game of the season, Streamwood forward Natalia Colin deftly moved behind the West Aurora back with her sharp foray toward the goal.
She put the pressure on the West Aurora defender to make the play, not content simply to run toward the keeper. She wanted to reveal some creative flourishes.
She completed the dazzling scoring sequence with a lyrical double-move where she pulled the ball back with her right foot that utterly faked out the Blackhawks’ keeper for the open-net score.
“I always bring a different style, and I like to be creative with the ball,” Colin said. “Some of that just comes naturally, and some I try to make it happen when I am out there.
“I want to be outstanding, and I want to be different than everybody else.”
Colin is just a sophomore playing her first year of high school after her freshman season was wiped out by the pandemic. She has stamped herself as one of the best players in her class.
The sophomore forward has scored 20 goals and contributed eight assists in her first nine games with the Sabres.
She finished with three goals and an assist in the West Aurora victory. She has posted numerous multiple-goal games at the start of her career.
She is clearly a force to be reckoned with. As the target, or sole up-top player in the Sabres’ formation, she utilizes her explosive quickness and devastating first touch to create positional advantages.
Her assaultive and aggressive style braided by her athleticism, toughness and superb touch has unleashed a formidable and bracing young talent.
Streamwood coach Matt Polovin is back directing the girls’ program after a stint as an assistant there.
As he made the immediate leap from the boys to the girls seasons this spring, Colin just jumped out with what she could do on the field.
“I haven’t seen a lot of guys do what she is doing,” he said. “She is so comfortable with the ball. She is beating defenders with ease.
“We work all the time on the quick touches, the 1-2, or combination work, and finding our target player, or in this case Natalia. Sometimes I think I’m watching Magic Johnson out there. She makes these no-look passes that are just amazing.”
Streamwood (5-3-1, 2-2-1 Upstate Eight) has just 14 players on its roster. Colin helps make up for the lack of depth with her precocious play.
It tends to even the odds for Streamwood. The team is a deeply personal one for Colin. One of those other players is her younger sister, freshman Vanessa, a starting defender.
“It’s an awesome feeling playing with my sister,” Natalia said. “We are able to help each other, and we can celebrate at the same time.”
Natalia Colin is the second of three children. Her older sister Ashley also briefly played soccer. Natalia’s deep attraction to the game stood out since she was a child.
It was then she first developed her playmaking and dribbling abilities. Even as a young girl she had a flair for movement and working the ball.
The game has always been a deeply cultural one and closely connected to her family and social origins. Her father came to Chicago from Mexico City, and her mother is from Michoacán.
Just as important, her family’s background and Mexican-born roots have made her eligible to play with the Mexican National Team.
Colin has also trained with the U.S. National Team. Playing in elite regional and international tournaments have shown her a higher quality of play and varied styles of play.
“It means a lot to me,” Colin said. “I’ve always dreamed about playing with the national team ever since I was a little girl.
“I love to represent where I’m from and represent my family. I want to show my parents that all the time and money they have put into my soccer is going to be worth it. I’ve put in a lot of work to get there.”
Beyond the symbolic and deeply important personal validation of playing on the national team, Colin has learned how to open up and maximize her skills.
It’s trial by fire to be sure. It’s also invigorating.
“Having that opportunity is just unexplainable,” Colin said. “The national team has the best girls around, and being chosen is something very special.
“Being able to learn a lot from the national team and then showing and helping my teammates understand the game better is very cool. I want to show everyone that dreams do come true if you put in the hard work.”
Colin has not materialized out of thin air. But the consequences of a lost year made the entrance of young elite players like her all the more dramatic.
The dates for her next national team obligation have been fluid. The first letter she received requested her presence May 17-June 4. A more recent missive sets the start of training for May 25.
That is good news for the Sabres. Her shot creation and goal scoring have been vital to their season.
Colin alters the calculus of a match in other ways. West Aurora coach Laura Wagley said the team overcompensated trying to slow her down, enabling Streamwood players like midfielders Kristina Kellog, Diana Herrera and Madison Rivera to flourish in open space.
“She is very good,” Wagley said. “She is the type of player you’re going to mark, but she is still very good at getting the ball. She doesn’t look to score, because she knows she is going to get marked.”
Herrera has been the primary beneficiary of playing off of Colin. Playing together for the first time, the two have demonstrated a sharp rapport on the field.
Their early chemistry has pushed the team forward.
“Since she is our target player, I always have to look for her and make plays off of her,” Herrera said. “I really like playing with her.
“She communicates really well.”
Colin has already put up monster numbers. Polovin and Herrera said she is the opposite of the selfish star; if anything, she almost is too eager to play the ball off, according to Polovin.
“What’s great about Diana is she really understands my style of play,” Colin said. “She has a great feel of when to give me the ball, or when to dribble herself and when to look for that 1-2 combination.”
Perhaps most impressive Colin is just nine games into the start of her career. As much of a revelation she has been so far, what she promises to be as she gains experience has to terrify the opposition.
By herself, she has shown the ability to keep the Sabres afloat.
Her ceiling is off the charts, and she is only going to move upwards as she gets more reps on the field and the necessary time to develop chemistry with the rest of her teammates.
Polovin has marveled at her vision and the ability to anticipate the flow of the ball and the symmetry of the players’ movements.
Any game that she plays means that Streamwood has a fighting chance.
“If we stay healthy, then this team could be a contender in this conference and have a successful season,” Polovin said. “If we get one injury or two, that’s the big question.”
As long as Natalia Colin leads the attack, Streamwood has plenty of reasons to rejoice. Polovin respects the process. What he really hopes for is a legitimate opportunity to win the program’s first regional championship.
“We’ve gotten to the regional final a couple of times, but we’ve never won one,” he said. “That is a nice goal to have.”
He’ll have to cross his fingers that the Mexican National Team’s training schedule is delayed again for that to have a chance of happening.
With the magical Natalia Colin, maybe even that is even possible too.
“She is definitely a handful,” he said. “She is fun to watch, as good as it gets.”
Streamwood's Colin stands out
By Patrick Z. McGavin
The move was spontaneous. And electric.
In just her third game of the season, Streamwood forward Natalia Colin deftly moved behind the West Aurora back with her sharp foray toward the goal.
She put the pressure on the West Aurora defender to make the play, not content simply to run toward the keeper. She wanted to reveal some creative flourishes.
She completed the dazzling scoring sequence with a lyrical double-move where she pulled the ball back with her right foot that utterly faked out the Blackhawks’ keeper for the open-net score.
“I always bring a different style, and I like to be creative with the ball,” Colin said. “Some of that just comes naturally, and some I try to make it happen when I am out there.
“I want to be outstanding, and I want to be different than everybody else.”
Colin is just a sophomore playing her first year of high school after her freshman season was wiped out by the pandemic. She has stamped herself as one of the best players in her class.
The sophomore forward has scored 20 goals and contributed eight assists in her first nine games with the Sabres.
She finished with three goals and an assist in the West Aurora victory. She has posted numerous multiple-goal games at the start of her career.
She is clearly a force to be reckoned with. As the target, or sole up-top player in the Sabres’ formation, she utilizes her explosive quickness and devastating first touch to create positional advantages.
Her assaultive and aggressive style braided by her athleticism, toughness and superb touch has unleashed a formidable and bracing young talent.
Streamwood coach Matt Polovin is back directing the girls’ program after a stint as an assistant there.
As he made the immediate leap from the boys to the girls seasons this spring, Colin just jumped out with what she could do on the field.
“I haven’t seen a lot of guys do what she is doing,” he said. “She is so comfortable with the ball. She is beating defenders with ease.
“We work all the time on the quick touches, the 1-2, or combination work, and finding our target player, or in this case Natalia. Sometimes I think I’m watching Magic Johnson out there. She makes these no-look passes that are just amazing.”
Streamwood (5-3-1, 2-2-1 Upstate Eight) has just 14 players on its roster. Colin helps make up for the lack of depth with her precocious play.
It tends to even the odds for Streamwood. The team is a deeply personal one for Colin. One of those other players is her younger sister, freshman Vanessa, a starting defender.
“It’s an awesome feeling playing with my sister,” Natalia said. “We are able to help each other, and we can celebrate at the same time.”
Natalia Colin is the second of three children. Her older sister Ashley also briefly played soccer. Natalia’s deep attraction to the game stood out since she was a child.
It was then she first developed her playmaking and dribbling abilities. Even as a young girl she had a flair for movement and working the ball.
The game has always been a deeply cultural one and closely connected to her family and social origins. Her father came to Chicago from Mexico City, and her mother is from Michoacán.
Just as important, her family’s background and Mexican-born roots have made her eligible to play with the Mexican National Team.
Colin has also trained with the U.S. National Team. Playing in elite regional and international tournaments have shown her a higher quality of play and varied styles of play.
“It means a lot to me,” Colin said. “I’ve always dreamed about playing with the national team ever since I was a little girl.
“I love to represent where I’m from and represent my family. I want to show my parents that all the time and money they have put into my soccer is going to be worth it. I’ve put in a lot of work to get there.”
Beyond the symbolic and deeply important personal validation of playing on the national team, Colin has learned how to open up and maximize her skills.
It’s trial by fire to be sure. It’s also invigorating.
“Having that opportunity is just unexplainable,” Colin said. “The national team has the best girls around, and being chosen is something very special.
“Being able to learn a lot from the national team and then showing and helping my teammates understand the game better is very cool. I want to show everyone that dreams do come true if you put in the hard work.”
Colin has not materialized out of thin air. But the consequences of a lost year made the entrance of young elite players like her all the more dramatic.
The dates for her next national team obligation have been fluid. The first letter she received requested her presence May 17-June 4. A more recent missive sets the start of training for May 25.
That is good news for the Sabres. Her shot creation and goal scoring have been vital to their season.
Colin alters the calculus of a match in other ways. West Aurora coach Laura Wagley said the team overcompensated trying to slow her down, enabling Streamwood players like midfielders Kristina Kellog, Diana Herrera and Madison Rivera to flourish in open space.
“She is very good,” Wagley said. “She is the type of player you’re going to mark, but she is still very good at getting the ball. She doesn’t look to score, because she knows she is going to get marked.”
Herrera has been the primary beneficiary of playing off of Colin. Playing together for the first time, the two have demonstrated a sharp rapport on the field.
Their early chemistry has pushed the team forward.
“Since she is our target player, I always have to look for her and make plays off of her,” Herrera said. “I really like playing with her.
“She communicates really well.”
Colin has already put up monster numbers. Polovin and Herrera said she is the opposite of the selfish star; if anything, she almost is too eager to play the ball off, according to Polovin.
“What’s great about Diana is she really understands my style of play,” Colin said. “She has a great feel of when to give me the ball, or when to dribble herself and when to look for that 1-2 combination.”
Perhaps most impressive Colin is just nine games into the start of her career. As much of a revelation she has been so far, what she promises to be as she gains experience has to terrify the opposition.
By herself, she has shown the ability to keep the Sabres afloat.
Her ceiling is off the charts, and she is only going to move upwards as she gets more reps on the field and the necessary time to develop chemistry with the rest of her teammates.
Polovin has marveled at her vision and the ability to anticipate the flow of the ball and the symmetry of the players’ movements.
Any game that she plays means that Streamwood has a fighting chance.
“If we stay healthy, then this team could be a contender in this conference and have a successful season,” Polovin said. “If we get one injury or two, that’s the big question.”
As long as Natalia Colin leads the attack, Streamwood has plenty of reasons to rejoice. Polovin respects the process. What he really hopes for is a legitimate opportunity to win the program’s first regional championship.
“We’ve gotten to the regional final a couple of times, but we’ve never won one,” he said. “That is a nice goal to have.”
He’ll have to cross his fingers that the Mexican National Team’s training schedule is delayed again for that to have a chance of happening.
With the magical Natalia Colin, maybe even that is even possible too.
“She is definitely a handful,” he said. “She is fun to watch, as good as it gets.”