SCE's Harper living
Texas-sized soccer dreams
By Dave Owen
St. Charles East’s Margaret Harper is a born soccer player.
Evidence of that was almost immediate.
“Probably the first memory I have is when I was like two,” Harper said. “When we first moved into our house, we had nothing in our living room, so we would set up little goals, and I would play with my dad.
“Then I started playing with Tri-Cities Rec soccer probably when I was five, as soon as you can do it. Soccer has been in my life forever.”
The early start produced very nice results.
Harper started at midfielder as both a sophomore and junior on St. Charles East teams that won a combined 35 games in two years.
And her soccer career will continue at the next level this fall, at the University of Texas at Dallas.
“At the end of sophomore going into junior year is when I committed,” Harper said. “The coach (Kanute Drugan) reached out to me, and I’ve always been in love with Texas. When I saw that he was from Dallas, I was like ‘Wait, that’s perfect.’
“I got to talk to him, and he’s one of the main reasons I’m going. He’s just super down to earth, and right away I felt like I was part of the team already. And when I visited (Dallas), I fell in love with the campus. I talked to a lot of the girls there before even going, and all of them were super nice. It seemed like a great fit.”
Before taking the top job at Texas-Dallas, Drugan was the longtime head coach at Aurora University. His 2019 squad that stampeded to a 15-2-4 record included Batavia graduate Megan Theros.
“Our coach at Dallas is actually from Oswego,” Harper said, “and he likes to recruit a lot of girls from out here in the Tri-Cities area. I think he saw me at a tournament for club (Chicago Soccer Academy Fox Valley).”
While soccer was important in the decision, the Texas-Dallas curriculum clinched it.
“Academically for biomedical engineering, which I’m going to be studying,” Harper said, “they’re pretty high up there in the rankings nationally for that program.”
Harper took engineering classes all four years at St. Charles East. Balancing such demanding courses with soccer was never a problem.
“Always school comes first,” she said. “I have to stay on a tight schedule if I don’t want to fall behind in school.
“Those first weeks we have practice, it would be soccer right after school and then I’d come home and try to do all my homework. It is a little difficult getting everything done with the hard classes, but you just have to know your priorities I guess.”
Not surprisingly, Harper’s smarts also showed on the soccer field.
“Margaret is a player whose strength is her soccer IQ, physicality and ability to defend,” Saints coach Vince DiNuzzo said.
“Margaret is someone who plays the game without fear. She is very confident in herself and her teammates, which is valuable to the team.”
Stepping into a center midfielder spot as a sophomore, Harper quickly developed a comfort level.
“It was different,” she said. “You’re only a sophomore with all these juniors and seniors, and most of them have all been on varsity and know how it is. It was a little hard adjustment at first, but all of them were super nice.”
One fellow sophomore particularly helped.
“Alondra Carranza was probably my closest friend on the team,” Harper said. “I felt like she helped me adjust a lot because she was on the (varsity) team freshman year.
“And that (2018 season) was DiNuzzo’s first year too, so I felt that made the transition a little bit easier because not only I had to adjust but everyone had to adjust to a new coach.”
Harper and Carranza were part of a large group of underclassmen on the 2018 team. By 2019, they had taken their games to another level with a 22-win season.
“My sophomore year to junior year we had a lot of the core returning girls, and that made it easier,” Harper said. “Not only the way we played ball, but also how close we were off the field.
“Because everyone was already so close with each other, it made everything a lot easier – which you could see on the field. We all had those closer connections, we all knew how we played together, and just being comfortable with the girls helped a lot because we were always there for each other.”
Out of many memorable plays in St. Charles East’s winningest season since the 2000 state championship squad, one in particular stood out for Harper.
“One of the main things was in our regional championship last year when we played Wheaton Warrenville South,” she said. “It was having an assist to Elle (McCaslin), who scored from like 30 yards out (in the Saints’ win).
“That was probably one of the highlights from last season on the field. And off the field, it (the highlight) was how close we were able to get. Our team sleepovers were always fun.”
While seeing some time when needed at center back, Harper’s main spot was in the midfield.
“I like playing center mid better, primarily defensive center mid,” Harper said, “just because I like getting up in the attack a little more but also from that position, I can see the whole field from there.
“And I like knowing there are people behind me, my center backs. When you’re at center mid you have players all around that you can connect with. In the middle you can connect with everyone on the field.”
And with elite goal scorers McCaslin and Hannah Miller to connect with, being close to the action was even better.
“If we win a ball in the midfield, we’re not afraid to pass it up (to the forwards),” Harper said, “because we know they’re going to be able to do something that will often result in a goal.
“It makes the center mids and even the defense all work harder to win that ball and get it up to them. We have that confidence that they’ll be able to do something with it.
“And also having the talent like Alondra Carranza in the midfield with me,” Harper added, “we’re always like pushing each other to be our best out there. We also connect a lot together. It’s easier to connect to someone when you have the confidence they’ll be able to do something. And everyone on the team has that confidence in each other.”
Unfortunately in 2020, all the confidence and talent in the world couldn’t overcome a worldwide pandemic.
COVID-19 suspended classes and spring sports in mid-March. Then came last week, and the announced cancellation of the season and the remaining 2019-20 school year.
“All of us have been trying to stay positive throughout the whole thing,” Harper said. “Probably the biggest thing was that we never lost our hope for returning. Even though now the IHSA has officially cancelled, before that we never accepted the fact that we weren’t going to have our season.
“We kept looking forward, and we always continued to do our drills and stuff waiting for the season to open up again. It’s been hard, but overall we just tried to stay positive with the situation.
“This year we knew it was our year,” Harper added. “Everyone on the team believed we could go to state. That was our main goal.”
But under the tough circumstances, there are some positives to emphasize.
“It’s kind of hard not having the tournament now,” Harper said, “but it doesn’t change the fact that we saw the rankings, we were third in the state. So that still meant a lot, to see that we were ranked in the top five.”
Click here to see the Chicagoland Soccer First 50 preseason poll!
As Harper prematurely prepares for the college phase of her soccer career, her great friendships and memories from St. Charles East are matched by her gratitude for her club soccer experiences.
“When I was about under-10 age group I was playing for (coach) Drago Jaha, and he was probably the one who got me even thinking about college soccer at that point,” Harper said. “I’ve been playing for him for about eight years.”
Jaha played for the Yugoslavian national team, and also for four teams in the old North American Soccer League.
“And everyone on that (club) team knew they would have a chance to get to the college level. I played with people like Sarah Andrey from St. Charles North and Alicia White from Geneva. I’ve played with Sarah for about 12 years now.”
Andrey (North Central) and White (Grand Valley State) will also play at the next level.
And the way the spring 2020 ended before it even began, Harper is happy to have her own college soccer future awaiting in the Lone Star State.
“Just going through the journey, I always knew I couldn’t ever end playing soccer until I had to,” Harper said. “And college is letting me not end my soccer career. I get to continue doing what I love.”
Texas-sized soccer dreams
By Dave Owen
St. Charles East’s Margaret Harper is a born soccer player.
Evidence of that was almost immediate.
“Probably the first memory I have is when I was like two,” Harper said. “When we first moved into our house, we had nothing in our living room, so we would set up little goals, and I would play with my dad.
“Then I started playing with Tri-Cities Rec soccer probably when I was five, as soon as you can do it. Soccer has been in my life forever.”
The early start produced very nice results.
Harper started at midfielder as both a sophomore and junior on St. Charles East teams that won a combined 35 games in two years.
And her soccer career will continue at the next level this fall, at the University of Texas at Dallas.
“At the end of sophomore going into junior year is when I committed,” Harper said. “The coach (Kanute Drugan) reached out to me, and I’ve always been in love with Texas. When I saw that he was from Dallas, I was like ‘Wait, that’s perfect.’
“I got to talk to him, and he’s one of the main reasons I’m going. He’s just super down to earth, and right away I felt like I was part of the team already. And when I visited (Dallas), I fell in love with the campus. I talked to a lot of the girls there before even going, and all of them were super nice. It seemed like a great fit.”
Before taking the top job at Texas-Dallas, Drugan was the longtime head coach at Aurora University. His 2019 squad that stampeded to a 15-2-4 record included Batavia graduate Megan Theros.
“Our coach at Dallas is actually from Oswego,” Harper said, “and he likes to recruit a lot of girls from out here in the Tri-Cities area. I think he saw me at a tournament for club (Chicago Soccer Academy Fox Valley).”
While soccer was important in the decision, the Texas-Dallas curriculum clinched it.
“Academically for biomedical engineering, which I’m going to be studying,” Harper said, “they’re pretty high up there in the rankings nationally for that program.”
Harper took engineering classes all four years at St. Charles East. Balancing such demanding courses with soccer was never a problem.
“Always school comes first,” she said. “I have to stay on a tight schedule if I don’t want to fall behind in school.
“Those first weeks we have practice, it would be soccer right after school and then I’d come home and try to do all my homework. It is a little difficult getting everything done with the hard classes, but you just have to know your priorities I guess.”
Not surprisingly, Harper’s smarts also showed on the soccer field.
“Margaret is a player whose strength is her soccer IQ, physicality and ability to defend,” Saints coach Vince DiNuzzo said.
“Margaret is someone who plays the game without fear. She is very confident in herself and her teammates, which is valuable to the team.”
Stepping into a center midfielder spot as a sophomore, Harper quickly developed a comfort level.
“It was different,” she said. “You’re only a sophomore with all these juniors and seniors, and most of them have all been on varsity and know how it is. It was a little hard adjustment at first, but all of them were super nice.”
One fellow sophomore particularly helped.
“Alondra Carranza was probably my closest friend on the team,” Harper said. “I felt like she helped me adjust a lot because she was on the (varsity) team freshman year.
“And that (2018 season) was DiNuzzo’s first year too, so I felt that made the transition a little bit easier because not only I had to adjust but everyone had to adjust to a new coach.”
Harper and Carranza were part of a large group of underclassmen on the 2018 team. By 2019, they had taken their games to another level with a 22-win season.
“My sophomore year to junior year we had a lot of the core returning girls, and that made it easier,” Harper said. “Not only the way we played ball, but also how close we were off the field.
“Because everyone was already so close with each other, it made everything a lot easier – which you could see on the field. We all had those closer connections, we all knew how we played together, and just being comfortable with the girls helped a lot because we were always there for each other.”
Out of many memorable plays in St. Charles East’s winningest season since the 2000 state championship squad, one in particular stood out for Harper.
“One of the main things was in our regional championship last year when we played Wheaton Warrenville South,” she said. “It was having an assist to Elle (McCaslin), who scored from like 30 yards out (in the Saints’ win).
“That was probably one of the highlights from last season on the field. And off the field, it (the highlight) was how close we were able to get. Our team sleepovers were always fun.”
While seeing some time when needed at center back, Harper’s main spot was in the midfield.
“I like playing center mid better, primarily defensive center mid,” Harper said, “just because I like getting up in the attack a little more but also from that position, I can see the whole field from there.
“And I like knowing there are people behind me, my center backs. When you’re at center mid you have players all around that you can connect with. In the middle you can connect with everyone on the field.”
And with elite goal scorers McCaslin and Hannah Miller to connect with, being close to the action was even better.
“If we win a ball in the midfield, we’re not afraid to pass it up (to the forwards),” Harper said, “because we know they’re going to be able to do something that will often result in a goal.
“It makes the center mids and even the defense all work harder to win that ball and get it up to them. We have that confidence that they’ll be able to do something with it.
“And also having the talent like Alondra Carranza in the midfield with me,” Harper added, “we’re always like pushing each other to be our best out there. We also connect a lot together. It’s easier to connect to someone when you have the confidence they’ll be able to do something. And everyone on the team has that confidence in each other.”
Unfortunately in 2020, all the confidence and talent in the world couldn’t overcome a worldwide pandemic.
COVID-19 suspended classes and spring sports in mid-March. Then came last week, and the announced cancellation of the season and the remaining 2019-20 school year.
“All of us have been trying to stay positive throughout the whole thing,” Harper said. “Probably the biggest thing was that we never lost our hope for returning. Even though now the IHSA has officially cancelled, before that we never accepted the fact that we weren’t going to have our season.
“We kept looking forward, and we always continued to do our drills and stuff waiting for the season to open up again. It’s been hard, but overall we just tried to stay positive with the situation.
“This year we knew it was our year,” Harper added. “Everyone on the team believed we could go to state. That was our main goal.”
But under the tough circumstances, there are some positives to emphasize.
“It’s kind of hard not having the tournament now,” Harper said, “but it doesn’t change the fact that we saw the rankings, we were third in the state. So that still meant a lot, to see that we were ranked in the top five.”
Click here to see the Chicagoland Soccer First 50 preseason poll!
As Harper prematurely prepares for the college phase of her soccer career, her great friendships and memories from St. Charles East are matched by her gratitude for her club soccer experiences.
“When I was about under-10 age group I was playing for (coach) Drago Jaha, and he was probably the one who got me even thinking about college soccer at that point,” Harper said. “I’ve been playing for him for about eight years.”
Jaha played for the Yugoslavian national team, and also for four teams in the old North American Soccer League.
“And everyone on that (club) team knew they would have a chance to get to the college level. I played with people like Sarah Andrey from St. Charles North and Alicia White from Geneva. I’ve played with Sarah for about 12 years now.”
Andrey (North Central) and White (Grand Valley State) will also play at the next level.
And the way the spring 2020 ended before it even began, Harper is happy to have her own college soccer future awaiting in the Lone Star State.
“Just going through the journey, I always knew I couldn’t ever end playing soccer until I had to,” Harper said. “And college is letting me not end my soccer career. I get to continue doing what I love.”