It's all in the family for Willows' Presberg
Willows junior brings lessons from home to the Eagles' program
By Gary Larsen
As the third oldest of eight children in the Presberg home, Willows Academy junior Theresa Presberg has absorbed the family credo to her core.
“You can’t give up in our family,” she said. “My parents are all about never giving up. We all play soccer, we’re all really hard on ourselves, and there’s a lot of competitiveness in all of us.”
All over the pitch throughout every soccer game, players lose the ball and face a choice. Considering the resolve her parents have instilled in her, for Presberg there is no choice.
“I know that if she does lose the ball, she’s running to get it back,” Willows coach Leah Kartsimas said. “I don’t have to scream for her to go and get it because before I could even get the word out, she’s already fighting to get it back.
“She will throw herself into a pile of girls to get the ball. Whatever she needs to do to get it, she'll do it.”
Presberg has five goals and nine assists playing mainly as a defensive midfielder, providing that vital link between the girls up-top and the girls in back. Which is right where Presberg loves to play.
“A few years ago I was the center back and then I got moved to midfield, and I love it so much more,” Presberg said. “You have a lot more freedom, and you’re connected with both the offense and the defense. So I kind of get to do both and that’s one of the things I like the most about it.”
That Presberg has more assists than goals isn’t only a byproduct of the position she plays. Her first instinct is to pass, and she had a big one in the Eagles’ game against DePaul this year.
With 90 seconds remaining in a scoreless game, Presberg had the ball with her back to the goal when she spotted teammate Ashleigh Fischer making a run behind the defense.
Presberg’s through-ball found Fischer’s feet, and Fischer’s finish to the upper-ninety gave Willows a 1-0 win.
“Her assists are so methodically played out,” Kartsimas said. “She can see the opening, and she puts the ball exactly where a player needs it and that creates so many opportunities.”
After setting up Fischer’s game-winner, Presberg slid back to the defense to help the Eagles secure the win. If Kartsimas were playing chess, Presberg might be her queen.
“I joke with her that her position is everywhere because she is everywhere,” Kartsimas said. “She's up, down, left and right. She’s trying to score and then she's defending. I love it.”
Despite her natural inclination to find the open player, Presberg can also score. She earned a hat-trick in a nine-minute span during another game this year. Kartsimas has had a simple message for Presberg all year.
“I tell her ‘You’ve got the foot. Take it,’” Kartsimas said. “Sometimes I need to tell her ‘Be selfish right now.’”
Of course, that’s a tall order when you grow up in a big family. “I don’t like being selfish,” Presberg said. “But I know there are times on the field when I need to be.”
Willows is lucky enough to have two top-shelf central players in Presberg and Fischer. Fischer is the more offense-minded of the two “but they’re basically interchangeable,” Kartsimas said.
As a quad-captain of this year’s Eagles along with seniors Kailey Mongoven, Fransi Inguanti, and Celia Coyle, Presberg and her Eagles stand at 13-5-0 entering their sectional semifinal against St. Edward at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Waukegan Sports Park.
A win there would send the Eagles to a sectional title game against the winner between North Shore Country Day and Richmond-Burton.
Willows recorded a 11-5-0 mark when Presberg was a freshman on the Eagles’ varsity, but the team went 8-9-2 her sophomore year.
“Last year we had sort of a rough patch because we had five seniors who decided not to play,” Presberg said. “So we only had one senior and that was hard. But this year we’ve got a lot of maturity and we’re all really, really close. The chemistry is the most important thing but we all also have the desire in us.”
Her family has also shaped Presberg’s leadership style.
“Growing up in a really big family, I think it helped me learn to just roll with it, because there’s really no complaining in a big family,” she said.
There’s been little to fret about during Willows’ postseason thus far. The Eagles won 9-0 over Ida Crown in a regional semifinal hosted by Christian Liberty in Arlington Heights, and then won 2-1 over Regina Dominican to win its third Class A regional title in four years.
Presberg had an assist in the win over Ida Crown before sliding back to sweeper to help keep things in order. She then played midfield stopper in the regional title game “and she played with passion and grit,” Kartsimas said. “She was concerned with keeping the ball out of our half and she did a very good job.”
Whatever the remainder of the postseason brings for Willows, the Eagles can count on Presberg’s relentless determination for the rest of this season and the next in 2020.
After that, her family’s influence will continue to shape her. Presberg intends to play college soccer, and she has a good general idea where that college will be located.
“Probably somewhere in the Midwest,” Presberg said, “just so I can play close to home.”
Willows junior brings lessons from home to the Eagles' program
By Gary Larsen
As the third oldest of eight children in the Presberg home, Willows Academy junior Theresa Presberg has absorbed the family credo to her core.
“You can’t give up in our family,” she said. “My parents are all about never giving up. We all play soccer, we’re all really hard on ourselves, and there’s a lot of competitiveness in all of us.”
All over the pitch throughout every soccer game, players lose the ball and face a choice. Considering the resolve her parents have instilled in her, for Presberg there is no choice.
“I know that if she does lose the ball, she’s running to get it back,” Willows coach Leah Kartsimas said. “I don’t have to scream for her to go and get it because before I could even get the word out, she’s already fighting to get it back.
“She will throw herself into a pile of girls to get the ball. Whatever she needs to do to get it, she'll do it.”
Presberg has five goals and nine assists playing mainly as a defensive midfielder, providing that vital link between the girls up-top and the girls in back. Which is right where Presberg loves to play.
“A few years ago I was the center back and then I got moved to midfield, and I love it so much more,” Presberg said. “You have a lot more freedom, and you’re connected with both the offense and the defense. So I kind of get to do both and that’s one of the things I like the most about it.”
That Presberg has more assists than goals isn’t only a byproduct of the position she plays. Her first instinct is to pass, and she had a big one in the Eagles’ game against DePaul this year.
With 90 seconds remaining in a scoreless game, Presberg had the ball with her back to the goal when she spotted teammate Ashleigh Fischer making a run behind the defense.
Presberg’s through-ball found Fischer’s feet, and Fischer’s finish to the upper-ninety gave Willows a 1-0 win.
“Her assists are so methodically played out,” Kartsimas said. “She can see the opening, and she puts the ball exactly where a player needs it and that creates so many opportunities.”
After setting up Fischer’s game-winner, Presberg slid back to the defense to help the Eagles secure the win. If Kartsimas were playing chess, Presberg might be her queen.
“I joke with her that her position is everywhere because she is everywhere,” Kartsimas said. “She's up, down, left and right. She’s trying to score and then she's defending. I love it.”
Despite her natural inclination to find the open player, Presberg can also score. She earned a hat-trick in a nine-minute span during another game this year. Kartsimas has had a simple message for Presberg all year.
“I tell her ‘You’ve got the foot. Take it,’” Kartsimas said. “Sometimes I need to tell her ‘Be selfish right now.’”
Of course, that’s a tall order when you grow up in a big family. “I don’t like being selfish,” Presberg said. “But I know there are times on the field when I need to be.”
Willows is lucky enough to have two top-shelf central players in Presberg and Fischer. Fischer is the more offense-minded of the two “but they’re basically interchangeable,” Kartsimas said.
As a quad-captain of this year’s Eagles along with seniors Kailey Mongoven, Fransi Inguanti, and Celia Coyle, Presberg and her Eagles stand at 13-5-0 entering their sectional semifinal against St. Edward at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Waukegan Sports Park.
A win there would send the Eagles to a sectional title game against the winner between North Shore Country Day and Richmond-Burton.
Willows recorded a 11-5-0 mark when Presberg was a freshman on the Eagles’ varsity, but the team went 8-9-2 her sophomore year.
“Last year we had sort of a rough patch because we had five seniors who decided not to play,” Presberg said. “So we only had one senior and that was hard. But this year we’ve got a lot of maturity and we’re all really, really close. The chemistry is the most important thing but we all also have the desire in us.”
Her family has also shaped Presberg’s leadership style.
“Growing up in a really big family, I think it helped me learn to just roll with it, because there’s really no complaining in a big family,” she said.
There’s been little to fret about during Willows’ postseason thus far. The Eagles won 9-0 over Ida Crown in a regional semifinal hosted by Christian Liberty in Arlington Heights, and then won 2-1 over Regina Dominican to win its third Class A regional title in four years.
Presberg had an assist in the win over Ida Crown before sliding back to sweeper to help keep things in order. She then played midfield stopper in the regional title game “and she played with passion and grit,” Kartsimas said. “She was concerned with keeping the ball out of our half and she did a very good job.”
Whatever the remainder of the postseason brings for Willows, the Eagles can count on Presberg’s relentless determination for the rest of this season and the next in 2020.
After that, her family’s influence will continue to shape her. Presberg intends to play college soccer, and she has a good general idea where that college will be located.
“Probably somewhere in the Midwest,” Presberg said, “just so I can play close to home.”