Team preview: St. Francis
By Chris Walker
Bella DeFeo missed her junior year after suffering a season-ending injury to her left knee.
Now the St. Francis midfielder is afraid that she and thousands of other Illinois high school athletes like her will miss their senior year because of the coronavirus.
“I think the senior class is heartbroken at the thought of all these things we’ve been working for (not happening),” she said. “Senior Night, Teacher Appreciation Night and all the home games. But we’re communicating with each other and having daily talks through Microsoft Teams. We’re getting to see everybody and just staying positive in general. Everybody’s working at home on their own and sending videos of what they’re doing, like the juggling video, which looks like we’re passing the ball. We’re doing anything positive that we can.”
DeFeo suffered an ACL and meniscus injury to her left knee on Oct. 31, 2018 during the final game of her outdoor club season. Not only was did that dampen her Halloween, but she had a difficult road of rehabilitation ahead of her while being forced to miss her junior season with the Spartans
“After missing all of last year I’m very excited to be back with my teammates,” she said. “(The injury) was a negative but I learned so much from it and I’m learning so much from this adversity (coronavirus). Coming back from my injury there were two parts to my recovery. The physical therapy to walk again and to function and then when I was initially cleared to work with a personal trainer to get back to where I was, and I want to be above and beyond and stronger than I was before. So that’s what I’ve been doing and why I’m dying because I worked so hard in the offseason to get back to this point to show the hard work I’ve done. It’s crushing.”
The Spartans remain hopeful for a season, and if they do return to the field at some point this spring or summer, they’ll rely heavily on their seniors, with midfielders like DeFeo (North Central), Ava Hensley (Eastern Illinois) and Emily Thill (University of Wisconsin-Whitewater) and defenders Anna Moran and Adriana Rotondi, leading the way of a big, diverse senior class.
“We’re going to miss some of the seniors from last year like Hannah (Rittenhouse), but we’re especially excited to be dropping back down to AA so we’re pretty confident,” Thill said. “We have like 14 seniors this year, and we’ve all been playing together for so long. We’re really excited. We think we could make it a pretty good season.”
The Spartans were only 9-7-2 a year ago, but two of their losses were to St. Charles North (19-2-1) and others came to big schools like New Trier (23-3-5), which took third place in the state in Class 3A, as well as to a pair of out of state schools. If any team in the state’s record isn’t a good representative of the team, it’s St. Francis as coach Jim Winslow is always masterminding a challenging schedule for his 740-ish student school.
“We have really good leaders like the seniors this year, so we’re really strong together,” Thill said. “It helps that we’re a smaller school because our JV and varsity always practice together so we all know each other. We only pulled up five players from JV and have no new freshmen up to varsity. So we know how everyone plays which I guess is good for us.”
The suspension of the season has hindered team bonding and those countless hours that would’ve been spent at practice as well as interacting with teammates in class and in the hallways cannot be made up.
“I know most coaches will probably say this, but I know this group of seniors is really pretty tight,” Winslow said. “And we have some new kids who have come out that hadn’t played because maybe it’s a senior thing to do. They’re missing this development curve of practice time which is so valuable, and you’re not going to make up that time. And the thing is, the kids who have been in the program, the seniors haven’t played a home game because our field was out of commission. So the irony is we’ve been able to get the field done for the most part so we have a brand new field ready to go at St. Francis, but whether or not we get to play on it, who knows, we’ll see.”
The Spartans only return four starters, including just Catherine Lemke on the backline. They like how the new backline is coming together though around Lemke’s experience combined with Anna Moran and Adriana Rotondi’s talent. Moran and Rotondi played valuable minutes a season ago but were sidelined at times with injuries. St. Francis is strongest at midfield with Kaitlin Chaparro returning along with Hensley and Thill, and with DeFeo now healthy.
Getting someone, or some bodies, to replace two-time Chicagoland Soccer all-state selection Hannah Rittenhouse (Iowa), is a bigger concern on the scoring side for the Spartans. While Rittenhouse isn’t the kind of player that you can easily replace, the Spartans are comfortable that they have enough talent on the roster to help compensate for her graduation.
“I was pleasantly surprised with our tryouts; they went really well, and our numbers were good,” Winslow said. “After our first week of practice I was feeling like we’re going to be really good and that senior class is the core base of it. We have good underclassmen too but not a ton of them.”
Winslow acknowledged that the Spartans might’ve struggled in the win column early on with games against St. Charles North, Naperville Central, Stevenson, Lyons and Evanston among their first seven opponents, but shying away from competition has never been in his DNA.
“I knew it was going to be tough, a brutal beginning with St. Charles North, Naperville Central, Evanston, and we’d take our lumps. But I know we’d get better every day. I think we would’ve been pleased with where we were at but unfortunately we were told to go home and stay home.”
Staying home is something millions of Americans are trying to do these days as their patience continues to be tested. Maintaining the faith is what many high school soccer players are doing – or at least trying to do - even as they watch their peers in Indiana and other states already cancelling the spring sports season.
“At first I was fine with it, because it hadn’t sunk in yet. I figured, whatever, it’ll blow over,” Thill said. “And then it got real and hit me and I started to freak out because it’s my last ... Francis season so it’s been sad. We’re hoping everything will work out, but it’s hard now.”
Thill’s twin brother Adam was able to enjoy his senior season in the fall, helping the Spartans go 10-10-1. Now he’s helping his sister train for a senior season that might not happen.
“It’s so weird,” Emily Thill said. “I’ll make (Adam) come with me and be my goalie since I can have some human interaction with someone my age. I think we’re all missing it. I was so used to team runs and team dinners and actually just being together as a team. With technology we’re able to stay connected some, but you don’t have your team there to push you so you have to work on your own.”
Isolated? Yes. Alone? Not completely. And that’s because many others are coping with the same situation as Thill and her teammates are today, seemingly grounded at home due to an unprecedented pandemic.
“I don’t know anyone who is equipped for this type of thing,” Winslow said. “We didn’t do much this week because it’s spring break and normally we practice two or three times during break and then lay low because it’s getting to be the end of the school year and a lot of kids are taking AP honors and stuff and frankly they’re throttled by now. It’s kind of like regeneration for lack of a better word and even myself, I’ve looked at some of this and the bigger scheme of things.
“The economy, people are passing away and the number of sicknesses. All you hear about is bad, and some of it is truthful and some of it isn’t. Who knows, because there’s so much stuff out there now. You just hope that those kids who are looking at all this can take away some perspective. Don’t take things for granted because you don’t know when it’s going to be gone.”
2020 St. Francis Spartans
Manager: Jim Winslow (10th year)
2019 Record: 9-7-2 (5-1-0)
Graduation losses: Emma Armbrust, Mickey Corrigan, Jill DiTusa, Lauren Douglass, Julia Mills, Aubrey Quaranto, Hannah Rittenhouse, Caroline Zimmer
Top returning players: seniors, Isabel DeFeo (MF), Ava Hensley (MF), Anna Moran (D), Adriana Rotondi (D), Emily Thill (MF); junior, Katherine Lemke (D)
New faces to watch: junior, Meg Ward (D); sophomores Lauren Bruce (MF), Claire Reinke (MF)
Click here to see Spartans' team page!
By Chris Walker
Bella DeFeo missed her junior year after suffering a season-ending injury to her left knee.
Now the St. Francis midfielder is afraid that she and thousands of other Illinois high school athletes like her will miss their senior year because of the coronavirus.
“I think the senior class is heartbroken at the thought of all these things we’ve been working for (not happening),” she said. “Senior Night, Teacher Appreciation Night and all the home games. But we’re communicating with each other and having daily talks through Microsoft Teams. We’re getting to see everybody and just staying positive in general. Everybody’s working at home on their own and sending videos of what they’re doing, like the juggling video, which looks like we’re passing the ball. We’re doing anything positive that we can.”
DeFeo suffered an ACL and meniscus injury to her left knee on Oct. 31, 2018 during the final game of her outdoor club season. Not only was did that dampen her Halloween, but she had a difficult road of rehabilitation ahead of her while being forced to miss her junior season with the Spartans
“After missing all of last year I’m very excited to be back with my teammates,” she said. “(The injury) was a negative but I learned so much from it and I’m learning so much from this adversity (coronavirus). Coming back from my injury there were two parts to my recovery. The physical therapy to walk again and to function and then when I was initially cleared to work with a personal trainer to get back to where I was, and I want to be above and beyond and stronger than I was before. So that’s what I’ve been doing and why I’m dying because I worked so hard in the offseason to get back to this point to show the hard work I’ve done. It’s crushing.”
The Spartans remain hopeful for a season, and if they do return to the field at some point this spring or summer, they’ll rely heavily on their seniors, with midfielders like DeFeo (North Central), Ava Hensley (Eastern Illinois) and Emily Thill (University of Wisconsin-Whitewater) and defenders Anna Moran and Adriana Rotondi, leading the way of a big, diverse senior class.
“We’re going to miss some of the seniors from last year like Hannah (Rittenhouse), but we’re especially excited to be dropping back down to AA so we’re pretty confident,” Thill said. “We have like 14 seniors this year, and we’ve all been playing together for so long. We’re really excited. We think we could make it a pretty good season.”
The Spartans were only 9-7-2 a year ago, but two of their losses were to St. Charles North (19-2-1) and others came to big schools like New Trier (23-3-5), which took third place in the state in Class 3A, as well as to a pair of out of state schools. If any team in the state’s record isn’t a good representative of the team, it’s St. Francis as coach Jim Winslow is always masterminding a challenging schedule for his 740-ish student school.
“We have really good leaders like the seniors this year, so we’re really strong together,” Thill said. “It helps that we’re a smaller school because our JV and varsity always practice together so we all know each other. We only pulled up five players from JV and have no new freshmen up to varsity. So we know how everyone plays which I guess is good for us.”
The suspension of the season has hindered team bonding and those countless hours that would’ve been spent at practice as well as interacting with teammates in class and in the hallways cannot be made up.
“I know most coaches will probably say this, but I know this group of seniors is really pretty tight,” Winslow said. “And we have some new kids who have come out that hadn’t played because maybe it’s a senior thing to do. They’re missing this development curve of practice time which is so valuable, and you’re not going to make up that time. And the thing is, the kids who have been in the program, the seniors haven’t played a home game because our field was out of commission. So the irony is we’ve been able to get the field done for the most part so we have a brand new field ready to go at St. Francis, but whether or not we get to play on it, who knows, we’ll see.”
The Spartans only return four starters, including just Catherine Lemke on the backline. They like how the new backline is coming together though around Lemke’s experience combined with Anna Moran and Adriana Rotondi’s talent. Moran and Rotondi played valuable minutes a season ago but were sidelined at times with injuries. St. Francis is strongest at midfield with Kaitlin Chaparro returning along with Hensley and Thill, and with DeFeo now healthy.
Getting someone, or some bodies, to replace two-time Chicagoland Soccer all-state selection Hannah Rittenhouse (Iowa), is a bigger concern on the scoring side for the Spartans. While Rittenhouse isn’t the kind of player that you can easily replace, the Spartans are comfortable that they have enough talent on the roster to help compensate for her graduation.
“I was pleasantly surprised with our tryouts; they went really well, and our numbers were good,” Winslow said. “After our first week of practice I was feeling like we’re going to be really good and that senior class is the core base of it. We have good underclassmen too but not a ton of them.”
Winslow acknowledged that the Spartans might’ve struggled in the win column early on with games against St. Charles North, Naperville Central, Stevenson, Lyons and Evanston among their first seven opponents, but shying away from competition has never been in his DNA.
“I knew it was going to be tough, a brutal beginning with St. Charles North, Naperville Central, Evanston, and we’d take our lumps. But I know we’d get better every day. I think we would’ve been pleased with where we were at but unfortunately we were told to go home and stay home.”
Staying home is something millions of Americans are trying to do these days as their patience continues to be tested. Maintaining the faith is what many high school soccer players are doing – or at least trying to do - even as they watch their peers in Indiana and other states already cancelling the spring sports season.
“At first I was fine with it, because it hadn’t sunk in yet. I figured, whatever, it’ll blow over,” Thill said. “And then it got real and hit me and I started to freak out because it’s my last ... Francis season so it’s been sad. We’re hoping everything will work out, but it’s hard now.”
Thill’s twin brother Adam was able to enjoy his senior season in the fall, helping the Spartans go 10-10-1. Now he’s helping his sister train for a senior season that might not happen.
“It’s so weird,” Emily Thill said. “I’ll make (Adam) come with me and be my goalie since I can have some human interaction with someone my age. I think we’re all missing it. I was so used to team runs and team dinners and actually just being together as a team. With technology we’re able to stay connected some, but you don’t have your team there to push you so you have to work on your own.”
Isolated? Yes. Alone? Not completely. And that’s because many others are coping with the same situation as Thill and her teammates are today, seemingly grounded at home due to an unprecedented pandemic.
“I don’t know anyone who is equipped for this type of thing,” Winslow said. “We didn’t do much this week because it’s spring break and normally we practice two or three times during break and then lay low because it’s getting to be the end of the school year and a lot of kids are taking AP honors and stuff and frankly they’re throttled by now. It’s kind of like regeneration for lack of a better word and even myself, I’ve looked at some of this and the bigger scheme of things.
“The economy, people are passing away and the number of sicknesses. All you hear about is bad, and some of it is truthful and some of it isn’t. Who knows, because there’s so much stuff out there now. You just hope that those kids who are looking at all this can take away some perspective. Don’t take things for granted because you don’t know when it’s going to be gone.”
2020 St. Francis Spartans
Manager: Jim Winslow (10th year)
2019 Record: 9-7-2 (5-1-0)
Graduation losses: Emma Armbrust, Mickey Corrigan, Jill DiTusa, Lauren Douglass, Julia Mills, Aubrey Quaranto, Hannah Rittenhouse, Caroline Zimmer
Top returning players: seniors, Isabel DeFeo (MF), Ava Hensley (MF), Anna Moran (D), Adriana Rotondi (D), Emily Thill (MF); junior, Katherine Lemke (D)
New faces to watch: junior, Meg Ward (D); sophomores Lauren Bruce (MF), Claire Reinke (MF)
Click here to see Spartans' team page!