Newest Strang hopes to follow in family footsteps at Naperville Central
By Matt Le Cren
Most varsity rookies are unknown quantities, their skills still raw and their mettle untested.
Trinity Strang has yet to play a minute of varsity soccer, but the sophomore goalkeeper’s profile is a little higher than most young players.
The 5-foot-11 Strang is the youngest of three siblings in a family that has a long history of accomplishment at Naperville Central.
Strang is the daughter, niece and sister of former standout soccer players. Her father, Shane, and uncle, Brett, were stars for the boys program in the 1980s, while older brother Cameron was a Chicagoland Soccer all-state defender in 2018 and now plays for Bradley. A twin brother, Dawson, plays on the varsity water polo team.
Strang said that family history is both a plus and a minus.
“It’s a little nerve-wracking because Cameron is such a role model for me, and he’s really good at soccer,” Strang said. “So, it puts a little bit of pressure on me to get to that next level.
“It pushes me to go higher, and Brett also pushes me, because he’s my coach for club, and he’s also a great athlete as well.”
Indeed, Brett was an all-stater in high school and later played at Bowling Green. He is now the head coach of Naperville-based Galaxy FC.
Strang’s ultimate goal is to play college soccer, hopefully at the Division I level. That’s a long way off, but she is blazing her own path while following in the footsteps of her relatives. She is the first goalkeeper in the family.
“I’ve been playing goalie for about five years,” Strang said. “I used to play defense, but we needed a goalie for our team, so I decided to step up and be the goalie.
“I ended up really enjoying it. It’s not as easy as it looks. You’ve got to have a thick skin to be a goalie.”
Most people would say goalie is the toughest position in soccer. Few people volunteer to put on the gloves and knee pads and for those who do, it takes time to become proficient.
“The first time I saw her play goal was during the summer leading up to her freshman year at our camp,” Naperville Central coach Ed Watson said. “She was very raw.
“The things that she was doing at that point in time, you could tell that she wasn’t quite sure about how to play the position. Now I look at her in terms of what we saw those first two weeks (of preseason training in March) and a lot of those pieces have been coached out of her.
“She has really worked on her technique. For a tall kid she made herself very small quickly when I first watched her play and now, she has figured out how to use her body to stay big.
“(Inexperienced goalies have) that tendency to go to their knees and all of a sudden you used to be 5-foot-10 and now you’re 3-foot-6. She no longer is doing that.”
Strang is a talented athlete who made the varsity in two different sports this school year.
She was a backup center on the basketball team that won 20 games and was competing with fellow varsity newcomer Abby O’Connor for the starting goalkeeping job.
“I think I need to work on getting low for balls because of my height,” Strang said. “It’s harder to get to the lower balls than the higher balls, but I also need to work on the higher balls as well so I can take advantage of my height.”
Watson and assistant coach Barry Baldwin, who works with the goalkeepers, are excited about taking advantage of the skills of both Strang and O’Connor. The duo had performed well in preseason training before the start of the season was put on hold by the coronavirus pandemic.
“They were both having great springs,” Watson said. “We were very excited about the progress that both of them had made. We felt like we had two young goalkeepers with a great deal of promise.
“They both work at their craft in the offseason and they are tall keepers. When you can get closer to the crossbar, it’s an important piece of the puzzle, just being able to extend and get to a ball that maybe a smaller goalkeeper might not be able to get to.”
The immediate question, as it is for all players, is whether the Redhawks will get to showcase their talents at all this season. With school buildings closed for the rest of the school year, that chance is in jeopardy.
The girls are doing their part to stay cohesive.
“We’ve kept in touch,” Strang said. “We’ve done some Zoom meetings, and we also had group workouts and technical training (via) Zoom as well.
“I am grateful to have a treadmill and weights and a punching bag. That’s really helpful.”
So, too, is having her brother home early from college. Cameron has provided his sister with helpful advice and a challenge.
“He says to enjoy it and not be so nervous, and he’s also pushed me hard to make sure I’m at that high level for varsity,” Strang said. “During this quarantine we went outside in the back yard, and he shot on me a few times.
“I told him to take it easy on me. His shots are pretty hard.”
The stay-at-home order has been hard on everyone, but Strang is grateful that she is a sophomore and has two more high school seasons.
“I feel awful for all the seniors,” she said, “because they are missing out on a lot.”
By Matt Le Cren
Most varsity rookies are unknown quantities, their skills still raw and their mettle untested.
Trinity Strang has yet to play a minute of varsity soccer, but the sophomore goalkeeper’s profile is a little higher than most young players.
The 5-foot-11 Strang is the youngest of three siblings in a family that has a long history of accomplishment at Naperville Central.
Strang is the daughter, niece and sister of former standout soccer players. Her father, Shane, and uncle, Brett, were stars for the boys program in the 1980s, while older brother Cameron was a Chicagoland Soccer all-state defender in 2018 and now plays for Bradley. A twin brother, Dawson, plays on the varsity water polo team.
Strang said that family history is both a plus and a minus.
“It’s a little nerve-wracking because Cameron is such a role model for me, and he’s really good at soccer,” Strang said. “So, it puts a little bit of pressure on me to get to that next level.
“It pushes me to go higher, and Brett also pushes me, because he’s my coach for club, and he’s also a great athlete as well.”
Indeed, Brett was an all-stater in high school and later played at Bowling Green. He is now the head coach of Naperville-based Galaxy FC.
Strang’s ultimate goal is to play college soccer, hopefully at the Division I level. That’s a long way off, but she is blazing her own path while following in the footsteps of her relatives. She is the first goalkeeper in the family.
“I’ve been playing goalie for about five years,” Strang said. “I used to play defense, but we needed a goalie for our team, so I decided to step up and be the goalie.
“I ended up really enjoying it. It’s not as easy as it looks. You’ve got to have a thick skin to be a goalie.”
Most people would say goalie is the toughest position in soccer. Few people volunteer to put on the gloves and knee pads and for those who do, it takes time to become proficient.
“The first time I saw her play goal was during the summer leading up to her freshman year at our camp,” Naperville Central coach Ed Watson said. “She was very raw.
“The things that she was doing at that point in time, you could tell that she wasn’t quite sure about how to play the position. Now I look at her in terms of what we saw those first two weeks (of preseason training in March) and a lot of those pieces have been coached out of her.
“She has really worked on her technique. For a tall kid she made herself very small quickly when I first watched her play and now, she has figured out how to use her body to stay big.
“(Inexperienced goalies have) that tendency to go to their knees and all of a sudden you used to be 5-foot-10 and now you’re 3-foot-6. She no longer is doing that.”
Strang is a talented athlete who made the varsity in two different sports this school year.
She was a backup center on the basketball team that won 20 games and was competing with fellow varsity newcomer Abby O’Connor for the starting goalkeeping job.
“I think I need to work on getting low for balls because of my height,” Strang said. “It’s harder to get to the lower balls than the higher balls, but I also need to work on the higher balls as well so I can take advantage of my height.”
Watson and assistant coach Barry Baldwin, who works with the goalkeepers, are excited about taking advantage of the skills of both Strang and O’Connor. The duo had performed well in preseason training before the start of the season was put on hold by the coronavirus pandemic.
“They were both having great springs,” Watson said. “We were very excited about the progress that both of them had made. We felt like we had two young goalkeepers with a great deal of promise.
“They both work at their craft in the offseason and they are tall keepers. When you can get closer to the crossbar, it’s an important piece of the puzzle, just being able to extend and get to a ball that maybe a smaller goalkeeper might not be able to get to.”
The immediate question, as it is for all players, is whether the Redhawks will get to showcase their talents at all this season. With school buildings closed for the rest of the school year, that chance is in jeopardy.
The girls are doing their part to stay cohesive.
“We’ve kept in touch,” Strang said. “We’ve done some Zoom meetings, and we also had group workouts and technical training (via) Zoom as well.
“I am grateful to have a treadmill and weights and a punching bag. That’s really helpful.”
So, too, is having her brother home early from college. Cameron has provided his sister with helpful advice and a challenge.
“He says to enjoy it and not be so nervous, and he’s also pushed me hard to make sure I’m at that high level for varsity,” Strang said. “During this quarantine we went outside in the back yard, and he shot on me a few times.
“I told him to take it easy on me. His shots are pretty hard.”
The stay-at-home order has been hard on everyone, but Strang is grateful that she is a sophomore and has two more high school seasons.
“I feel awful for all the seniors,” she said, “because they are missing out on a lot.”