Chicago connection helps deliver
another national title for Grand Valley State
By Eli Ong
There was a definite Chicago flavor on Grand Valley State University’s recent Division II national championship team.
Metea Valley alumna Makenna Schoolman played in 25 games and started five times for the 24-1-2 repeat titelists. Her road to NCAA glory started early.
“I started playing soccer around the age of four,” recalled Schoolman. “My parents still tell me from time-to-time about one of my first soccer games when I was younger. I played on all-boys teams growing up. They remember one parent getting real angry, because I started pushing the boys over, knocking them around. They kept yelling ‘That girl needs to get off the field; she’s too aggressive!’”
Fearless play, a gritty attitude and a never-say-die mentality out on the pitch became her trademark characteristics.
The recently graduated Schoolman helped man the backline this season. She was one of four players who donned Laker blue from the greater Chicago area. Joining her on the roster was former St. Charles East forward Chantel Carranza, Naperville North midfielder Morgan Krause and Geneva High forward Alicia White.
New Grand Valley State head coach Jim Conlon said his Chicago quartet made a difference on the team.
“When I look at this 2021 team, coming off of the COVID year, losing their coach, losing a number of significant players from the 2019 national championship team, they were able to be extremely resilient and learn and grow through each other,” said Conlon.
“In the collegiate model, there’s a lot of turn over. People move on. To see this group, which featured a lot of leadership from the Chicago bunch, be so resilient and grow with one another as one unit, I think that’s how we ended up being able to bring home a national championship.”
Before COVID put a kibosh on a normal soccer season for Grand Valley State in 2020, the program was riding a high unusual to even its lofty standards.
In 2019, the Lakers romped through their competition, outscoring opponents 117-10 and not conceding a single goal in conference play.
That roster featured six All-Americans, including midfielder Riko Sagara, who won multiple National Player of the Year awards and notched the lone 20-goal, 20-assist campaign in program history.
Alongside Sagara, forward Ava Cook led the nation in goals scored (29) and total points (70). Carranza, who tallied 23 goals and 54 total points opposite of Cook, was a second-team All-American selection as a freshman.
Center back Cece Steinwascher was a unanimous first team All-America selection and the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year. Sydney O’Donnell, a transfer from Vanderbilt, earned second-team All-American honors as a left back; Jessica Radice earned first-team All-American status protecting the net.
The 2019 season culminated in an exhilarating national title game. Grand Valley State won 1-0 on a golden goal in the second overtime despite being outshot 26-8 (8-2 on goal) in the game.
After the 2019 title win, head coach Jeff Hosler left town to take over the Michigan State women’s program. Cook followed the coach, and Sagara, O’Donnell and Radice graduated.
That left Carranza, Steinwascher and all-conference forward Caitie Baron as the most heralded holdovers from the title squad. Schoolman was also a key returning component after 25 game-appearances and 18 starts.
“Chantel is a very gifted player, a gifted athlete who can go out and play several different roles for us,” Conlon said. “She’s a wonderful goal scorer who can flip the scoreboard very quickly. But she ended up having some bumps in the road with a couple of injuries throughout the season that I think didn’t allow her to have the production that she and a lot of us wanted.”
Carranza notched 15 points from four goals and seven assists for a squad that was the sixth-best scoring team in the country.
White, a freshman, found early success. She notched four goals and an assist across 12 games and five starts before succumbing to a knee injury that ended her campaign.
“Alicia White is one of our younger players who has a knack for finding the net. She definitely got out very fast early on in the season as we got started,” Conlon said. “Unfortunately, she suffered a major knee injury, a torn ligament, about halfway through the season that ended up putting an end to her year. Otherwise, we likely would have seen a lot more out of her this year.”
Aside from offensive contributions, what made this team was the defense’s ability to control the ball and prevent scoring opportunities. That’s where a player like Schoolman came in.
“Makenna ended up playing huge minutes down the stretch, especially in the playoffs,” Conlon said. “In the national semifinals where she scored a goal and in the national final where we were able to secure the title, she was a team leader on the field and a key part in orchestrating this team toward a national championship.”
Schoolman helped form a backline with Steinwascher, who went on to win Division II Player of the Year honors, that gave up just 15 goals on the year. That averaged out to just over a half goal per game.
Schoolman’s big goal came in the semifinal match against Lenoir-Rhyne. She scored the insurance marker in an eventual 3-0 win.
“It was an indescribable feeling,” Schoolman said. “First of all, I don’t know how it even went into the net.
“But I got it there somehow, and standing up after it all happened — seeing my teammates smiling and cheering and running toward me — I kind of almost just lost it all right there. Just to be able to put a goal away in that big of a game was amazing.”
The moment and title run were made all the more special because earlier in the year, it was unclear if Schoolman could ever play soccer again. She suffered a tibial plateau fracture during a practice nine-and-a-half months prior to lifting the national championship trophy.
The injury is rare in athletics and most common in car-accident victims. The tibial plateau is where the larger lower leg bone connects to the bottom of the knee joint. When a fracture occurs, it often fractures more than just the lower leg bone and causes bone, meniscus and additional ligament damage along the way.
The injury usually incapacitates the knee, making that leg unable to bear weight and requires up to 8-12 weeks of walking with crutches.
“It just happened kind of out of the blue one day in practice when I went in for a tackle,” Schoolman said. “When it happened, I was in pure shock. My whole world was turned upside down.
“Going into practice that day, I had no idea that something this horrible could happen. I was initially like, oh, it’s not going to be that bad, it’s not going to be an ACL [tear].”
Grand Valley State’s training staff quickly saw that the injury was much worse and told Schoolman that it normally takes as much as a year-to-18 months for a normal person to fully heal from such an injury.
“There was a point in time where there were significant doubts if she was ever going to play soccer again,” Conlon said. “But what really impressed me was that she ended up being able to play the entire season. She was tremendous in managing her body and dealing with her injury.”
With her final season on the horizon, Schoolman found a focused mentality approaching rehabilitation.
“As a senior, I kept feeling like, ‘Oh this might be my last game’ or ‘This might be the last time I play this team,’” she said. “So, I just kept pushing myself as hard as I could to get back to being me and eventually, everything started to feel like normal again.”
The season was scheduled to start six months after the surgery. Doctors speculated that Schoolman might be able to walk by then.
“[The doctors] said they didn’t know if soccer was even in the picture,” Schoolman said. “But my mentality was always, I’m going to prove them wrong. I am going to get back out on the field.”
Schoolman said there was a running joke during rehab between her and her friends where they said she was “going to prove science wrong.” At times, the process seemed daunting with no end in sight.
“Learning to run and walk again was weird, because it didn’t feel like myself,” Schoolman said. “But I knew I couldn’t give up because I just really wanted to get back to my team, you know?
“There’s something to being a part of something greater than yourself and I just wanted to be able to contribute to that on the field.”
Schoolman ended up missing two games during the season and was forced to play limited minutes before she got back to full strength.
But she shocked many when she logged 34 minutes in the season-opening 4-0 win over Lindenwood on Sept. 2. And the rest of the story has become a treasured memory.
Naperville North alumna Krause was supposed to join Schoolman on the backline. She played her freshman year at Iowa before transferring in 2018.
“Morgan ended up having a career-ending knee injury over the summer, but we wouldn’t really be here without Morgan Krause,” said Conlon. “When you’re building a team, you need players who lean in and become vocal when dealing with things that are uncomfortable and that’s Morgan.”
another national title for Grand Valley State
By Eli Ong
There was a definite Chicago flavor on Grand Valley State University’s recent Division II national championship team.
Metea Valley alumna Makenna Schoolman played in 25 games and started five times for the 24-1-2 repeat titelists. Her road to NCAA glory started early.
“I started playing soccer around the age of four,” recalled Schoolman. “My parents still tell me from time-to-time about one of my first soccer games when I was younger. I played on all-boys teams growing up. They remember one parent getting real angry, because I started pushing the boys over, knocking them around. They kept yelling ‘That girl needs to get off the field; she’s too aggressive!’”
Fearless play, a gritty attitude and a never-say-die mentality out on the pitch became her trademark characteristics.
The recently graduated Schoolman helped man the backline this season. She was one of four players who donned Laker blue from the greater Chicago area. Joining her on the roster was former St. Charles East forward Chantel Carranza, Naperville North midfielder Morgan Krause and Geneva High forward Alicia White.
New Grand Valley State head coach Jim Conlon said his Chicago quartet made a difference on the team.
“When I look at this 2021 team, coming off of the COVID year, losing their coach, losing a number of significant players from the 2019 national championship team, they were able to be extremely resilient and learn and grow through each other,” said Conlon.
“In the collegiate model, there’s a lot of turn over. People move on. To see this group, which featured a lot of leadership from the Chicago bunch, be so resilient and grow with one another as one unit, I think that’s how we ended up being able to bring home a national championship.”
Before COVID put a kibosh on a normal soccer season for Grand Valley State in 2020, the program was riding a high unusual to even its lofty standards.
In 2019, the Lakers romped through their competition, outscoring opponents 117-10 and not conceding a single goal in conference play.
That roster featured six All-Americans, including midfielder Riko Sagara, who won multiple National Player of the Year awards and notched the lone 20-goal, 20-assist campaign in program history.
Alongside Sagara, forward Ava Cook led the nation in goals scored (29) and total points (70). Carranza, who tallied 23 goals and 54 total points opposite of Cook, was a second-team All-American selection as a freshman.
Center back Cece Steinwascher was a unanimous first team All-America selection and the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year. Sydney O’Donnell, a transfer from Vanderbilt, earned second-team All-American honors as a left back; Jessica Radice earned first-team All-American status protecting the net.
The 2019 season culminated in an exhilarating national title game. Grand Valley State won 1-0 on a golden goal in the second overtime despite being outshot 26-8 (8-2 on goal) in the game.
After the 2019 title win, head coach Jeff Hosler left town to take over the Michigan State women’s program. Cook followed the coach, and Sagara, O’Donnell and Radice graduated.
That left Carranza, Steinwascher and all-conference forward Caitie Baron as the most heralded holdovers from the title squad. Schoolman was also a key returning component after 25 game-appearances and 18 starts.
“Chantel is a very gifted player, a gifted athlete who can go out and play several different roles for us,” Conlon said. “She’s a wonderful goal scorer who can flip the scoreboard very quickly. But she ended up having some bumps in the road with a couple of injuries throughout the season that I think didn’t allow her to have the production that she and a lot of us wanted.”
Carranza notched 15 points from four goals and seven assists for a squad that was the sixth-best scoring team in the country.
White, a freshman, found early success. She notched four goals and an assist across 12 games and five starts before succumbing to a knee injury that ended her campaign.
“Alicia White is one of our younger players who has a knack for finding the net. She definitely got out very fast early on in the season as we got started,” Conlon said. “Unfortunately, she suffered a major knee injury, a torn ligament, about halfway through the season that ended up putting an end to her year. Otherwise, we likely would have seen a lot more out of her this year.”
Aside from offensive contributions, what made this team was the defense’s ability to control the ball and prevent scoring opportunities. That’s where a player like Schoolman came in.
“Makenna ended up playing huge minutes down the stretch, especially in the playoffs,” Conlon said. “In the national semifinals where she scored a goal and in the national final where we were able to secure the title, she was a team leader on the field and a key part in orchestrating this team toward a national championship.”
Schoolman helped form a backline with Steinwascher, who went on to win Division II Player of the Year honors, that gave up just 15 goals on the year. That averaged out to just over a half goal per game.
Schoolman’s big goal came in the semifinal match against Lenoir-Rhyne. She scored the insurance marker in an eventual 3-0 win.
“It was an indescribable feeling,” Schoolman said. “First of all, I don’t know how it even went into the net.
“But I got it there somehow, and standing up after it all happened — seeing my teammates smiling and cheering and running toward me — I kind of almost just lost it all right there. Just to be able to put a goal away in that big of a game was amazing.”
The moment and title run were made all the more special because earlier in the year, it was unclear if Schoolman could ever play soccer again. She suffered a tibial plateau fracture during a practice nine-and-a-half months prior to lifting the national championship trophy.
The injury is rare in athletics and most common in car-accident victims. The tibial plateau is where the larger lower leg bone connects to the bottom of the knee joint. When a fracture occurs, it often fractures more than just the lower leg bone and causes bone, meniscus and additional ligament damage along the way.
The injury usually incapacitates the knee, making that leg unable to bear weight and requires up to 8-12 weeks of walking with crutches.
“It just happened kind of out of the blue one day in practice when I went in for a tackle,” Schoolman said. “When it happened, I was in pure shock. My whole world was turned upside down.
“Going into practice that day, I had no idea that something this horrible could happen. I was initially like, oh, it’s not going to be that bad, it’s not going to be an ACL [tear].”
Grand Valley State’s training staff quickly saw that the injury was much worse and told Schoolman that it normally takes as much as a year-to-18 months for a normal person to fully heal from such an injury.
“There was a point in time where there were significant doubts if she was ever going to play soccer again,” Conlon said. “But what really impressed me was that she ended up being able to play the entire season. She was tremendous in managing her body and dealing with her injury.”
With her final season on the horizon, Schoolman found a focused mentality approaching rehabilitation.
“As a senior, I kept feeling like, ‘Oh this might be my last game’ or ‘This might be the last time I play this team,’” she said. “So, I just kept pushing myself as hard as I could to get back to being me and eventually, everything started to feel like normal again.”
The season was scheduled to start six months after the surgery. Doctors speculated that Schoolman might be able to walk by then.
“[The doctors] said they didn’t know if soccer was even in the picture,” Schoolman said. “But my mentality was always, I’m going to prove them wrong. I am going to get back out on the field.”
Schoolman said there was a running joke during rehab between her and her friends where they said she was “going to prove science wrong.” At times, the process seemed daunting with no end in sight.
“Learning to run and walk again was weird, because it didn’t feel like myself,” Schoolman said. “But I knew I couldn’t give up because I just really wanted to get back to my team, you know?
“There’s something to being a part of something greater than yourself and I just wanted to be able to contribute to that on the field.”
Schoolman ended up missing two games during the season and was forced to play limited minutes before she got back to full strength.
But she shocked many when she logged 34 minutes in the season-opening 4-0 win over Lindenwood on Sept. 2. And the rest of the story has become a treasured memory.
Naperville North alumna Krause was supposed to join Schoolman on the backline. She played her freshman year at Iowa before transferring in 2018.
“Morgan ended up having a career-ending knee injury over the summer, but we wouldn’t really be here without Morgan Krause,” said Conlon. “When you’re building a team, you need players who lean in and become vocal when dealing with things that are uncomfortable and that’s Morgan.”