Chicagoland Soccer Player of the Year
Emma Weaver, MF, New Trier
By Patrick Z. McGavin
From a soccer perspective the midnight hour was approaching on a beautiful late May evening in Northfield, and Glenbrook South and host New Trier were locked in a riveting battle in a Class 3A sectional final. What separated the rivals was the ineffable: a touch; a pass delivered just right; a stroke of luck.
On April 3, at the same space, the schools had played to a 1-1 draw. The highlight of the night was the back-and-forth battle of extraordinary midfielders -- Glenbrook South senior Makayla Stadler and New Trier junior Emma Weaver.
The two were not merely opponents but friends and club teammates with a next-level alliance on the horizon. Both committed to play in college at Villanova -- Stadler for this fall and Weaver the following year.
Glenbrook South struck first but was answered by two goals by the Trevians, who took a 2-1 halftime lead. The Titans followed up with a goal at the start of the second half. The intensity and skill level of the game ratcheted up considerably and each touch and possession took on a supercharged level.
The game clock neared the 70th minute when Weaver was awarded a free kick at the 25-yard line. Realizing the enormity of the moment, Weaver locked in. Glenbrook South keeper Libby Vanderveen faced her as one of the best goalkeepers in the state.
It did not matter.
Weaver drilled a beautifully perfect ball for the game-winner. Stadler, who played her final high school game that night, could only look on with regret and admiration as her extraordinary season of 33 goals and 20 assists ended.
It had again been Weaver's night. Her two goals pushed the Trevians to their sixth-consecutive supersectional.
“I kind of thrive in competitive or pressure environments,” Weaver said. “I knew in that situation I had to do it for my teammates. Honestly, I would not be here if it wasn’t for them supporting me, encouraging me and making plays that put me in front of the goal.
“When I have that free kick or opportunities where I am one-on-one with the keeper, just having them behind me, I want to be able to finish to make my team proud.”
For her extraordinary accomplishments this season, Emma Weaver is the Chicagoland Soccer Player of the Year.
Her coach, Jim Burnside, is the most decorated girls mentor in the state with 529 career victories and six state championships. He has coached top players and his teams have played against some of the state’s top talent over his 23-year career. What Weaver accomplished this year was undoubtable.
“I have said before that it is one of the most impressive single seasons I have ever seen,” Burnside said.
Weaver took a young and largely inexperienced team that had little high-level varsity experience and met the standards of the Trevians reputation. She continued to rip through the best programs in the state, imposing her will and talent and enabling New Trier to yet again rank among the best programs in the country.
Four days after the Glenbrook South game, Weaver scored the game-winner and contributed an assist in the Trevians’ 2-0 victory over Stevenson in a supersectional.
In a marquee game with two-time defending state champion Barrington, Weaver jumped on a mistake and confidantly pulled the Trevians even with a 74th-minute goal in an eventual semifinal loss.
Barrington coach Ryan Stengren acknowledged her extraordinary gifts, calling Weaver the “best player in the state.” Weaver closed out her season by scoring two textbook goals in the Trevians’ 2-0 over Lyons in the state third place game.
She ended her remarkable season with 33 goals and 13 assists.
Naperville North coach Steve Goletz has played New Trier in each of Weaver’s three years. Her extraordinary goal pushed the Trevians past the eventual state champions 1-0 in a quarterfinal of the Naperville Invitational on April 25.
“She has the ability to score in so many different ways,” Goletz said. “She is creative on the ball and is able to beat defenders on the dribble. She hits a fantastic ball with both feet, serves balls on restarts and most importantly, grinds out and fights for ugly goals.
“She is truly as complete of an attacking kid as we have seen the past few seasons.”
Color coach Gerard Oconer of Class AA state champion Benet equally impressed.
“I honestly do not think there was another player in the state who was as big of a difference-maker as Emma Weaver,” he said.
Stadler, Stevenson forward Kalyssa Van Zanten, Class 3A state champion Naperville North defender Reilly Riggs and forward Kennedy Jones of Class A state champion Columbia earned high marks from coaches and Chicagoland Soccer writers and were also finalists for the Chicagoland Soccer honor.
In the end, Weaver was in a class by herself.
Her ability to perform at the highest levels in the most important games has underscored her brilliance. As a freshman, she scored 14 goals and created six assists for a team that lost to Barrington in a penalty shootout in the state championship. She scored both goals in the Trevians’ state semifinal victory over Collinsville.
As a sophomore, she expanded her goal scoring by one but most impressively increased her creativity with the ball with 22 assists. She had three assists in the Trevians’ dominant win over Andrew in a state semifinal game.
In the six state finals games she has played in, New Trier scored 10 goals. Weaver scored five of those and assisted on another three.
“I am really attacking minded,” she said. “I think that is what Burnside loves about me because you could put me in the midfield, and I am still going to go for the goal. I think also being a playmaker on the field, giving up the ball and getting it back, is something I try to do.”
Weaver is part of a remarkable family as the youngest sibling of four major college athletes. She was eight years old when the family arrived on the North Shore from Pennsylvania. Her sister Jessica played only her junior year at New Trier. Her senior year became an injury sabbatical after she tore her ACL. She then went on to a standout career at DePaul.
Her brother Logan, who just graduated, was a two-time Chicagoland Soccer all-state player who led the Trevians to back-to-back conference championships and sectional appearances. He is preparing for a college career at Northwestern. The outlier in the family in the terms of sports acumen is Claire Weaver, a field hockey player who completed her sophomore year at Villanova.
“Just growing up we were always doing athletic things, playing soccer or football in the backyard,” Emma Weaver said. “When I was a kid, I was just drawn to physical activities. If my mom went to play tennis, I’d go with her. Or if we went for a family walk, I was the one running.”
She also credits Burnside for the demands he places on her.
“He inspired me to be the best soccer player I could be,” she said. “He is hard on me for good reasons, because he sees potential in me. He coached my older sister, and he is truly a one-of-a-kind coach, and I would not be here if it wasn’t for his hard work pushing me every day.”
Even with Weaver, New Trier had more questions than answers at the start of the season. After graduating Chicagoland Soccer All-Staters Sidney Parker (DePaul) and Nicole Kaspi (University of Chicago), Weaver was thrust into a different role.
After eight games, New Trier was unbeaten but had just as many draws (four) as wins. Weaver’s will to succeed propelled the Trevians to their customary lofty heights.
“Emma Weaver is one of the most driven athletes to help her team be better as I have ever coached,” Burnside said. “In practice she pushes herself to be better, which pushes her teammates. In games, when her team needs her to step up and put us on her back, she is both willing and able.
“Emma plays because she just loves to compete.”
New Trier played on the final day of the season and won 20 games (22-3-5) for the sixth-consecutive year.
“Speaking about pressure, I am thankful to be in a program where we are expected to go far every year,” she said. “I could not imagine being in any other situation.
“In the playoffs you never know when it is going to be your last game. You have to leave everything on the field. I feel like our team this year has really done that. Nothing is given to us. It just comes with hard work.”
In the 13 New Trier matches that Chicagoland Soccer covered, Weaver was the MVP of the Match eight times.
Simply put, there was no better player this season.
Emma Weaver, MF, New Trier
By Patrick Z. McGavin
From a soccer perspective the midnight hour was approaching on a beautiful late May evening in Northfield, and Glenbrook South and host New Trier were locked in a riveting battle in a Class 3A sectional final. What separated the rivals was the ineffable: a touch; a pass delivered just right; a stroke of luck.
On April 3, at the same space, the schools had played to a 1-1 draw. The highlight of the night was the back-and-forth battle of extraordinary midfielders -- Glenbrook South senior Makayla Stadler and New Trier junior Emma Weaver.
The two were not merely opponents but friends and club teammates with a next-level alliance on the horizon. Both committed to play in college at Villanova -- Stadler for this fall and Weaver the following year.
Glenbrook South struck first but was answered by two goals by the Trevians, who took a 2-1 halftime lead. The Titans followed up with a goal at the start of the second half. The intensity and skill level of the game ratcheted up considerably and each touch and possession took on a supercharged level.
The game clock neared the 70th minute when Weaver was awarded a free kick at the 25-yard line. Realizing the enormity of the moment, Weaver locked in. Glenbrook South keeper Libby Vanderveen faced her as one of the best goalkeepers in the state.
It did not matter.
Weaver drilled a beautifully perfect ball for the game-winner. Stadler, who played her final high school game that night, could only look on with regret and admiration as her extraordinary season of 33 goals and 20 assists ended.
It had again been Weaver's night. Her two goals pushed the Trevians to their sixth-consecutive supersectional.
“I kind of thrive in competitive or pressure environments,” Weaver said. “I knew in that situation I had to do it for my teammates. Honestly, I would not be here if it wasn’t for them supporting me, encouraging me and making plays that put me in front of the goal.
“When I have that free kick or opportunities where I am one-on-one with the keeper, just having them behind me, I want to be able to finish to make my team proud.”
For her extraordinary accomplishments this season, Emma Weaver is the Chicagoland Soccer Player of the Year.
Her coach, Jim Burnside, is the most decorated girls mentor in the state with 529 career victories and six state championships. He has coached top players and his teams have played against some of the state’s top talent over his 23-year career. What Weaver accomplished this year was undoubtable.
“I have said before that it is one of the most impressive single seasons I have ever seen,” Burnside said.
Weaver took a young and largely inexperienced team that had little high-level varsity experience and met the standards of the Trevians reputation. She continued to rip through the best programs in the state, imposing her will and talent and enabling New Trier to yet again rank among the best programs in the country.
Four days after the Glenbrook South game, Weaver scored the game-winner and contributed an assist in the Trevians’ 2-0 victory over Stevenson in a supersectional.
In a marquee game with two-time defending state champion Barrington, Weaver jumped on a mistake and confidantly pulled the Trevians even with a 74th-minute goal in an eventual semifinal loss.
Barrington coach Ryan Stengren acknowledged her extraordinary gifts, calling Weaver the “best player in the state.” Weaver closed out her season by scoring two textbook goals in the Trevians’ 2-0 over Lyons in the state third place game.
She ended her remarkable season with 33 goals and 13 assists.
Naperville North coach Steve Goletz has played New Trier in each of Weaver’s three years. Her extraordinary goal pushed the Trevians past the eventual state champions 1-0 in a quarterfinal of the Naperville Invitational on April 25.
“She has the ability to score in so many different ways,” Goletz said. “She is creative on the ball and is able to beat defenders on the dribble. She hits a fantastic ball with both feet, serves balls on restarts and most importantly, grinds out and fights for ugly goals.
“She is truly as complete of an attacking kid as we have seen the past few seasons.”
Color coach Gerard Oconer of Class AA state champion Benet equally impressed.
“I honestly do not think there was another player in the state who was as big of a difference-maker as Emma Weaver,” he said.
Stadler, Stevenson forward Kalyssa Van Zanten, Class 3A state champion Naperville North defender Reilly Riggs and forward Kennedy Jones of Class A state champion Columbia earned high marks from coaches and Chicagoland Soccer writers and were also finalists for the Chicagoland Soccer honor.
In the end, Weaver was in a class by herself.
Her ability to perform at the highest levels in the most important games has underscored her brilliance. As a freshman, she scored 14 goals and created six assists for a team that lost to Barrington in a penalty shootout in the state championship. She scored both goals in the Trevians’ state semifinal victory over Collinsville.
As a sophomore, she expanded her goal scoring by one but most impressively increased her creativity with the ball with 22 assists. She had three assists in the Trevians’ dominant win over Andrew in a state semifinal game.
In the six state finals games she has played in, New Trier scored 10 goals. Weaver scored five of those and assisted on another three.
“I am really attacking minded,” she said. “I think that is what Burnside loves about me because you could put me in the midfield, and I am still going to go for the goal. I think also being a playmaker on the field, giving up the ball and getting it back, is something I try to do.”
Weaver is part of a remarkable family as the youngest sibling of four major college athletes. She was eight years old when the family arrived on the North Shore from Pennsylvania. Her sister Jessica played only her junior year at New Trier. Her senior year became an injury sabbatical after she tore her ACL. She then went on to a standout career at DePaul.
Her brother Logan, who just graduated, was a two-time Chicagoland Soccer all-state player who led the Trevians to back-to-back conference championships and sectional appearances. He is preparing for a college career at Northwestern. The outlier in the family in the terms of sports acumen is Claire Weaver, a field hockey player who completed her sophomore year at Villanova.
“Just growing up we were always doing athletic things, playing soccer or football in the backyard,” Emma Weaver said. “When I was a kid, I was just drawn to physical activities. If my mom went to play tennis, I’d go with her. Or if we went for a family walk, I was the one running.”
She also credits Burnside for the demands he places on her.
“He inspired me to be the best soccer player I could be,” she said. “He is hard on me for good reasons, because he sees potential in me. He coached my older sister, and he is truly a one-of-a-kind coach, and I would not be here if it wasn’t for his hard work pushing me every day.”
Even with Weaver, New Trier had more questions than answers at the start of the season. After graduating Chicagoland Soccer All-Staters Sidney Parker (DePaul) and Nicole Kaspi (University of Chicago), Weaver was thrust into a different role.
After eight games, New Trier was unbeaten but had just as many draws (four) as wins. Weaver’s will to succeed propelled the Trevians to their customary lofty heights.
“Emma Weaver is one of the most driven athletes to help her team be better as I have ever coached,” Burnside said. “In practice she pushes herself to be better, which pushes her teammates. In games, when her team needs her to step up and put us on her back, she is both willing and able.
“Emma plays because she just loves to compete.”
New Trier played on the final day of the season and won 20 games (22-3-5) for the sixth-consecutive year.
“Speaking about pressure, I am thankful to be in a program where we are expected to go far every year,” she said. “I could not imagine being in any other situation.
“In the playoffs you never know when it is going to be your last game. You have to leave everything on the field. I feel like our team this year has really done that. Nothing is given to us. It just comes with hard work.”
In the 13 New Trier matches that Chicagoland Soccer covered, Weaver was the MVP of the Match eight times.
Simply put, there was no better player this season.