Chicagoland Soccer Player of the Year: Sam Schmitz, GK, Barrington
By Patrick Z. McGavin
As an incoming freshman, Sam Schmitz was one of the most-coveted athletes at Barrington. She excelled at two sports -- soccer and softball -- and showed extraordinary promise as she headed to high school.
Two strong programs held their breath.
Fillies softball coach Perry Peterson now totals 812 wins -- 796 of them along with eight state trophies have come from his 25 years at Barrington.
Ryan Stengren, who holds a 223-43-19 mark at the school over 11 years, has transformed the soccer program into a state power. He led his squad to sectional titles in each of the last 10 seasons and recorded two third place state finishes along with a chance to defend the state title entering the 2018 finals -- Barrington's fourth trip to the big dance in the last six seasons.
“I knew she had a softball background as well,” Stengren said. “She had a tough decision to make when she got to high school. She had come up through Perry’s youth program. I remember talking with Perry, and neither of us put any pressure on her. We wanted her to make her own decision.”
Schmitz agonized over her choice.
“It was definitely a hard decision,” she said. “I only played softball up until the summer before my freshman year. I actually tore my meniscus in my left knee that summer, so the recovery going back into two sports forced me to make the decision, that as well as the fact they were in the same season.
“I had the injury the first time during softball, and then I had a four-month recovery after surgery tried to repair it. But then I tore it again during soccer a couple of months after I came back.”
After the healing process, futbol won out.
“My program is thankful she decided to play soccer,” Stengren said.
In his great 1984 novel, “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” the Czech writer Milan Kundera opens:
"The idea of eternal return is a mysterious one, and Nietzsche has often perplexed other philosophers with it: to think that everything occurs as we once experienced it, and that the recurrence itself recurs ad infinitum.”
Now Sam Schmitz has her own definition of recurrence. She lived it in back-to-back years. The senior keeper for Barrington exhibited extraordinary mental toughness, discipline, skill and anticipation by denying the most feared offense in the state two times with state titles on the line.
On the biggest stage, Schmitz worked out her own drama and made a living, breathing statement of achievement. On Saturday, June 2, at North Central College in Naperville, Schmitz denied New Trier’s skilled team of shooters. After she stopped the fifth shooter to force sudden death, Barrington prevailed 3-2 in six rounds in the shootout of the Class 3A state championship game.
A year before, Schmitz helped the Fillies’ takedown of the Trevians that ended their three-year run of state championships with the 3-0 shootout victory in four rounds after 100 minutes of scoreless soccer. In 10 championship game shootout shots at Schmitz, New Trier scored only twice.
“It was just crazy that it was the same situation,” she said. “I should not have been that surprised given how amazing New Trier is and the fact both teams were so evenly matched that the game made it all the way to penalty kicks. Thinking about the past, it’s almost overwhelming thinking about last year. I am sure it was the same for the New Trier girls.
“It was important to make it like a unique experience.”
Schmitz's junior year was one for the ages. She blended quickness, grace and an almost superhuman intuition in recording 22 of the Fillies’ 24 shutouts. She conceded just six goals in 27 games for an unheard of 0.22 goals-against average. Barrington finished 28-1-0 and was named the best team in the country in national polls conducted by Top Drawer Soccer and USA Today/NSCAA.
Her senior year also impressed. She allowed just 13 goals in 23 games. Barrington went 49-4-2 with Schmitz as its no. 1 keeper the past two seasons and has back-to-back state titles to show for it. Schmitz orchestrated one of the great tournament runs in state history when Barrington defeated St. Charles North, Naperville North and the Trevians in their final three games.
St. Charles North and New Trier, each undefeated at the time of their games, were ranked no. 1 and no. 2 nationally by Top Drawer Soccer. Naperville North was rated no. 9.
“It’s unbelievable we were able to do that against those three great teams,” Schmitz said. “All the girls going into those games were going to have to put everything out there. I am so proud of all the new girls. If we have just one player who was not on, that could change the whole game. Everybody was on the same page, and we were locked in for all three of those games.”
Schmitz also saved the Fillies in the sectional championship against Cary-Grove, allowing just one past her in the 3-1 shootout victory.
“I never had a goalie having a knack for coming up that big like that,” Stengren said. “She was the best keeper in the state, and she was our best player.”
For her accomplishments, Sam Schmitz was named Chicagoland Soccer's Player of the Year.
The pool of contenders for the award was formidable. Chicagoland Soccer contributors also nominated Barrington's Ashley Prell, New Trier's Sydney Parker and Emma Weaver, Kendra Pasquale, of St. Francis, Loyola's Maggie Avery and St. Charles North's Hailey Rydberg and Gia Wahlberg.
Schmitz, a four-year varsity player, apprenticed under four-year starter Hannah Luedtke, who entering her redshirt junior year at Butler has started 39 of the 40 matches she has played.
“Hannah hurt herself, and Sam got about six to nine games in as the starter,” Stengren said of Schmitz's freshman experience. “The games she got to play in happened during the Naperville Invitational. She made it to the championship game as Hannah was recovering from a hip pointer."
The following season was the first as a starter for Schmitz. She backstopped Barrington to a 20-3-1 season that ended with an upset supersectional loss to Huntley.
“Her confidence just kept growing year by year," Stengren said. "She made up her mind she wanted to max out her talent. She’s a really hard worker and somebody who was always working on her athleticism. She decided at the end of her sophomore year she really wanted to work and become a Division I keeper.”
Playing keeper demands its own state of mind, a perspective or attitude of purpose and certainty that separates the best players. Her initial impulse took a more traditional path.
“When I was little, I always wanted to play forward,” Schmitz said. “I was pretty good, I guess. I was tall when I was little, and the coaches I had pushed me toward playing keeper. Probably from the time I was in fourth grade, the coaches I had told me I needed to be the keeper. It was not something I set out to do, but the coaches kept pushing me in that direction, and I learned to love it and perfect it.
“I could not be happier now.”
She achieved a particular kind of grace under pressure that allows her to remain focused and composed. A brilliant student, Schmitz had a natural and intuitive command of the game. Stengren said she became a master reader of game situations, tactical actions and how to best anticipate and understand the level of play.
“She doesn’t feel the pressure,” Stengren said. “If she feels it, she wants the pressure. She thrives off of it. She can read where people are going, and she does that in the run of play. Her hands are so strong and clean that she does not give up rebounds. In the St. Charles North game, she was really tested. There were a lot of shots, and invariably most keepers are going to give up a rebound. She grabbed everything.
“It was all clean for her.”
Rather than cave under the demands of the position, Schmitz relished the added responsibilities. It changed her psychologically, temperamentally and athletically.
“I’d definitely say I am a pretty mental player, and that is a big part of goalkeeping,” Schmitz said. “I really like the leadership that comes with my position, knowing I could help my teammates at the end, Especially our last three games, St. Charles North, Naperville North and New Trier. It is so mental, and you have to be able to turn it on.”
Sam Schmitz is now preparing for the next stage of her life, playing in the iconic Ivy League for Harvard University. It is going to be hard to separate herself from the memories of the last two years. The program is even better now than when she started. Prell, the forward who scored in the run of play and connected on the decisive PK in the state championship game, is the best junior in the state. Tina Teik is an elite sophomore.
“What I am going to remember the most is being able to be around so many new faces,” Schmitz said. “Seeing the future of the program is the best part. Last year, we had 10 seniors, and they were all of my best friends. Now we have done a full 180, and we had all of these new girls. And I get to come home next year and watch them play.”
The range of her accomplishments is almost too great to fully process. The moment is pure and clean.
“I don’t think it will hit me until I am on campus in the fall,” said Schmitz, whose initial plan is to study economics.
“I don’t know what I want to do, except I just know that I am excited, and I am ready to go there and figure it out.”
By Patrick Z. McGavin
As an incoming freshman, Sam Schmitz was one of the most-coveted athletes at Barrington. She excelled at two sports -- soccer and softball -- and showed extraordinary promise as she headed to high school.
Two strong programs held their breath.
Fillies softball coach Perry Peterson now totals 812 wins -- 796 of them along with eight state trophies have come from his 25 years at Barrington.
Ryan Stengren, who holds a 223-43-19 mark at the school over 11 years, has transformed the soccer program into a state power. He led his squad to sectional titles in each of the last 10 seasons and recorded two third place state finishes along with a chance to defend the state title entering the 2018 finals -- Barrington's fourth trip to the big dance in the last six seasons.
“I knew she had a softball background as well,” Stengren said. “She had a tough decision to make when she got to high school. She had come up through Perry’s youth program. I remember talking with Perry, and neither of us put any pressure on her. We wanted her to make her own decision.”
Schmitz agonized over her choice.
“It was definitely a hard decision,” she said. “I only played softball up until the summer before my freshman year. I actually tore my meniscus in my left knee that summer, so the recovery going back into two sports forced me to make the decision, that as well as the fact they were in the same season.
“I had the injury the first time during softball, and then I had a four-month recovery after surgery tried to repair it. But then I tore it again during soccer a couple of months after I came back.”
After the healing process, futbol won out.
“My program is thankful she decided to play soccer,” Stengren said.
In his great 1984 novel, “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” the Czech writer Milan Kundera opens:
"The idea of eternal return is a mysterious one, and Nietzsche has often perplexed other philosophers with it: to think that everything occurs as we once experienced it, and that the recurrence itself recurs ad infinitum.”
Now Sam Schmitz has her own definition of recurrence. She lived it in back-to-back years. The senior keeper for Barrington exhibited extraordinary mental toughness, discipline, skill and anticipation by denying the most feared offense in the state two times with state titles on the line.
On the biggest stage, Schmitz worked out her own drama and made a living, breathing statement of achievement. On Saturday, June 2, at North Central College in Naperville, Schmitz denied New Trier’s skilled team of shooters. After she stopped the fifth shooter to force sudden death, Barrington prevailed 3-2 in six rounds in the shootout of the Class 3A state championship game.
A year before, Schmitz helped the Fillies’ takedown of the Trevians that ended their three-year run of state championships with the 3-0 shootout victory in four rounds after 100 minutes of scoreless soccer. In 10 championship game shootout shots at Schmitz, New Trier scored only twice.
“It was just crazy that it was the same situation,” she said. “I should not have been that surprised given how amazing New Trier is and the fact both teams were so evenly matched that the game made it all the way to penalty kicks. Thinking about the past, it’s almost overwhelming thinking about last year. I am sure it was the same for the New Trier girls.
“It was important to make it like a unique experience.”
Schmitz's junior year was one for the ages. She blended quickness, grace and an almost superhuman intuition in recording 22 of the Fillies’ 24 shutouts. She conceded just six goals in 27 games for an unheard of 0.22 goals-against average. Barrington finished 28-1-0 and was named the best team in the country in national polls conducted by Top Drawer Soccer and USA Today/NSCAA.
Her senior year also impressed. She allowed just 13 goals in 23 games. Barrington went 49-4-2 with Schmitz as its no. 1 keeper the past two seasons and has back-to-back state titles to show for it. Schmitz orchestrated one of the great tournament runs in state history when Barrington defeated St. Charles North, Naperville North and the Trevians in their final three games.
St. Charles North and New Trier, each undefeated at the time of their games, were ranked no. 1 and no. 2 nationally by Top Drawer Soccer. Naperville North was rated no. 9.
“It’s unbelievable we were able to do that against those three great teams,” Schmitz said. “All the girls going into those games were going to have to put everything out there. I am so proud of all the new girls. If we have just one player who was not on, that could change the whole game. Everybody was on the same page, and we were locked in for all three of those games.”
Schmitz also saved the Fillies in the sectional championship against Cary-Grove, allowing just one past her in the 3-1 shootout victory.
“I never had a goalie having a knack for coming up that big like that,” Stengren said. “She was the best keeper in the state, and she was our best player.”
For her accomplishments, Sam Schmitz was named Chicagoland Soccer's Player of the Year.
The pool of contenders for the award was formidable. Chicagoland Soccer contributors also nominated Barrington's Ashley Prell, New Trier's Sydney Parker and Emma Weaver, Kendra Pasquale, of St. Francis, Loyola's Maggie Avery and St. Charles North's Hailey Rydberg and Gia Wahlberg.
Schmitz, a four-year varsity player, apprenticed under four-year starter Hannah Luedtke, who entering her redshirt junior year at Butler has started 39 of the 40 matches she has played.
“Hannah hurt herself, and Sam got about six to nine games in as the starter,” Stengren said of Schmitz's freshman experience. “The games she got to play in happened during the Naperville Invitational. She made it to the championship game as Hannah was recovering from a hip pointer."
The following season was the first as a starter for Schmitz. She backstopped Barrington to a 20-3-1 season that ended with an upset supersectional loss to Huntley.
“Her confidence just kept growing year by year," Stengren said. "She made up her mind she wanted to max out her talent. She’s a really hard worker and somebody who was always working on her athleticism. She decided at the end of her sophomore year she really wanted to work and become a Division I keeper.”
Playing keeper demands its own state of mind, a perspective or attitude of purpose and certainty that separates the best players. Her initial impulse took a more traditional path.
“When I was little, I always wanted to play forward,” Schmitz said. “I was pretty good, I guess. I was tall when I was little, and the coaches I had pushed me toward playing keeper. Probably from the time I was in fourth grade, the coaches I had told me I needed to be the keeper. It was not something I set out to do, but the coaches kept pushing me in that direction, and I learned to love it and perfect it.
“I could not be happier now.”
She achieved a particular kind of grace under pressure that allows her to remain focused and composed. A brilliant student, Schmitz had a natural and intuitive command of the game. Stengren said she became a master reader of game situations, tactical actions and how to best anticipate and understand the level of play.
“She doesn’t feel the pressure,” Stengren said. “If she feels it, she wants the pressure. She thrives off of it. She can read where people are going, and she does that in the run of play. Her hands are so strong and clean that she does not give up rebounds. In the St. Charles North game, she was really tested. There were a lot of shots, and invariably most keepers are going to give up a rebound. She grabbed everything.
“It was all clean for her.”
Rather than cave under the demands of the position, Schmitz relished the added responsibilities. It changed her psychologically, temperamentally and athletically.
“I’d definitely say I am a pretty mental player, and that is a big part of goalkeeping,” Schmitz said. “I really like the leadership that comes with my position, knowing I could help my teammates at the end, Especially our last three games, St. Charles North, Naperville North and New Trier. It is so mental, and you have to be able to turn it on.”
Sam Schmitz is now preparing for the next stage of her life, playing in the iconic Ivy League for Harvard University. It is going to be hard to separate herself from the memories of the last two years. The program is even better now than when she started. Prell, the forward who scored in the run of play and connected on the decisive PK in the state championship game, is the best junior in the state. Tina Teik is an elite sophomore.
“What I am going to remember the most is being able to be around so many new faces,” Schmitz said. “Seeing the future of the program is the best part. Last year, we had 10 seniors, and they were all of my best friends. Now we have done a full 180, and we had all of these new girls. And I get to come home next year and watch them play.”
The range of her accomplishments is almost too great to fully process. The moment is pure and clean.
“I don’t think it will hit me until I am on campus in the fall,” said Schmitz, whose initial plan is to study economics.
“I don’t know what I want to do, except I just know that I am excited, and I am ready to go there and figure it out.”