Girls soccer: Overworked? Not St. Charles North's Rydberg

At the end of the 2016 season, one of the exit interview topics St. Charles North girls soccer coach Brian Harks had for Hailey Rydberg was the idea that she was simply overworked during her sophomore season.

That season included an Upstate Eight River title, 20 wins, a long postseason run to supersectionals and an Elite Eight finish where Rydberg displayed 10 goals and 18 assists.

"We were having a postseason conversation with her at the end last year and like her and other girls on the team, they play so much soccer," Harks said. "I'm like 'she's so driven and plays so much, is there a chance of her getting burned out?' Or just losing passion for it and I asked 'do you ever feel like you're being overworked? She says to me, 'I absolutely love soccer and doing what I do. I would do it all day everyday if that's what I could.' "

Her drive helped North to 19 wins this season, another Upstate Eight River title, a PepsiCo championship win and second-straight Elite Eight appearance. It's a character trait Rydberg's had since her preschool days.

"Growing up with soccer the way I did, there's no way I could get burned out of it," said Rydberg, who picked it up at age 4 and plays club ball for Campton United. "My parents aren't the type that pressure me into things I don't want to do, they weren't forcing me to extra camps or extra training sessions, it's all on me. And I think that was really important along with all the people on the way."

Some of those on that path suggested she play center back during youth soccer, something Rydberg was always against and now in hindsight had good reason not to.

"One of my club coaches would never change me even though I would always ask," she said. "The day I changed clubs and tried a new position is the day I never went back. So that's when I realized where I wanted to play."

The midfield position has opened up Rydberg's future to not only soccer on a daily basis rather comfortably, but to the University of Iowa to play collegiately when she graduates next year.

"She's driven by the right reasons," Harks said. "She's driven by the pure passion for the game and that's taken her pretty far so far."

Rydberg wasn't the scoring threat last year as she was in 2017. After having a total of 15 career goals bridging her freshman and sophomore years, she scored 16 alone this season to go with 12 assists. Her scoring numbers have tripled since her freshman season and so have her honors from her sophomore to junior seasons: all-UEC, all-sectional, all-state and all-American accolades.

And for that, with her soccer clock never stopping and her team-first attitude, Rydberg is the 2017 Daily Herald Fox Valley All-Area Honorary Captain, the first from St. Charles North since 2013 when Alex Gage took home the honors.

"This is the first year she's stepped up as a goal scorer," Harks said. "Up until now she's been a very selfless player and had a couple of goals here and there and a quite of a bit assists. She's been aggressive at the back of the net and manages to find a way do whatever she wants to do."

Assistant coach Eric Willson, who serves as head coach of the North's boys team and worked with Rydberg on her set pieces and free kicks, went a little further.

"She makes things look kind of effortless," Willson said. "She's got a really unique combination of magical skills and all kinds of pace with and without the ball. She kind of glides around the field and past her opponents pretty easily or she makes it look easy. She's incredibly accurate and dangerous with her passes and really maybe this season more than anything - ruthless with her finishing skills."

"I think it's just that I want to score," Rydberg said of her shot. "I hate losing so every time you score it gives the team more energy. I'll take as many shots as I can take. "

Which is a testament to her preparation and time working on her finishing skills Harks sets up in practice for self improvement. A natural at dribbling at people, for someone who doesn't watch as much soccer as you think and uses Abby Wambach and Alex Morgan as inspirations, Harks attributes a higher level confidence that made her more sure with the ball at her feet in 2017, making it look easy against stingy defenses like New Trier.

"They were a really physical team but Hailey was still able to find some spots and some pretty good looks," Willson said. "Only a couple teams have been really physical with her and I think she showed the ability to handle that and she's an incredibly well-rounded player and coach Harks and myself are pretty excited to have her back for one more season."

And another year smarter and refined. Harks and Willson taught Rydberg how to be a connector, where, "there are times to dribble at people and there are also times to be the person to switch field and make the quick play and they definitely opened my eyes to that concept," Rydberg said.

But you still get a team player who stresses to never give up in tough games and not be that player that just works hard on offense but a player that works hard on defense too. She loves the tight knit group of her team and the fight it has wanting a state title next year, playing with her sisters Sam and Abby and proving that she's not taking a night off and worthy of her awards.

"There's that motivation in my senior year to do better than last year and but this is an awesome award and you have to be proud of it even if you can't beat it. But that drive will always be there," she said.

Talk about a manual transmission's dream: a clutch who will never burn out.