Naperville Central soph Skoubis
no longer unheralded
By Matt Le Cren
Naperville Central sophomore Sophia Skoubis began her high school career last spring with modest expectations.
“I went into tryouts just thinking I need to make the freshman team,” Skoubis recalled. “I got put on JV, and I was really surprised and so thankful that I was able to get to that level.
“After about a week, (coaches Ed) Watson and (Barry) Baldwin asked me to play a game with (the varsity in practice), and after that game they asked me to play on varsity.”
Skoubis never looked back. She quickly settled into a starting role at center back and earned Chicagoland Soccer All-State Watch List honors and became the only freshman defender in the state to earn IHSSCA All-Sectional honors. Skoubis teamed with senior Grace Anderson to anchor a defense that led the Redhawks to a regional championship.
“We had her on our radar,” Watson said. “She played her first game with our JV1 team and played very well.
“We had some nagging injuries early on, and we felt she had proven herself to the point where we could at least give her a look. So we brought her up.”
The rookie was tested immediately.
“We set her up right away,” Watson said. “Burlington Central had a kid who was coming back with 25 goals.
“Sophia stuck with her. It was the classic case of she didn’t know she was playing against somebody that was really good. She just played and did very well.
“So, it was a great opportunity for her to show what she was capable of and we never looked back from that point on. When you’re an all-sectional player as a freshman, you’ve done some things.”
Skoubis credits her teammates and coaches for her quick acclimation to varsity action.
“I really just played my game, and the coaches really helped me improve my game both mentally and physically,” Skoubis said. “My team also was very supportive. The seniors really helped me get to the level that I was at.”
Chief among those seniors was Anderson, who was returning from a torn ACL. Those two proved to be perfect partners in the middle of the backline.
“She taught me how to be a leader and as a freshman, that’s something that is hard,” Skoubis said. “I was the only freshman on varsity and being in the back you can see the whole field and you’re able to tell people where to go and what they need to do.
“As a center back, you need to be able to speak out and (instruct) your players, so she really helped me with that. She also helped me position-wise. She told me where to go.”
The Redhawks were offensively-challenged last year, so Watson knew they would go only as far as their defense could take them. The backline was stout, keeping the team in all but two matches.
The center pairing of Anderson and Skoubis proved crucial.
“Grace was coming off an ACL tear, and Sophia was an unproven freshman. They immediately became two of our strengths,” Watson said. “They were a really great combination.
“Grace immediately felt comfortable with Sophia, and that’s important that the senior feels comfortable with the freshman. More importantly, Sophia was immediately protected by Grace and Grace was so happy that there was somebody who played as well as Sophia did. Grace really looked after her.”
In Anderson, the Redhawks had a senior willing to teach, while Skoubis was eager to learn.
“That’s what is so fun about high school soccer is that you’ve got seniors taking care of freshmen and bringing them along,” Watson said. “In terms of experience, the seniors have gone through so much more than the freshmen on so many different levels, both inside and outside of the classroom.”
For Skoubis, Anderson was the perfect big sister.
“She was just an easy-going person, and she told me what to do and I’d listen,” Skoubis said. “She has this kind of calmness to her that would help me on the field when I’d get nervous.
“She would always have my back every single play. If I messed up, she would always cover for me, and the same with me, I would always be there for her. We just connected.”
It also helped that their skills and mentality meshed well.
“The two of them were a great combination because Grace wanted to stay at home a little bit more and Sophia wanted to attack a little bit more,” Watson said. “They just played off each other so well.
“It’s one of those situations where you think you’re going to be OK, and then you realize that we’re so much better than we ever thought we were going to be in this situation.”
Besides getting acclimated to playing against older girls, Skoubis had to familiarize herself with playing in the middle, something she hadn’t done since she was 8 or 9. She had played mostly on the outside in the years leading up to high school.
“Grace was able to help me make that transition,” Skoubis said. “She told me to make sure that I’m strong, and I’m powerful, and I needed to stand my ground up against those bigger girls.”
Skoubis did just that, playing with a ferocity that belied her youth.
“I was hoping that she could fit in and what we saw as the season progressed is the kid is an unbelievable competitor,” Watson said. “It’s one thing to be a good player.
“There’s a lot of good players, but Sophia just competes. She hates to lose, and I’ll take 11 kids like that any day.
“You put 11 kids with her mindset on the field, and you’re going to win a lot of soccer games.”
That competitiveness can’t be taught. Indeed, Skoubis, an only child, seems to have been born with it.
“Everywhere I go – school, soccer, even when I play card games with my family – I just always have this kind of competitiveness to me,” Skoubis said. “It comes from parents (Bill and Alexis).
“My mom played basketball and tennis in college (Elmhurst) and my dad was a track star and played football in high school (Gordon Tech), so it just kind of came from my genes.
“My family is a very competitive family, and they put me in a lot of sports when I was younger, and I just kind of grew up with that fearlessness.”
Never was that fearlessness more apparent to Watson than in Naperville Central’s final game of the 2019 campaign, a tense sectional semifinal game in which the Redhawks nearly upset heavily favored Waubonsie Valley, which had routed the Redhawks 5-2 in the regular season. Central fell on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
“She rolled her ankle severely in the first half of the Waubonsie game,” Watson recalled.
“Our trainer taped her and evaluated her and said, ‘You can try.’
“It’s one of those situations where if it had been midseason and we had four weeks to go, we would have said, ‘Let’s shut her down and try to get her back in a week.’ But it was the end of the year; there is no tomorrow. She was still feeling the adrenaline and said, ‘I want to go back in.’
Watson did, but at a different position, one Skoubis hadn’t played all season.
“We knew we couldn’t put her in the back,” Watson said. “We had to keep girls behind her just in case she wasn’t able to make the cuts she needed.
“We moved her into the midfield, and she was a spark for us in the second half. There was a ball that she hit that just went over the bar that would have given us a 2-1 lead late in the game.”
Watson had mixed emotions about allowing Skoubis to play through the injury.
“I knew there was no way she would have been able to play the next game,” Watson said. “Once that adrenaline wore off, she was going to be in a world of hurt, but she wasn’t willing to come off the field.
“As a coach, I couldn’t in good conscience say I’m going to take this away from you. She just worked too hard for that.
“We didn’t find a way to win that game but I know that she gave us every chance that we could have asked for -- just unbelievable competitive spirit.”
Which is one reason why Skoubis and her teammates felt a different kind of pain when this season was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s unfortunate because this year would have been big for her to be able to continue to show what she was capable of,” Watson said. “She will be a Division I player at some point.”
Skoubis does want to play in college but she was really looking forward to playing with the Redhawks this spring.
“This was a special group of girls,” Skoubis said. “We got (Illinois State recruit) Hannah Bradley-Leon back.
“Even in those two weeks (of practice) there was something special. Everyone really jelled and we were able to connect so many great plays, and I feel like this would have been such an amazing season, not only individually but as a team, we would really be able to go far.”
Instead, the 16-year-old got a life lesson thanks to a global tragedy.
“It has definitely made me view soccer as a necessity in my life,” Skoubis said. “I have the opportunity almost every day to work out with my friends or practice, and I’m just kind of able to block out everything that’s going on in the world and just focus in on my game.
“Not having that has been tough, but it’s also made me thankful that me and my family are safe and healthy and so are all my teammates and coaches.”
no longer unheralded
By Matt Le Cren
Naperville Central sophomore Sophia Skoubis began her high school career last spring with modest expectations.
“I went into tryouts just thinking I need to make the freshman team,” Skoubis recalled. “I got put on JV, and I was really surprised and so thankful that I was able to get to that level.
“After about a week, (coaches Ed) Watson and (Barry) Baldwin asked me to play a game with (the varsity in practice), and after that game they asked me to play on varsity.”
Skoubis never looked back. She quickly settled into a starting role at center back and earned Chicagoland Soccer All-State Watch List honors and became the only freshman defender in the state to earn IHSSCA All-Sectional honors. Skoubis teamed with senior Grace Anderson to anchor a defense that led the Redhawks to a regional championship.
“We had her on our radar,” Watson said. “She played her first game with our JV1 team and played very well.
“We had some nagging injuries early on, and we felt she had proven herself to the point where we could at least give her a look. So we brought her up.”
The rookie was tested immediately.
“We set her up right away,” Watson said. “Burlington Central had a kid who was coming back with 25 goals.
“Sophia stuck with her. It was the classic case of she didn’t know she was playing against somebody that was really good. She just played and did very well.
“So, it was a great opportunity for her to show what she was capable of and we never looked back from that point on. When you’re an all-sectional player as a freshman, you’ve done some things.”
Skoubis credits her teammates and coaches for her quick acclimation to varsity action.
“I really just played my game, and the coaches really helped me improve my game both mentally and physically,” Skoubis said. “My team also was very supportive. The seniors really helped me get to the level that I was at.”
Chief among those seniors was Anderson, who was returning from a torn ACL. Those two proved to be perfect partners in the middle of the backline.
“She taught me how to be a leader and as a freshman, that’s something that is hard,” Skoubis said. “I was the only freshman on varsity and being in the back you can see the whole field and you’re able to tell people where to go and what they need to do.
“As a center back, you need to be able to speak out and (instruct) your players, so she really helped me with that. She also helped me position-wise. She told me where to go.”
The Redhawks were offensively-challenged last year, so Watson knew they would go only as far as their defense could take them. The backline was stout, keeping the team in all but two matches.
The center pairing of Anderson and Skoubis proved crucial.
“Grace was coming off an ACL tear, and Sophia was an unproven freshman. They immediately became two of our strengths,” Watson said. “They were a really great combination.
“Grace immediately felt comfortable with Sophia, and that’s important that the senior feels comfortable with the freshman. More importantly, Sophia was immediately protected by Grace and Grace was so happy that there was somebody who played as well as Sophia did. Grace really looked after her.”
In Anderson, the Redhawks had a senior willing to teach, while Skoubis was eager to learn.
“That’s what is so fun about high school soccer is that you’ve got seniors taking care of freshmen and bringing them along,” Watson said. “In terms of experience, the seniors have gone through so much more than the freshmen on so many different levels, both inside and outside of the classroom.”
For Skoubis, Anderson was the perfect big sister.
“She was just an easy-going person, and she told me what to do and I’d listen,” Skoubis said. “She has this kind of calmness to her that would help me on the field when I’d get nervous.
“She would always have my back every single play. If I messed up, she would always cover for me, and the same with me, I would always be there for her. We just connected.”
It also helped that their skills and mentality meshed well.
“The two of them were a great combination because Grace wanted to stay at home a little bit more and Sophia wanted to attack a little bit more,” Watson said. “They just played off each other so well.
“It’s one of those situations where you think you’re going to be OK, and then you realize that we’re so much better than we ever thought we were going to be in this situation.”
Besides getting acclimated to playing against older girls, Skoubis had to familiarize herself with playing in the middle, something she hadn’t done since she was 8 or 9. She had played mostly on the outside in the years leading up to high school.
“Grace was able to help me make that transition,” Skoubis said. “She told me to make sure that I’m strong, and I’m powerful, and I needed to stand my ground up against those bigger girls.”
Skoubis did just that, playing with a ferocity that belied her youth.
“I was hoping that she could fit in and what we saw as the season progressed is the kid is an unbelievable competitor,” Watson said. “It’s one thing to be a good player.
“There’s a lot of good players, but Sophia just competes. She hates to lose, and I’ll take 11 kids like that any day.
“You put 11 kids with her mindset on the field, and you’re going to win a lot of soccer games.”
That competitiveness can’t be taught. Indeed, Skoubis, an only child, seems to have been born with it.
“Everywhere I go – school, soccer, even when I play card games with my family – I just always have this kind of competitiveness to me,” Skoubis said. “It comes from parents (Bill and Alexis).
“My mom played basketball and tennis in college (Elmhurst) and my dad was a track star and played football in high school (Gordon Tech), so it just kind of came from my genes.
“My family is a very competitive family, and they put me in a lot of sports when I was younger, and I just kind of grew up with that fearlessness.”
Never was that fearlessness more apparent to Watson than in Naperville Central’s final game of the 2019 campaign, a tense sectional semifinal game in which the Redhawks nearly upset heavily favored Waubonsie Valley, which had routed the Redhawks 5-2 in the regular season. Central fell on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
“She rolled her ankle severely in the first half of the Waubonsie game,” Watson recalled.
“Our trainer taped her and evaluated her and said, ‘You can try.’
“It’s one of those situations where if it had been midseason and we had four weeks to go, we would have said, ‘Let’s shut her down and try to get her back in a week.’ But it was the end of the year; there is no tomorrow. She was still feeling the adrenaline and said, ‘I want to go back in.’
Watson did, but at a different position, one Skoubis hadn’t played all season.
“We knew we couldn’t put her in the back,” Watson said. “We had to keep girls behind her just in case she wasn’t able to make the cuts she needed.
“We moved her into the midfield, and she was a spark for us in the second half. There was a ball that she hit that just went over the bar that would have given us a 2-1 lead late in the game.”
Watson had mixed emotions about allowing Skoubis to play through the injury.
“I knew there was no way she would have been able to play the next game,” Watson said. “Once that adrenaline wore off, she was going to be in a world of hurt, but she wasn’t willing to come off the field.
“As a coach, I couldn’t in good conscience say I’m going to take this away from you. She just worked too hard for that.
“We didn’t find a way to win that game but I know that she gave us every chance that we could have asked for -- just unbelievable competitive spirit.”
Which is one reason why Skoubis and her teammates felt a different kind of pain when this season was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s unfortunate because this year would have been big for her to be able to continue to show what she was capable of,” Watson said. “She will be a Division I player at some point.”
Skoubis does want to play in college but she was really looking forward to playing with the Redhawks this spring.
“This was a special group of girls,” Skoubis said. “We got (Illinois State recruit) Hannah Bradley-Leon back.
“Even in those two weeks (of practice) there was something special. Everyone really jelled and we were able to connect so many great plays, and I feel like this would have been such an amazing season, not only individually but as a team, we would really be able to go far.”
Instead, the 16-year-old got a life lesson thanks to a global tragedy.
“It has definitely made me view soccer as a necessity in my life,” Skoubis said. “I have the opportunity almost every day to work out with my friends or practice, and I’m just kind of able to block out everything that’s going on in the world and just focus in on my game.
“Not having that has been tough, but it’s also made me thankful that me and my family are safe and healthy and so are all my teammates and coaches.”