Notebook: New Trier
By Patrick Z. McGavin
If the best brand of soccer is understood as a balletic combination of grace and movement, now is the dance of spring for New Trier.
It is both ritual and the embracing of the moment. May means the beginning of something truly special.
“You want to extend your season as long as possible,” New Trier star two-way player Sydney Parker said. “We try to do that for our seniors and always trying to play one last game.”
For the Trevians, that means booking a rendezvous in Naperville the first week of June for the Class 3A Final Four. The no. 2 Trevians have played in four-consecutive Class 3A state championship games. Star senior forward Nicole Kaspi and standout defender Caroline Iserloth have been there from the start, making the dramatic leap from wide-eyed freshmen to the next generation of leaders.
“When I think of how to lead this team, I think of all the great players who came before us,” Kaspi said. “As a freshman, I had the best possible role models and the same with my sophomore year. It really helps me and the other players in guiding us.”
Kaspi was a heir to terrific talents like Maddie Mulford, Kelly Maday and Bina Saipi. She watched and learned.
Kaspi, Parker and Iserloth are elite players who earned placement on the 2017 Chicagoland Soccer All-State Team. Kaspi had 16 goals and eight assists on last year’s state runnerup. Parker, a DePaul recruit, is one of the top five players in the state.
She emerged on the scene as a sophomore who scored eight goals and added five assists. A lockdown defender and brilliant finisher, she made the most of her opportunities, scoring an astounding 19 goals and adding six assists from the backline last year.
Emma Weaver is another all-state performer, arguably the state’s top sophomore. She had 14 goals and six assists last year. Her creativity, vision and balance are a thing of beauty. Top junior Lily Conley, a midfielder, had 11 assists as a freshman. Now she is a two-year starter and a mainstay.
As great as the Trevians have been, a certain void has existed. Last week Parker, Kaspi, Whitney Hoban, Conley and Weaver keyed a New Trier team that captured its first Naperville Invitational championship since 2010. New Trier (14-0-2) has won eight-consecutive games, outscoring its opposition 30-2 and recording six shutouts since the team played to consecutive draws against Stevenson and sixth-ranked St. Francis in the Lou Malnati’s Deep Dish Classic.
They punctuated a remarkable week by defeating no. 5 Neuqua Valley and no. 3 Naperville North.
“I think it’s definitely motivation knowing that we beat those great teams,” Parker said. “That is not to say that just because we won that tournament, we are going to win state. It is encouraging for us, like a really important mid-season win that makes us feel good. It keeps us energized and puts us on that playoff path.”
New Trier always commands attention and helps dictate the narrative among the top teams. Even with multiple starters back from a state finalist, the weather-related fractured and disruptive start to the season threw the team off rhythm. Through the Trevians' first 10 games, coach Jim Burnside saw a team still figuring out how to take advantage of all the offensive pieces. Seeing long picture, Burnside saw the team start to coalesce offensively in the middle of the Naperville Invitational.
“I think we played really well after those [Naperville] games,” Parker said. “[Burnside] said that during one of our games, and I just think we are really starting to piece things together. We are realizing what different player’s specialties are, and trying to enhance those and work on those.”
The team even survived Neuqua Valley in a penalty kick shootout. New Trier’s last loss, against Barrington in the state championship game at North Central College in Naperville, was also a shootout.
“Never flashbacks,” Burnside said. “Always looking forward. Sometimes it goes for you, and sometimes it doesn’t. What the Naperville tournament solidified is that we are capable of playing with anybody.
“It’s a matter of getting the experience under our belts.”
New Trier has been the standard all other programs are judged by. The Trevians locked up the top-seed of the Class 3A Glenbrook South Sectional. Fittingly, the team is closing out its Central Suburban League South Division schedule against rival Evanston at home Friday. They also play another long-standing rival, Lake Forest, on Saturday.
The program has had the benefit of having great players. The greatness did not happen in a vacuum. Players like Kaspi trained, developed and learned over time. Emerging from the sidelines, they have never backed down from a challenge or withered under the glare.
“We have obviously lost a lot of great players the last couple of years, but I think winning the [Naperville Invitational] tournament has given us the confidence and the realization that we are as good as any other teams that have come before us,” Kaspi said.
“Winning the Naperville tournament is going to hopefully propel us to a state championship.”
By Patrick Z. McGavin
If the best brand of soccer is understood as a balletic combination of grace and movement, now is the dance of spring for New Trier.
It is both ritual and the embracing of the moment. May means the beginning of something truly special.
“You want to extend your season as long as possible,” New Trier star two-way player Sydney Parker said. “We try to do that for our seniors and always trying to play one last game.”
For the Trevians, that means booking a rendezvous in Naperville the first week of June for the Class 3A Final Four. The no. 2 Trevians have played in four-consecutive Class 3A state championship games. Star senior forward Nicole Kaspi and standout defender Caroline Iserloth have been there from the start, making the dramatic leap from wide-eyed freshmen to the next generation of leaders.
“When I think of how to lead this team, I think of all the great players who came before us,” Kaspi said. “As a freshman, I had the best possible role models and the same with my sophomore year. It really helps me and the other players in guiding us.”
Kaspi was a heir to terrific talents like Maddie Mulford, Kelly Maday and Bina Saipi. She watched and learned.
Kaspi, Parker and Iserloth are elite players who earned placement on the 2017 Chicagoland Soccer All-State Team. Kaspi had 16 goals and eight assists on last year’s state runnerup. Parker, a DePaul recruit, is one of the top five players in the state.
She emerged on the scene as a sophomore who scored eight goals and added five assists. A lockdown defender and brilliant finisher, she made the most of her opportunities, scoring an astounding 19 goals and adding six assists from the backline last year.
Emma Weaver is another all-state performer, arguably the state’s top sophomore. She had 14 goals and six assists last year. Her creativity, vision and balance are a thing of beauty. Top junior Lily Conley, a midfielder, had 11 assists as a freshman. Now she is a two-year starter and a mainstay.
As great as the Trevians have been, a certain void has existed. Last week Parker, Kaspi, Whitney Hoban, Conley and Weaver keyed a New Trier team that captured its first Naperville Invitational championship since 2010. New Trier (14-0-2) has won eight-consecutive games, outscoring its opposition 30-2 and recording six shutouts since the team played to consecutive draws against Stevenson and sixth-ranked St. Francis in the Lou Malnati’s Deep Dish Classic.
They punctuated a remarkable week by defeating no. 5 Neuqua Valley and no. 3 Naperville North.
“I think it’s definitely motivation knowing that we beat those great teams,” Parker said. “That is not to say that just because we won that tournament, we are going to win state. It is encouraging for us, like a really important mid-season win that makes us feel good. It keeps us energized and puts us on that playoff path.”
New Trier always commands attention and helps dictate the narrative among the top teams. Even with multiple starters back from a state finalist, the weather-related fractured and disruptive start to the season threw the team off rhythm. Through the Trevians' first 10 games, coach Jim Burnside saw a team still figuring out how to take advantage of all the offensive pieces. Seeing long picture, Burnside saw the team start to coalesce offensively in the middle of the Naperville Invitational.
“I think we played really well after those [Naperville] games,” Parker said. “[Burnside] said that during one of our games, and I just think we are really starting to piece things together. We are realizing what different player’s specialties are, and trying to enhance those and work on those.”
The team even survived Neuqua Valley in a penalty kick shootout. New Trier’s last loss, against Barrington in the state championship game at North Central College in Naperville, was also a shootout.
“Never flashbacks,” Burnside said. “Always looking forward. Sometimes it goes for you, and sometimes it doesn’t. What the Naperville tournament solidified is that we are capable of playing with anybody.
“It’s a matter of getting the experience under our belts.”
New Trier has been the standard all other programs are judged by. The Trevians locked up the top-seed of the Class 3A Glenbrook South Sectional. Fittingly, the team is closing out its Central Suburban League South Division schedule against rival Evanston at home Friday. They also play another long-standing rival, Lake Forest, on Saturday.
The program has had the benefit of having great players. The greatness did not happen in a vacuum. Players like Kaspi trained, developed and learned over time. Emerging from the sidelines, they have never backed down from a challenge or withered under the glare.
“We have obviously lost a lot of great players the last couple of years, but I think winning the [Naperville Invitational] tournament has given us the confidence and the realization that we are as good as any other teams that have come before us,” Kaspi said.
“Winning the Naperville tournament is going to hopefully propel us to a state championship.”