McDermott's 2-sport SCE career
ends up aces and goals
By Dave Owen
COVID-19 may have ruined the spring for athletes, but it didn’t completely stop St. Charles East’s Jamie McDermott from a very memorable and successful senior year.
A three-year varsity forward on the Saints’ soccer team, McDermott could at least offset the heartbreak of missing her final season of high school competition with two heady accomplishments.
In the classroom, McDermott joined Saints soccer teammates Christina Hull and Lauren Arvizu as being named Illinois State Scholars for 2020. Just over 90 students in the school with an enrollment of 2,500 earned the distinction.
As for athletics, the school year served up another impressive accomplishment for McDermott.
Also a tennis player all four years at St. Charles East, McDermott and doubles partner Elena Melone teamed up for a breakout season last fall.
The duo reached the IHSA Class AA state tournament for the first time. They capped that feat by finishing with a 2-2 record at state while reaching the third round of the consolation bracket.
“It was really cool,” McDermott said, “because freshman, sophomore and junior year I was part of the sectional team that had a possibility to qualify for state. The first two we fell short just a little bit, and the year before (as a junior) me and my partner had lost in the final round before qualifying for state.”
This year McDermott and Melone (also a State Scholar) were paired up on the court again this season. The rest was history.
“We’ve known each other since we were really young,” McDermott said. “We were partners freshman year, but my next two years we weren’t partners. It was really cool to get to play with her my senior year and then to get to go to state together.”
The duo lost their first match at state in two sets, but then collected two-straight wins. In what turned out to be their last match as Saints, they suffered a hard-fought 7-6, 7-6 setback.
“It was really fun because our goal was just to get there (to state),” McDermott said, “and then we ended up performing better than we thought we would.
“We were able to get two wins there: we were pretty proud of that.”
Those represented two of the three state tournament wins by St. Charles East players.
But that final flourish on the court was just part of McDermott’s winning experience at the school.
In her two seasons on the soccer varsity, the Saints won 35 games. That included a 22-win total in 2019 that marked a 19-year high for the squad in victories.
Of those wins, a few dramatic ones stood out for McDermott.
“One of my favorite games was last year in the Naperville Invitational,” she said. “We beat Neuqua Valley on PKs at the end – that was really exciting.
“WWe knew that was going to be a tough game, and we were scoreless pretty much the whole game (which ended 1-1 prior to penalty kicks). It was nice to finally end it and continue on in that tournament.
“And also beating Batavia last year, that was a fun one. We won that game I think 4-1 (led by a Hannah Miller hat-trick). That was kind of for the conference title winning, that game.
“That (Batavia game) was also cool, because it was the Monday after prom for both schools, so everyone thought everyone would be super tired. But we ended up having practice the Sunday after prom, and so we felt really prepared going into that game.
“It was nice to see that even though a lot of us didn’t want to have that practice, it ended up paying off really well for us.”
The 2019 season paid off nicely for McDermott individually as well. Starting off with a goal in the Saints’ 5-1 mid-March win over West Aurora, McDermott went on to finish the spring with seven goals (including a pair of braces).
While largely coming off the bench for the deep and talented Saints, McDermott enjoyed the opportunity to contribute to a successful run.
“We had a lot of talent, so it was nice to be playing with such good players up-top,” she said. “They have the ability to create really good opportunities for other people. I felt that when I was playing with Elle (McCaslin, a Mississippi State-bound Chicagoland Soccer All-State forward) or Hannah Miller.
“You’re able to get more opportunities with what they’re able to create, and we had very strong depth at the forward area. We were really excited that we had a lot of potential up there. It’s really nice to be able to play with people who are able to create that space for themselves and others.”
As for her dual prep careers in tennis and soccer, McDermott couldn’t pick a favorite sport.
“I’ve always kind of like them both equally,” she said, “because I feel like I get something different from both of them. I like in tennis how you compete individually, and in soccer there’s much more of a team aspect.”
But even during tennis season, soccer was never far from her mind.
“I played on my club (soccer) team in the fall too,” McDermott said, “so typically two or three days a week I would go from tennis practice to soccer practice afterward if we didn’t have a tennis match that day.”
McDermott played for the Tri-Cities Soccer Association Storm Premier team, with familiar faces and a variety of team names.
“During sophomore and junior year our team switched to Chicago Rush, then this past season we switched back to TCSA,” she said.
“Our club team has been together since a young age. From St Charles East I was with Alex Lopez on that team, Lauren Arvizu and Meghan Kimberly, who didn’t end up playing senior year at East but she was on the (Storm) team with us.
“We also had a lot of girls from the DuKane Conference,” McDermott added, “like seven Geneva girls, one from Batavia, the Wheaton North goalie. It’s so fun playing against them (in high school season). We’ve played club together for a while, and it’s always friendly competition. And it’s nice to know how certain players play, so I can sometimes use that to our advantage in pregame planning.”
Whatever the plan was for balancing soccer, tennis and academics in the fall, McDermott made it work.
“It was always super busy,” she said, “but I was able to keep my soccer skills good while doing another sport. I didn’t want to lose any of that while other people were doing club.”
And as the state tennis tournament showed, the soccer and tennis mix paid off.
“They kind of complemented each other I think,” she said, “being able to be light on my feet and fast. In tennis you have to be fast on your feet, and in soccer that’s obviously a big part of it too.”
And after the way soccer season happened this spring (or more accurately, didn’t happen), McDermott doesn’t plan to be done with her athletic career.
“I might do intramurals, soccer and tennis,” said McDermott, who will attend the University of Illinois this fall. “I’ve been really excited to get to play hopefully in some form next year, after we didn’t get to play this year.”
Two other familiar things await her at Illinois: a focus on rigorous academics, and St. Charles East teammate Hull, a standout midfielder for the Saints who will also major in business in Champaign.
“I wanted to go to a bigger school, and Illinois has a really good business school,” said McDermott. “And me and Christina have been friends for a while, so that will definitely be great being there with her.”
Great may be an understatement when McDermott sums up her tennis and soccer careers at St. Charles East.
“It’s been awesome: I’ve had a really good experience with both programs.” McDermott said.
“On the soccer side, I started on JV my freshman year, and I felt like they do a really good job of transitioning players from JV to the varsity level.
“It’s definitely great (playing for St. Charles East),” she added, “because girls before us have played on teams that won state championships. That’s super motivating for us, because we wanted to succeed and have the opportunity like they did.”
While the opportunity never came this spring for a very talented St. Charles East 2020 team, McDermott will treasure her memories of Saints soccer.
“Getting to play in Norris Stadium with all the traditions we had at home games,” McDermott said. “Like before the game, we would all go over, jump up and hit the goalposts. Things like that were so cool to be a part of.
“I just loved playing for St. Charles East.”
ends up aces and goals
By Dave Owen
COVID-19 may have ruined the spring for athletes, but it didn’t completely stop St. Charles East’s Jamie McDermott from a very memorable and successful senior year.
A three-year varsity forward on the Saints’ soccer team, McDermott could at least offset the heartbreak of missing her final season of high school competition with two heady accomplishments.
In the classroom, McDermott joined Saints soccer teammates Christina Hull and Lauren Arvizu as being named Illinois State Scholars for 2020. Just over 90 students in the school with an enrollment of 2,500 earned the distinction.
As for athletics, the school year served up another impressive accomplishment for McDermott.
Also a tennis player all four years at St. Charles East, McDermott and doubles partner Elena Melone teamed up for a breakout season last fall.
The duo reached the IHSA Class AA state tournament for the first time. They capped that feat by finishing with a 2-2 record at state while reaching the third round of the consolation bracket.
“It was really cool,” McDermott said, “because freshman, sophomore and junior year I was part of the sectional team that had a possibility to qualify for state. The first two we fell short just a little bit, and the year before (as a junior) me and my partner had lost in the final round before qualifying for state.”
This year McDermott and Melone (also a State Scholar) were paired up on the court again this season. The rest was history.
“We’ve known each other since we were really young,” McDermott said. “We were partners freshman year, but my next two years we weren’t partners. It was really cool to get to play with her my senior year and then to get to go to state together.”
The duo lost their first match at state in two sets, but then collected two-straight wins. In what turned out to be their last match as Saints, they suffered a hard-fought 7-6, 7-6 setback.
“It was really fun because our goal was just to get there (to state),” McDermott said, “and then we ended up performing better than we thought we would.
“We were able to get two wins there: we were pretty proud of that.”
Those represented two of the three state tournament wins by St. Charles East players.
But that final flourish on the court was just part of McDermott’s winning experience at the school.
In her two seasons on the soccer varsity, the Saints won 35 games. That included a 22-win total in 2019 that marked a 19-year high for the squad in victories.
Of those wins, a few dramatic ones stood out for McDermott.
“One of my favorite games was last year in the Naperville Invitational,” she said. “We beat Neuqua Valley on PKs at the end – that was really exciting.
“WWe knew that was going to be a tough game, and we were scoreless pretty much the whole game (which ended 1-1 prior to penalty kicks). It was nice to finally end it and continue on in that tournament.
“And also beating Batavia last year, that was a fun one. We won that game I think 4-1 (led by a Hannah Miller hat-trick). That was kind of for the conference title winning, that game.
“That (Batavia game) was also cool, because it was the Monday after prom for both schools, so everyone thought everyone would be super tired. But we ended up having practice the Sunday after prom, and so we felt really prepared going into that game.
“It was nice to see that even though a lot of us didn’t want to have that practice, it ended up paying off really well for us.”
The 2019 season paid off nicely for McDermott individually as well. Starting off with a goal in the Saints’ 5-1 mid-March win over West Aurora, McDermott went on to finish the spring with seven goals (including a pair of braces).
While largely coming off the bench for the deep and talented Saints, McDermott enjoyed the opportunity to contribute to a successful run.
“We had a lot of talent, so it was nice to be playing with such good players up-top,” she said. “They have the ability to create really good opportunities for other people. I felt that when I was playing with Elle (McCaslin, a Mississippi State-bound Chicagoland Soccer All-State forward) or Hannah Miller.
“You’re able to get more opportunities with what they’re able to create, and we had very strong depth at the forward area. We were really excited that we had a lot of potential up there. It’s really nice to be able to play with people who are able to create that space for themselves and others.”
As for her dual prep careers in tennis and soccer, McDermott couldn’t pick a favorite sport.
“I’ve always kind of like them both equally,” she said, “because I feel like I get something different from both of them. I like in tennis how you compete individually, and in soccer there’s much more of a team aspect.”
But even during tennis season, soccer was never far from her mind.
“I played on my club (soccer) team in the fall too,” McDermott said, “so typically two or three days a week I would go from tennis practice to soccer practice afterward if we didn’t have a tennis match that day.”
McDermott played for the Tri-Cities Soccer Association Storm Premier team, with familiar faces and a variety of team names.
“During sophomore and junior year our team switched to Chicago Rush, then this past season we switched back to TCSA,” she said.
“Our club team has been together since a young age. From St Charles East I was with Alex Lopez on that team, Lauren Arvizu and Meghan Kimberly, who didn’t end up playing senior year at East but she was on the (Storm) team with us.
“We also had a lot of girls from the DuKane Conference,” McDermott added, “like seven Geneva girls, one from Batavia, the Wheaton North goalie. It’s so fun playing against them (in high school season). We’ve played club together for a while, and it’s always friendly competition. And it’s nice to know how certain players play, so I can sometimes use that to our advantage in pregame planning.”
Whatever the plan was for balancing soccer, tennis and academics in the fall, McDermott made it work.
“It was always super busy,” she said, “but I was able to keep my soccer skills good while doing another sport. I didn’t want to lose any of that while other people were doing club.”
And as the state tennis tournament showed, the soccer and tennis mix paid off.
“They kind of complemented each other I think,” she said, “being able to be light on my feet and fast. In tennis you have to be fast on your feet, and in soccer that’s obviously a big part of it too.”
And after the way soccer season happened this spring (or more accurately, didn’t happen), McDermott doesn’t plan to be done with her athletic career.
“I might do intramurals, soccer and tennis,” said McDermott, who will attend the University of Illinois this fall. “I’ve been really excited to get to play hopefully in some form next year, after we didn’t get to play this year.”
Two other familiar things await her at Illinois: a focus on rigorous academics, and St. Charles East teammate Hull, a standout midfielder for the Saints who will also major in business in Champaign.
“I wanted to go to a bigger school, and Illinois has a really good business school,” said McDermott. “And me and Christina have been friends for a while, so that will definitely be great being there with her.”
Great may be an understatement when McDermott sums up her tennis and soccer careers at St. Charles East.
“It’s been awesome: I’ve had a really good experience with both programs.” McDermott said.
“On the soccer side, I started on JV my freshman year, and I felt like they do a really good job of transitioning players from JV to the varsity level.
“It’s definitely great (playing for St. Charles East),” she added, “because girls before us have played on teams that won state championships. That’s super motivating for us, because we wanted to succeed and have the opportunity like they did.”
While the opportunity never came this spring for a very talented St. Charles East 2020 team, McDermott will treasure her memories of Saints soccer.
“Getting to play in Norris Stadium with all the traditions we had at home games,” McDermott said. “Like before the game, we would all go over, jump up and hit the goalposts. Things like that were so cool to be a part of.
“I just loved playing for St. Charles East.”