St. Francis' Lemke,
Wheaton Academy's Bickhart, Alexander shine in Metro Suburban
By Mike Garofola
WHEATON --With their stadiums just over five miles apart, and each considered a power in the Metro Suburban Conference: the Wheaton Academy-St. Francis soccer match is much like the always highly anticipated, and hard fought English Premier League derbys.
While true each club resides in a different zip code, on May 6 night much of the soccer interest in the city of Wheaton was divided into blue and white at Kuhn Memorial Stadium.
St. Francis star Katherine Lemke proudly wore her blue no. 18 jersey for manager Jim Winslow.
Lemke, the only remaining player from the 2018 Class AA state championship club, enjoyed a marvelous night of play and provided a wonderful helper on the eventual game-winner, before ensuring victory with a brilliant finish in the Spartans 3-1 triumph.
"(Kat) has always been a mature individual, laser-focused, a brilliant student and just a great sense of humor," begins Winslow.
"There really isn't much she cannot do as a player, even though she hasn't played club soccer in two years. If she wasn't playing golf in college, she would be a collegiate player somewhere."
"I actually picked up the game (golf) in eighth grade. My dad was so excited," recounted Lemke, who admits that soccer is still her no. 1 love.
"I found out I was pretty good at (golf) and really came to enjoy playing, getting better the more I played. If not for COVID, I would have been a four-time state qualifier."
Lemke enjoyed postseason success during her junior year. She shot a blistering 71 to claim the regional title, then a 76 one week later to lift the sectional championship trophy.
At state, Lemke finished just four strokes off the eventual Class AA state champion.
Previously, the affable Spartans outside midfielder helped lead her links team to back-to-back regional team titles during her freshmen and sophomore seasons.
Lemke will attend Creighton next fall where she will enter an engineering dual degree program. She plans for a master’s degree afterwards and hopes for employment at either NASA or the Department of Defense.
When watching Lemke play soccer, it's quite clear she plays with intelligence and efficiency. She is able to dictate play and is the driving force behind the success of the Spartans. She is a leader who can inspire the likes of juniors like Claire Reinke and Lauren Bruce, as well as on-the-rise freshmen like Sophia Roszowski and Paige Chrustowski.
"There is so much young talent on our roster this year," said Lemke, a Geneva resident. “For me, it's really cool to be around all of our new faces and to impress upon those players that (it's) their time to create their own soccer future and legacy.
"I am enjoying the opportunity to be a strong leader and mentor in my last year.
"I've never second guessed my decision to be at St. Francis. They have allowed me to pursue my interests in golf, soccer, art and music, so it's been a wonderful place for me.”
"The biggest change in (Kat) is to see her letting herself enjoy the game more and how she is reaching out to her teammates," says Winslow.
Lemke and Chaparro are the current shining lights for the Spartans, and Bruce, Chrustowski, Reinke and Roszowski are the future stars.
"(Lemke) is a wonderful young woman, and it's been fun to see her and Kate (Chaparro) mix in with the others and be more vocal, and even be cheerleaders for their younger teammates.”
At Wheaton Academy, established stars Amy Alexander and Kelly Bickhart give new manager Maria Selvaggio plenty of reasons to smile.
"Obviously Amy and Kelly lost a precious year of soccer they will not get back, but I've seen the hunger and fire in them to make this last year of high school soccer really count and have no regrets," began Selvaggio.
"I know both of them have a new understanding of how precious these days are, and you see it in their discipline and determination each time out - those two girls are just so special to this group."
The dynamic senior duo are in good hands with Selvaggio, herself a former Warriors soccer player and key figure in the school’s first state championship team in any sport in 2004.
After that Selvaggio, then Maria Della Torre, went on to star at Wheaton College from 2006-2009. During that time under famed manager Pete Felske, she was part of back-to-back national championships teams (2006-2007) and was named a four-time all-College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin and all-regional player.
Selvaggio feels that Bickhart is an emerging talent, and one the program is thrilled to have.
"Kelly moved to Maryland, then back to Illinois during high school. She used to attend our summer camps when she was younger, so she immediately stood out back then as a skilled, and poised player on the ball, who is very smooth, composed, and possesses the type of drive that makes her the competitor she is," said Selvaggio.
The Warriors goal-scoring, and assist leader was also a state qualifier in cross country, which explains why she can go box-to-box for 80 minutes plus.
"Kelly leads our team with her quality of play, and work ethic,” Selvaggio said. “Plus she knows how to defend, possess the ball and push our attack. With her size and speed, she is just so dynamic and dangerous whenever she has the ball."
Stationed in front of her back four, Bickhart forms a resilient shield in front of the Warriors young defenders along with Alexander. The pair make their club tick offensively. On the other side of the ball, they share a love of tackling and intercepting the ball with an exceptional regularity.
Bickhart, who would make some collegiate program happy to have her as a defensive midfielder, has chosen instead to put aside her boots after this season and attend the University of Illinois to major in kinesiology.
"I might consider playing club soccer while there," said Bickhart, who has several family members, including her grandparents, who are Illinois alumni.
"I cannot say enough great things about Kelly,” said Selvaggio. “She will be hard to replace for sure, not only as a player, but also as a person, because she is the type of young woman who you want to have around your team."
Selvaggio believes Alexander has an excellent chance to walk on and play at Oral Roberts University next fall. She is a committed team player, who provides a huge presence in the Warriors starting 11.
"Amy was really affected by the pandemic. She was just hitting her stride in the recruitment world when her prospects really were thrown off when everything shut down," began Selvaggio.
"She has several programs interested in her, but roster spots changed as schools had players red-shirt to play a fifth season.
"The whole thing nearly caused her to throw in the towel, but I am so confident her career is just getting started for the good. Since she's such a talented soccer player and cross country runner, I really believe she has a very good chance of catching on at Oral Roberts.”
The 5-foot-9 center-midfielder forms the perfect partnership with Bickhart because they each play off of each other so well.
Selvaggio likes the way Alexander can man-mark an opponent’s top talent in the center of the park, while averaging a high percentage of wins in the air and on the floor. She forces turnovers and disrupts play as well.
"Amy is a young woman of faith and fire.” Selvaggio said. “ (She) loves the Lord, her teammates, and she loves to work hard and give all of herself for the good of the team. I admire her discipline to be consistent day-in and day-out."
Alexander, Bickhart and Lemke clearly are the driving forces behind the success of their respective clubs, which in all likelihood will result in a top one or two seed in their respective Class A (Wheaton Academy) and Class 2A (St. Francis) sectionals when this information is released next week.
Wheaton Academy's Bickhart, Alexander shine in Metro Suburban
By Mike Garofola
WHEATON --With their stadiums just over five miles apart, and each considered a power in the Metro Suburban Conference: the Wheaton Academy-St. Francis soccer match is much like the always highly anticipated, and hard fought English Premier League derbys.
While true each club resides in a different zip code, on May 6 night much of the soccer interest in the city of Wheaton was divided into blue and white at Kuhn Memorial Stadium.
St. Francis star Katherine Lemke proudly wore her blue no. 18 jersey for manager Jim Winslow.
Lemke, the only remaining player from the 2018 Class AA state championship club, enjoyed a marvelous night of play and provided a wonderful helper on the eventual game-winner, before ensuring victory with a brilliant finish in the Spartans 3-1 triumph.
"(Kat) has always been a mature individual, laser-focused, a brilliant student and just a great sense of humor," begins Winslow.
"There really isn't much she cannot do as a player, even though she hasn't played club soccer in two years. If she wasn't playing golf in college, she would be a collegiate player somewhere."
"I actually picked up the game (golf) in eighth grade. My dad was so excited," recounted Lemke, who admits that soccer is still her no. 1 love.
"I found out I was pretty good at (golf) and really came to enjoy playing, getting better the more I played. If not for COVID, I would have been a four-time state qualifier."
Lemke enjoyed postseason success during her junior year. She shot a blistering 71 to claim the regional title, then a 76 one week later to lift the sectional championship trophy.
At state, Lemke finished just four strokes off the eventual Class AA state champion.
Previously, the affable Spartans outside midfielder helped lead her links team to back-to-back regional team titles during her freshmen and sophomore seasons.
Lemke will attend Creighton next fall where she will enter an engineering dual degree program. She plans for a master’s degree afterwards and hopes for employment at either NASA or the Department of Defense.
When watching Lemke play soccer, it's quite clear she plays with intelligence and efficiency. She is able to dictate play and is the driving force behind the success of the Spartans. She is a leader who can inspire the likes of juniors like Claire Reinke and Lauren Bruce, as well as on-the-rise freshmen like Sophia Roszowski and Paige Chrustowski.
"There is so much young talent on our roster this year," said Lemke, a Geneva resident. “For me, it's really cool to be around all of our new faces and to impress upon those players that (it's) their time to create their own soccer future and legacy.
"I am enjoying the opportunity to be a strong leader and mentor in my last year.
"I've never second guessed my decision to be at St. Francis. They have allowed me to pursue my interests in golf, soccer, art and music, so it's been a wonderful place for me.”
"The biggest change in (Kat) is to see her letting herself enjoy the game more and how she is reaching out to her teammates," says Winslow.
Lemke and Chaparro are the current shining lights for the Spartans, and Bruce, Chrustowski, Reinke and Roszowski are the future stars.
"(Lemke) is a wonderful young woman, and it's been fun to see her and Kate (Chaparro) mix in with the others and be more vocal, and even be cheerleaders for their younger teammates.”
At Wheaton Academy, established stars Amy Alexander and Kelly Bickhart give new manager Maria Selvaggio plenty of reasons to smile.
"Obviously Amy and Kelly lost a precious year of soccer they will not get back, but I've seen the hunger and fire in them to make this last year of high school soccer really count and have no regrets," began Selvaggio.
"I know both of them have a new understanding of how precious these days are, and you see it in their discipline and determination each time out - those two girls are just so special to this group."
The dynamic senior duo are in good hands with Selvaggio, herself a former Warriors soccer player and key figure in the school’s first state championship team in any sport in 2004.
After that Selvaggio, then Maria Della Torre, went on to star at Wheaton College from 2006-2009. During that time under famed manager Pete Felske, she was part of back-to-back national championships teams (2006-2007) and was named a four-time all-College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin and all-regional player.
Selvaggio feels that Bickhart is an emerging talent, and one the program is thrilled to have.
"Kelly moved to Maryland, then back to Illinois during high school. She used to attend our summer camps when she was younger, so she immediately stood out back then as a skilled, and poised player on the ball, who is very smooth, composed, and possesses the type of drive that makes her the competitor she is," said Selvaggio.
The Warriors goal-scoring, and assist leader was also a state qualifier in cross country, which explains why she can go box-to-box for 80 minutes plus.
"Kelly leads our team with her quality of play, and work ethic,” Selvaggio said. “Plus she knows how to defend, possess the ball and push our attack. With her size and speed, she is just so dynamic and dangerous whenever she has the ball."
Stationed in front of her back four, Bickhart forms a resilient shield in front of the Warriors young defenders along with Alexander. The pair make their club tick offensively. On the other side of the ball, they share a love of tackling and intercepting the ball with an exceptional regularity.
Bickhart, who would make some collegiate program happy to have her as a defensive midfielder, has chosen instead to put aside her boots after this season and attend the University of Illinois to major in kinesiology.
"I might consider playing club soccer while there," said Bickhart, who has several family members, including her grandparents, who are Illinois alumni.
"I cannot say enough great things about Kelly,” said Selvaggio. “She will be hard to replace for sure, not only as a player, but also as a person, because she is the type of young woman who you want to have around your team."
Selvaggio believes Alexander has an excellent chance to walk on and play at Oral Roberts University next fall. She is a committed team player, who provides a huge presence in the Warriors starting 11.
"Amy was really affected by the pandemic. She was just hitting her stride in the recruitment world when her prospects really were thrown off when everything shut down," began Selvaggio.
"She has several programs interested in her, but roster spots changed as schools had players red-shirt to play a fifth season.
"The whole thing nearly caused her to throw in the towel, but I am so confident her career is just getting started for the good. Since she's such a talented soccer player and cross country runner, I really believe she has a very good chance of catching on at Oral Roberts.”
The 5-foot-9 center-midfielder forms the perfect partnership with Bickhart because they each play off of each other so well.
Selvaggio likes the way Alexander can man-mark an opponent’s top talent in the center of the park, while averaging a high percentage of wins in the air and on the floor. She forces turnovers and disrupts play as well.
"Amy is a young woman of faith and fire.” Selvaggio said. “ (She) loves the Lord, her teammates, and she loves to work hard and give all of herself for the good of the team. I admire her discipline to be consistent day-in and day-out."
Alexander, Bickhart and Lemke clearly are the driving forces behind the success of their respective clubs, which in all likelihood will result in a top one or two seed in their respective Class A (Wheaton Academy) and Class 2A (St. Francis) sectionals when this information is released next week.