Jones turns Loos loose; success ensues
By Patrick Z. McGavin
Natalie Loos handled the most challenging and disruptive act of her young life with characteristic aplomb, grace and equanimity.
A senior midfielder at Jones, Loos embodies the skill, toughness and ambition that has allowed the city school to rise to unprecedented levels.
“I think of myself as a very vocal player, and I like to coordinate everything going on around me,” she said. “I have a good eye for passing. That is something I really use a lot when I play.
“I always try to sneak a pass through and get open.”
This year was designed to mark a completion until the novel coronavirus pandemic. Like so much else, Loos is left posing questions, using the past as a way to imagine a different outcome.
She is not alone.
“This was going to be our best team ever,” Jones coach Derek Bylsma said. “Not even close to any other teams we had. When we had our two weeks of training, I never had a team that looked this good.”
At 5-feet-10, Loos is a dynamic two-way threat who moves about the field with purpose and presence. She operated as a stabilizing force. She shifted seamlessly from the middle to the backline depending on the scenario.
Loos demonstrated a physical and imposing talent with a flair for the subtleties of the game in the way she moved or positioned her body, no matter where she played on the field.
In earning Chicagoland Soccer All-State recognition last season, Loos scored 12 goals and contributed three assists to help the Eagles compile a school record 18 wins.
Jones earned a Final Four appearance in the city tournament and reached a Class 3A regional final. The program’s third-seed in the sectional was its highest ever in a large-school division.
“She was by far our most valuable player last year,” Bylsma said. “She started every game, played holding midfielder and also quite a bit in the back.
“She is a great player and a great kid.”
Timing is everything, and her arrival at the South Loop school coincided with the Eagles’ push into wider relevance.
Bylsma took over a program with little history and low levels of success and slowly, patiently, as if piece by piece, made it a destination school in the city for girls’ soccer.
Jones was on the fast track to success, moving quickly from the lower rungs of the city’s divisions. Two-time Chicagoland Soccer All-State forward Zoe Wright was the catalyst for the turnaround.
Arriving at Jones her freshman year, Loos watched with a combination of awe and privilege at Wright’s work rate, focus and determination.
“Zoe was super impactful,” Loos said. “She always worked very hard, and she always pushed through. That was something I always remembered about her.
“I looked up to her and her strength inspired me to be stronger.”
The example of Wright proved a blueprint that shaped her own matriculation. Playing varsity as a freshman is daunting for any player.
“My freshman year,” she said, “I was just getting used to playing and getting more comfortable with the team. I stepped up and became a leader.”
She contributed immediately as a freshman, and was part of a Jones team that established a new benchmark. That Eagles’ team was the first (and only) to qualify for the city championship game.
“Coming into the program, I didn’t know much about the history and how much it had been growing or how much of a success story the team was becoming,” Loos said.
“I was excited to be a part of that. Every year we got better, and that meant a lot to me to build that community.”
Loos made a significant leap by her sophomore year, having quickly adapted to the speed and power of the game. An injury to the Eagles’ best center back changed her personal dynamic as well.
Bylsma moved her back there to take advantage of her range, length and power.
“I like to play center midfielder the most,” Loos said. “Having to play defense, I became more of a leader, and I really enjoyed doing that.
“It taught me how to be more of a well-rounded player and do my best.”
The player who began her career looking up to the seniors and matching her style to their game was now the one who set the tone.
The next generation players were the beneficiaries.
“I love Natalie,” junior forward Carmen Marshall said. “She puts in so much effort and so much heart into the game. She is one of our captains, a great leader and very motivational.
“I can always count on her to be there. She will never give up as long as she is on the field. Combine that with her talent and her skill, and that is why she is the player she is.”
Loos also effectively had her own “doppelgänger,” in the shape of Martina Bianchi. The two were mirror images physically, long and rangy and blessed with matching abilities.
The two formed a devastating combination on set pieces. Loos used her powerful throws in for brilliant effect—most of the time, setting up Bianchi inside the box.
“We are both tall and strong players, and it just made sense to get the ball to us on the set pieces,” she said. “We worked on that a lot, and I had the long throw and the team really wanted to utilize that and Martina was very good in the air.
“We learned how to create very dangerous plays off of that.”
Loos represented something else in the wider picture at Jones: a talent who arrived more fully formed by virtue of a significant background playing club and travel soccer.
That allowed Bylsma greater versatility and the ability to implement more complex and complicated technical offensive and defensive sets.
Loos began playing competitively with her older sister. By the time she arrived at Jones, she had played with three of the city’s top club programs.
She represented a new vanguard.
“The years before Derek came, there were only one or two club players on the team,” Loos said, “and then it came three or four, and now it is 10-15 really good players and the level got really better.”
Part of what made her such a special talent was Loos ostensibly shaped the game to her own personality. That gave her a greater sense of ownership.
“There is a creative component to playing soccer, especially as a center midfielder,” Loos said. “You get to be a creative playmaker, and I was able to develop that part of me and that part of my personality.
“The game brought out a part of me in a really good way.”
Loos was open and free, and she aligned her nature to the game and let everything out. Not getting to play this year has been personally devastating.
Her memories live on.
“Every year we got better, and we had more hope that we could go all the way and win the city and go farther in the state,” she said.
“We were good together.”
Loos had significant recruiting interest at the Division II and Division III levels. She is also a product of one of the city’s top academic schools, and her dream was to attend a major university.
She is set to attend the University of Illinois. Playing soccer is part of her plan. It will be restricted to club to intramural level.
Perhaps most importantly, Loos discovered her own life lessons through the game.
“There is so much I love about the game,” she said. “It taught me about life, and I really appreciate and value that. I learned how to be a leader and how to work with other people and finding strength when it is sometimes tough to find.
“At Jones, we always pushed each other to be better, and that motivation is something I will keep with me.”
By Patrick Z. McGavin
Natalie Loos handled the most challenging and disruptive act of her young life with characteristic aplomb, grace and equanimity.
A senior midfielder at Jones, Loos embodies the skill, toughness and ambition that has allowed the city school to rise to unprecedented levels.
“I think of myself as a very vocal player, and I like to coordinate everything going on around me,” she said. “I have a good eye for passing. That is something I really use a lot when I play.
“I always try to sneak a pass through and get open.”
This year was designed to mark a completion until the novel coronavirus pandemic. Like so much else, Loos is left posing questions, using the past as a way to imagine a different outcome.
She is not alone.
“This was going to be our best team ever,” Jones coach Derek Bylsma said. “Not even close to any other teams we had. When we had our two weeks of training, I never had a team that looked this good.”
At 5-feet-10, Loos is a dynamic two-way threat who moves about the field with purpose and presence. She operated as a stabilizing force. She shifted seamlessly from the middle to the backline depending on the scenario.
Loos demonstrated a physical and imposing talent with a flair for the subtleties of the game in the way she moved or positioned her body, no matter where she played on the field.
In earning Chicagoland Soccer All-State recognition last season, Loos scored 12 goals and contributed three assists to help the Eagles compile a school record 18 wins.
Jones earned a Final Four appearance in the city tournament and reached a Class 3A regional final. The program’s third-seed in the sectional was its highest ever in a large-school division.
“She was by far our most valuable player last year,” Bylsma said. “She started every game, played holding midfielder and also quite a bit in the back.
“She is a great player and a great kid.”
Timing is everything, and her arrival at the South Loop school coincided with the Eagles’ push into wider relevance.
Bylsma took over a program with little history and low levels of success and slowly, patiently, as if piece by piece, made it a destination school in the city for girls’ soccer.
Jones was on the fast track to success, moving quickly from the lower rungs of the city’s divisions. Two-time Chicagoland Soccer All-State forward Zoe Wright was the catalyst for the turnaround.
Arriving at Jones her freshman year, Loos watched with a combination of awe and privilege at Wright’s work rate, focus and determination.
“Zoe was super impactful,” Loos said. “She always worked very hard, and she always pushed through. That was something I always remembered about her.
“I looked up to her and her strength inspired me to be stronger.”
The example of Wright proved a blueprint that shaped her own matriculation. Playing varsity as a freshman is daunting for any player.
“My freshman year,” she said, “I was just getting used to playing and getting more comfortable with the team. I stepped up and became a leader.”
She contributed immediately as a freshman, and was part of a Jones team that established a new benchmark. That Eagles’ team was the first (and only) to qualify for the city championship game.
“Coming into the program, I didn’t know much about the history and how much it had been growing or how much of a success story the team was becoming,” Loos said.
“I was excited to be a part of that. Every year we got better, and that meant a lot to me to build that community.”
Loos made a significant leap by her sophomore year, having quickly adapted to the speed and power of the game. An injury to the Eagles’ best center back changed her personal dynamic as well.
Bylsma moved her back there to take advantage of her range, length and power.
“I like to play center midfielder the most,” Loos said. “Having to play defense, I became more of a leader, and I really enjoyed doing that.
“It taught me how to be more of a well-rounded player and do my best.”
The player who began her career looking up to the seniors and matching her style to their game was now the one who set the tone.
The next generation players were the beneficiaries.
“I love Natalie,” junior forward Carmen Marshall said. “She puts in so much effort and so much heart into the game. She is one of our captains, a great leader and very motivational.
“I can always count on her to be there. She will never give up as long as she is on the field. Combine that with her talent and her skill, and that is why she is the player she is.”
Loos also effectively had her own “doppelgänger,” in the shape of Martina Bianchi. The two were mirror images physically, long and rangy and blessed with matching abilities.
The two formed a devastating combination on set pieces. Loos used her powerful throws in for brilliant effect—most of the time, setting up Bianchi inside the box.
“We are both tall and strong players, and it just made sense to get the ball to us on the set pieces,” she said. “We worked on that a lot, and I had the long throw and the team really wanted to utilize that and Martina was very good in the air.
“We learned how to create very dangerous plays off of that.”
Loos represented something else in the wider picture at Jones: a talent who arrived more fully formed by virtue of a significant background playing club and travel soccer.
That allowed Bylsma greater versatility and the ability to implement more complex and complicated technical offensive and defensive sets.
Loos began playing competitively with her older sister. By the time she arrived at Jones, she had played with three of the city’s top club programs.
She represented a new vanguard.
“The years before Derek came, there were only one or two club players on the team,” Loos said, “and then it came three or four, and now it is 10-15 really good players and the level got really better.”
Part of what made her such a special talent was Loos ostensibly shaped the game to her own personality. That gave her a greater sense of ownership.
“There is a creative component to playing soccer, especially as a center midfielder,” Loos said. “You get to be a creative playmaker, and I was able to develop that part of me and that part of my personality.
“The game brought out a part of me in a really good way.”
Loos was open and free, and she aligned her nature to the game and let everything out. Not getting to play this year has been personally devastating.
Her memories live on.
“Every year we got better, and we had more hope that we could go all the way and win the city and go farther in the state,” she said.
“We were good together.”
Loos had significant recruiting interest at the Division II and Division III levels. She is also a product of one of the city’s top academic schools, and her dream was to attend a major university.
She is set to attend the University of Illinois. Playing soccer is part of her plan. It will be restricted to club to intramural level.
Perhaps most importantly, Loos discovered her own life lessons through the game.
“There is so much I love about the game,” she said. “It taught me about life, and I really appreciate and value that. I learned how to be a leader and how to work with other people and finding strength when it is sometimes tough to find.
“At Jones, we always pushed each other to be better, and that motivation is something I will keep with me.”