Naperville Central's Granato loses only varsity season, but college soccer awaits
By Matt Le Cren
Sophie Granato is never more comfortable than when she is on the soccer field.
The pitch is a place of refuge for the Naperville Central senior, somewhere she can go to get away from life’s troubles while satisfying her desire for competition.
“I find soccer a good stress reliever all the time,” Granato said. “If I’m having trouble with school or any other issue, I just go out and I kick the ball around, because exercise is probably the best thing for you.
“It really helps me clear my head and think about something else for a little bit. I’ve just grown to love the sport after playing it basically my whole life. I cannot imagine life without it.”
And yet, cruelly, that is exactly what Granato faces, at least in the short term. The coronavirus pandemic curtailed her final high school season, adding stress while taking away the very thing she uses to cope with it.
The painful blow was doubled because this would also have been her first varsity season. The St. Ambrose recruit spent her first three years working her way up the ranks, first on the freshman level and then for the varsity reserves the past two seasons.
“I was really excited,” Granato said. “I was looking forward to playing with a bunch of different people, because I had watched varsity throughout my high school career.
“I was looking forward to getting to play with girls who are so competitive, and I knew it would ultimately make me work harder as well.”
Granato and her siblings, Joe and Grace, have been playing soccer for a long time. They are distant cousins to the hockey-playing Granato clan who are Downers Grove natives.
That branch of the family includes Hockey Hall of Famer Cammi Granato, who captained the U.S. women’s team to the Olympic gold medal at the 1998 Nagano Games and to silver in 2002 in Salt Lake City. Cammi’s brother, Tony, played in the NHL and another brother, Don, was head coach of the Chicago Wolves and now is an assistant coach in the NHL.
But the Naperville-based Granatos get their kicks on the soccer field. Joe currently plays at Augustana, while Grace is a sophomore on Naperville Central’s varsity reserve.
Granato, who was the leading scorer in each of her first three seasons at the lower level, is listed as a midfielder, but Naperville Central coach Ed Watson is confident he could have used her at any position.
“She plays all over the field,” Watson said. “She can play in the back, she can play in the middle, and the reason why she was the leading scorer was because we also used her up-top.
“She’s a very important player. She finds ways of making herself valuable.”
Granato doesn’t consider herself to be a natural scorer.
“Originally when I was at forward I was a little surprised, because I know myself, and I’m not that fast,” Granato said. “But I did OK, I think.”
Indeed, Watson said Granato’s success stems as much from her soccer IQ as it does her physical talents.
“She doesn’t possess blazing speed, but she is a great post-forward,” Watson said. “She has the ability to receive and keep, and give the ball back to her teammates and then reestablish another deep position.
“She has a real good sense of the game. She gets herself in positions so when a ball does come to her she is able to receive quickly and move to the next logical step, which is either carry it herself or pass to the next teammate who is open.”
Watson loves to see that quality – an ability to think in real time and see one or two moves ahead – in his players. It is not a common commodity.
“What you notice as you watch her off the ball is all of that positioning that she’s doing to get herself in place where if the ball is to come to her, it’s not going to die at her feet,” Watson said. “There’s so many kids who begin playing when the ball comes to them.
“Some of them are so good that they can get away with it. Then there are other players that are always thinking ahead and always getting themselves in a better position.
For example…
“If I’m open here, but if I move five yards this way, I’m more open,” Watson noted. “If the ball was to come to me, I know where I’m going to be able to go with it and what I wouldn’t have been able to do if I stood in the original spot.
“She just moves really well away from the ball, and that is not something that a lot of players have.”
Granato was excited about finally having an opportunity to play at the highest level of high school soccer. Then schools were closed just days before the regular season was to begin.
“On the day that we figured out school was going to be out for the first two weeks, coach Watson explained it to everybody on the field,” Granato said. “Then he said, ‘For our last practice we’re just going to play to have fun.
“I think that was a really good idea, because there were a lot of people on the team that were disappointed inside, myself included. It was a good thing to leave it off with – an enjoyable practice.”
While some of the current seniors may never again play the sport competitively, Granato is far from finished.
“I think the thing that is probably the best piece about Sophia is that she loves playing,” Watson said. “She’s the type of kid that will continue to get better.
“There’s some players that when they are sophomores are the best they’re ever going to be, and she just continues to improve. There’s no doubt she is a better player as a senior than she was as a junior.”
Granato will continue her playing career at St. Ambrose, an NAIA school in Davenport, Iowa. She will be joined by Redhawks teammate Maddie Feldott, a forward who is sitting out her senior season following shoulder surgery.
That Granato will play college soccer despite not making the varsity until her senior year speaks in part to the strength of soccer programs in the Naperville area -- even JV players can go on to play in college.
“I find it a little odd that people who are on varsity are kind of expected to play at the next level, but some don’t,” Granato said.
“That’s really their choice, but I give kudos to those who aren’t on varsity but do choose to play at the next level.
“In my opinion, it’s all about confidence in your own ability to play at the next level. I feel like if you think you can play at that level, then go for it.
“You might as well take the chance, even be a walk-on, because the worst thing they can say at that level is, ‘We don’t really want you on our team.’ You can’t look back on it and say, ‘I didn’t try,’ and regret it.”
Granato doubts she will have regrets about her college decision. She aspires to become a physical therapist like her mother, Karen, who works for Edward-Elmhurst Health
“St. Ambrose has a real good physical therapy program, and my mom was actually the one to tell me about the school,” Granato said. “She told me that she gets all of the students from there, and they are just very hard-working, very diligent.
“The soccer part for me was just an add-on. I looked more toward the school and the (soccer) program was a perk.”
One of the perks of being a physical therapist, aside from the job security, is the ability to help people heal, which has hit home during the current health crisis.
“I did some observation hours over the summer (at the Edward-Elmhurst facility in Woodridge) to see if I really wanted to pursue it,” Granato said. “Everyone was so close-knit in that whole community.
“(Patients) would come in distraught or upset, because they were in pain. Then when they left, I would look at their faces and they were so satisfied and happy.
“That made me feel good that someone would, not rely on me, but they would feel better after I had talked to them or given them exercises.”
Her mother’s influence played a role in Granato’s career choice, but so did soccer.
“I’ve grown up playing sports,” Granato said. “So I thought it was an advantage for myself if I learn how to take care of myself and prevent injuries for myself and others around me.”
By Matt Le Cren
Sophie Granato is never more comfortable than when she is on the soccer field.
The pitch is a place of refuge for the Naperville Central senior, somewhere she can go to get away from life’s troubles while satisfying her desire for competition.
“I find soccer a good stress reliever all the time,” Granato said. “If I’m having trouble with school or any other issue, I just go out and I kick the ball around, because exercise is probably the best thing for you.
“It really helps me clear my head and think about something else for a little bit. I’ve just grown to love the sport after playing it basically my whole life. I cannot imagine life without it.”
And yet, cruelly, that is exactly what Granato faces, at least in the short term. The coronavirus pandemic curtailed her final high school season, adding stress while taking away the very thing she uses to cope with it.
The painful blow was doubled because this would also have been her first varsity season. The St. Ambrose recruit spent her first three years working her way up the ranks, first on the freshman level and then for the varsity reserves the past two seasons.
“I was really excited,” Granato said. “I was looking forward to playing with a bunch of different people, because I had watched varsity throughout my high school career.
“I was looking forward to getting to play with girls who are so competitive, and I knew it would ultimately make me work harder as well.”
Granato and her siblings, Joe and Grace, have been playing soccer for a long time. They are distant cousins to the hockey-playing Granato clan who are Downers Grove natives.
That branch of the family includes Hockey Hall of Famer Cammi Granato, who captained the U.S. women’s team to the Olympic gold medal at the 1998 Nagano Games and to silver in 2002 in Salt Lake City. Cammi’s brother, Tony, played in the NHL and another brother, Don, was head coach of the Chicago Wolves and now is an assistant coach in the NHL.
But the Naperville-based Granatos get their kicks on the soccer field. Joe currently plays at Augustana, while Grace is a sophomore on Naperville Central’s varsity reserve.
Granato, who was the leading scorer in each of her first three seasons at the lower level, is listed as a midfielder, but Naperville Central coach Ed Watson is confident he could have used her at any position.
“She plays all over the field,” Watson said. “She can play in the back, she can play in the middle, and the reason why she was the leading scorer was because we also used her up-top.
“She’s a very important player. She finds ways of making herself valuable.”
Granato doesn’t consider herself to be a natural scorer.
“Originally when I was at forward I was a little surprised, because I know myself, and I’m not that fast,” Granato said. “But I did OK, I think.”
Indeed, Watson said Granato’s success stems as much from her soccer IQ as it does her physical talents.
“She doesn’t possess blazing speed, but she is a great post-forward,” Watson said. “She has the ability to receive and keep, and give the ball back to her teammates and then reestablish another deep position.
“She has a real good sense of the game. She gets herself in positions so when a ball does come to her she is able to receive quickly and move to the next logical step, which is either carry it herself or pass to the next teammate who is open.”
Watson loves to see that quality – an ability to think in real time and see one or two moves ahead – in his players. It is not a common commodity.
“What you notice as you watch her off the ball is all of that positioning that she’s doing to get herself in place where if the ball is to come to her, it’s not going to die at her feet,” Watson said. “There’s so many kids who begin playing when the ball comes to them.
“Some of them are so good that they can get away with it. Then there are other players that are always thinking ahead and always getting themselves in a better position.
For example…
“If I’m open here, but if I move five yards this way, I’m more open,” Watson noted. “If the ball was to come to me, I know where I’m going to be able to go with it and what I wouldn’t have been able to do if I stood in the original spot.
“She just moves really well away from the ball, and that is not something that a lot of players have.”
Granato was excited about finally having an opportunity to play at the highest level of high school soccer. Then schools were closed just days before the regular season was to begin.
“On the day that we figured out school was going to be out for the first two weeks, coach Watson explained it to everybody on the field,” Granato said. “Then he said, ‘For our last practice we’re just going to play to have fun.
“I think that was a really good idea, because there were a lot of people on the team that were disappointed inside, myself included. It was a good thing to leave it off with – an enjoyable practice.”
While some of the current seniors may never again play the sport competitively, Granato is far from finished.
“I think the thing that is probably the best piece about Sophia is that she loves playing,” Watson said. “She’s the type of kid that will continue to get better.
“There’s some players that when they are sophomores are the best they’re ever going to be, and she just continues to improve. There’s no doubt she is a better player as a senior than she was as a junior.”
Granato will continue her playing career at St. Ambrose, an NAIA school in Davenport, Iowa. She will be joined by Redhawks teammate Maddie Feldott, a forward who is sitting out her senior season following shoulder surgery.
That Granato will play college soccer despite not making the varsity until her senior year speaks in part to the strength of soccer programs in the Naperville area -- even JV players can go on to play in college.
“I find it a little odd that people who are on varsity are kind of expected to play at the next level, but some don’t,” Granato said.
“That’s really their choice, but I give kudos to those who aren’t on varsity but do choose to play at the next level.
“In my opinion, it’s all about confidence in your own ability to play at the next level. I feel like if you think you can play at that level, then go for it.
“You might as well take the chance, even be a walk-on, because the worst thing they can say at that level is, ‘We don’t really want you on our team.’ You can’t look back on it and say, ‘I didn’t try,’ and regret it.”
Granato doubts she will have regrets about her college decision. She aspires to become a physical therapist like her mother, Karen, who works for Edward-Elmhurst Health
“St. Ambrose has a real good physical therapy program, and my mom was actually the one to tell me about the school,” Granato said. “She told me that she gets all of the students from there, and they are just very hard-working, very diligent.
“The soccer part for me was just an add-on. I looked more toward the school and the (soccer) program was a perk.”
One of the perks of being a physical therapist, aside from the job security, is the ability to help people heal, which has hit home during the current health crisis.
“I did some observation hours over the summer (at the Edward-Elmhurst facility in Woodridge) to see if I really wanted to pursue it,” Granato said. “Everyone was so close-knit in that whole community.
“(Patients) would come in distraught or upset, because they were in pain. Then when they left, I would look at their faces and they were so satisfied and happy.
“That made me feel good that someone would, not rely on me, but they would feel better after I had talked to them or given them exercises.”
Her mother’s influence played a role in Granato’s career choice, but so did soccer.
“I’ve grown up playing sports,” Granato said. “So I thought it was an advantage for myself if I learn how to take care of myself and prevent injuries for myself and others around me.”