Lake Forest's Esplin bids 10-4
to soccer season, laments lost chance
By Bill McLean
Some truck drivers practically hung up on Camy Esplin last summer. Others provided the info she needed to log and then chatted with the Lake Forest senior-to-be about soccer, or about the horrific traffic, or about … anything.
Esplin, a holding midfielder for the Scouts in the 2018 and ’19 seasons, served as an intern for a Libertyville-based logistics company in those sweltering summer months.
“All so different,” Esplin said of the truckers’ personalities. “I was in charge of tracing and tracking. I’d call a driver, check in and ask, ‘What’s your ETA?’ Sometimes I'd hear, ‘I’m 10 minutes away,’ and then nothing else [before a quick click]. Others were bored and wanted to talk with me to pass the time.”
Esplin, slated to shift to center-back in her final prep season, was convinced her band of Scouts would have been the talk of Lake County girls soccer, at least, in 2020. But a sturdy, relentless foe, COVID-19, proved mightier than an 18-wheeler going 75 mph and crushed the teen’s realistic expectation.
The Illinois High School Association announced the cancellation of all spring sports on April 21, citing concerns related to the pandemic.
“This was going to be a big season for us, a huge one,” Esplin said on May 17, and later pointed out the date marked the one-year anniversary of Lake Forest’s 4-0 defeat of visiting Grayslake Central for a Class AA regional championship.
“We had 14 seniors on our roster, with many of us having first played together in U8 soccer. We had created a fun environment [in the preseason]. We all love soccer. We all love being competitive.”
Esplin adored soccer from the start, at the age of 3 or 4, when one of her feet thumped soccer leather for the first time. She and big brother Tyler Esplin — now 20 and an outfielder in the Boston Red Sox organization — would kick a soccer ball around in the family back yard, adorned with a net. Younger brother Tommy, 12, shoots at other nets as a left winger in hockey.
Camy’s father, Danny (a Lake Forest graduate), played baseball at the prep level, and her mother, Kristen (a Glenbrook South graduate), battled for Titans soccer squads.
“Very athletic family,” Scouts girls soccer coach Ty Stuckslager said. “Camy appreciated that while growing up. Every year, Camy’s role increased for us. She’s a positive athlete, a positive person. She just wanted to get better every season. The position change she would’ve made this year? She was fine with that. You know that Mia Hamm quote, the, ‘I defer to the team’ one? That’s also Camy’s attitude.
“There were times she’d make a mistake, smile and say, ‘Boy, thank goodness for my teammates; they got me out of the mess I made,’” the coach added.
But Esplin’s ability to read the game well, along with her fearlessness in the air, more than made up for those rare lapses. A team without a playmaker is a truck without a steering wheel.
Esplin, named a tri-captain in 2020, was an invaluable playmaker in her two varsity seasons.
“I am not the most-skilled player,” said the modest Esplin, who competed for several years in FC United’s Pre-Academy program. “I’m not the fastest player, either. I like to make things happen for my teammates in games. I’ve loved soccer, everything about it, since I knew it would be my main sport at a young age.”
Esplin plans to major in business and play club soccer at Elon (N.C.) University. She took a business course her freshman year and a second one last year.
“Liked them both,” said Esplin, who liked playing the holding midfielder and center back positions for her 2019 FC United side, which placed third at a 17U state tournament and finished runnerup at a US Youth Soccer event in Arizona.
Last week Esplin would have preferred delivering soccer passes on pitches instead of batches of cookies to teammates’doorsteps. But she did the latter happily, with fellow captains Sophia DiVagno (senior goalkeeper) and Lindsey Asmussen (junior defender) also contributing their time to provide sweet assists that didn’t show up on a soccer score sheet.
“It’s been weird,” Esplin admitted in Week 9 of Illinois’ stay-at-home order. “Our coaches, though, continue to do a great job staying in touch with us and entertaining us through Zoom. We’ve had trivia contests. I’m not very good; got asked a question about a Super Bowl, and I had no idea what the answer was.”
Stuckslager also presented his Scouts with a series of photos of Scouts booters as tots. For each image he’d ask, “Who’s this?” Scouts guessed from home; Scouts laughed from home.
Where will Camy Esplin be years from now?
“I can see her in a business field,” Stuckslager said. “I can see her as a CEO. And she’d be a good one, because Camy is positive and engaging and gets along with everyone.”
to soccer season, laments lost chance
By Bill McLean
Some truck drivers practically hung up on Camy Esplin last summer. Others provided the info she needed to log and then chatted with the Lake Forest senior-to-be about soccer, or about the horrific traffic, or about … anything.
Esplin, a holding midfielder for the Scouts in the 2018 and ’19 seasons, served as an intern for a Libertyville-based logistics company in those sweltering summer months.
“All so different,” Esplin said of the truckers’ personalities. “I was in charge of tracing and tracking. I’d call a driver, check in and ask, ‘What’s your ETA?’ Sometimes I'd hear, ‘I’m 10 minutes away,’ and then nothing else [before a quick click]. Others were bored and wanted to talk with me to pass the time.”
Esplin, slated to shift to center-back in her final prep season, was convinced her band of Scouts would have been the talk of Lake County girls soccer, at least, in 2020. But a sturdy, relentless foe, COVID-19, proved mightier than an 18-wheeler going 75 mph and crushed the teen’s realistic expectation.
The Illinois High School Association announced the cancellation of all spring sports on April 21, citing concerns related to the pandemic.
“This was going to be a big season for us, a huge one,” Esplin said on May 17, and later pointed out the date marked the one-year anniversary of Lake Forest’s 4-0 defeat of visiting Grayslake Central for a Class AA regional championship.
“We had 14 seniors on our roster, with many of us having first played together in U8 soccer. We had created a fun environment [in the preseason]. We all love soccer. We all love being competitive.”
Esplin adored soccer from the start, at the age of 3 or 4, when one of her feet thumped soccer leather for the first time. She and big brother Tyler Esplin — now 20 and an outfielder in the Boston Red Sox organization — would kick a soccer ball around in the family back yard, adorned with a net. Younger brother Tommy, 12, shoots at other nets as a left winger in hockey.
Camy’s father, Danny (a Lake Forest graduate), played baseball at the prep level, and her mother, Kristen (a Glenbrook South graduate), battled for Titans soccer squads.
“Very athletic family,” Scouts girls soccer coach Ty Stuckslager said. “Camy appreciated that while growing up. Every year, Camy’s role increased for us. She’s a positive athlete, a positive person. She just wanted to get better every season. The position change she would’ve made this year? She was fine with that. You know that Mia Hamm quote, the, ‘I defer to the team’ one? That’s also Camy’s attitude.
“There were times she’d make a mistake, smile and say, ‘Boy, thank goodness for my teammates; they got me out of the mess I made,’” the coach added.
But Esplin’s ability to read the game well, along with her fearlessness in the air, more than made up for those rare lapses. A team without a playmaker is a truck without a steering wheel.
Esplin, named a tri-captain in 2020, was an invaluable playmaker in her two varsity seasons.
“I am not the most-skilled player,” said the modest Esplin, who competed for several years in FC United’s Pre-Academy program. “I’m not the fastest player, either. I like to make things happen for my teammates in games. I’ve loved soccer, everything about it, since I knew it would be my main sport at a young age.”
Esplin plans to major in business and play club soccer at Elon (N.C.) University. She took a business course her freshman year and a second one last year.
“Liked them both,” said Esplin, who liked playing the holding midfielder and center back positions for her 2019 FC United side, which placed third at a 17U state tournament and finished runnerup at a US Youth Soccer event in Arizona.
Last week Esplin would have preferred delivering soccer passes on pitches instead of batches of cookies to teammates’doorsteps. But she did the latter happily, with fellow captains Sophia DiVagno (senior goalkeeper) and Lindsey Asmussen (junior defender) also contributing their time to provide sweet assists that didn’t show up on a soccer score sheet.
“It’s been weird,” Esplin admitted in Week 9 of Illinois’ stay-at-home order. “Our coaches, though, continue to do a great job staying in touch with us and entertaining us through Zoom. We’ve had trivia contests. I’m not very good; got asked a question about a Super Bowl, and I had no idea what the answer was.”
Stuckslager also presented his Scouts with a series of photos of Scouts booters as tots. For each image he’d ask, “Who’s this?” Scouts guessed from home; Scouts laughed from home.
Where will Camy Esplin be years from now?
“I can see her in a business field,” Stuckslager said. “I can see her as a CEO. And she’d be a good one, because Camy is positive and engaging and gets along with everyone.”