Plenty tough enough

For anyone out there who believes that female high school athletes aren't truly tough, go watch Wheaton North forward Jaime Orewiler fly around the field, get knocked down and pick herself up off the turf for 80 minutes.

"There's nothing she won't do to get that ball," teammate Erin Strom said.

Or, if you happen to drive past St. Francis and you see the new lights on over the soccer field, stop by and see Spartans sweeper Crossley Simmons go in after a 50-50 ball like a freight train.

"Some days your touch might not be there, but you can always have that desire to play hard and get after it," Simmons said. "Toughness comes from your heart."

The face of toughness in the area might belong to West Chicago goalkeeper Kayla Radloff, who has been playing in pain for two years now but still regularly flies off her line and flings herself in the way of scoring chances.

Despite a nagging back injury, Radloff isn't about to stop sliding out to steal shots off of people's feet, no matter how many times she gets kicked from her waist to her shoulders in the process.

"I just try not to think about the injury. If I thought about it, I might not dive around like I do."

Broken, but unbowed

And don't tell Wheaton Academy coach Dave Underwood that girls aren't tough. Underwood coaches both boys and girls and believes that "girls are tougher. They'll play through pain more than boys will."

In a recent game against Wheaton North, the Warriors' Leah Fortune trotted over to her bench after breaking her pinky finger, which hung bent from her hand in two directions.

Underwood assumed Fortune would come out of the game, but she simply asked to have it taped up so she could get back to work. Her hand is now in a cast, but Fortune hasn't missed a single minute of play because of the injury.

There must be something in the water at Wheaton Academy, where defender Christie Dithrich had two concussions last year and is playing this year in a shoulder brace. But even if she played on crutches, you wouldn't want to get in the gutsy Dithrich's way.

The toughest kid on a tough Neuqua Valley squad this year is outside defender Kelsey Mulcahy, and her willingness to put her nose in the fray and fight for every ball comes from a philosophy she's always had.

"That's how I was brought up," said Mulcahy, who once broke her collarbone when she was 11 years old but kept playing anyway. "I just want to do everything I can for my team. It's not about me. It's about playing for my teammates, no matter what."

If toughness is fueled by desire, and if desire alone could push a boulder up a hill, the only player you might need to get it done is Waubonsie Valley's Bri Rodriguez.

Rodriguez's considerable skill is driven by pure desire, tightly packed into a chip she carries around on her shoulder.

"She just doesn't like to lose," said Warriors coach Julie Bergstrom.

At York desire has kept a squad full of players fighting tooth and nail for every ball, and that grit has the Dukes ranked among the area's top teams for the first time in recent memory.

"Every single one of them plays with heart," said Dukes coach Rachael Shepherd. "They've really dug down deep this season."

Shepherd couldn't single one tough kid out among a team full of them.

Beyond playing hard and tolerating pain, toughness never comes off the field. After limping off with the knot of a cramp in her calf late in a game this year, Timothy Christian's Katie Dirkse argued to be sent back in for the final minute of play, even though she was struggling to walk.

Glenbard West's Kristen Papierski similarly has to be dragged off the field by coach Maciek Kusmierz. Like most good attacking players, Papierski is targeted and pounded on during the course of a game.

According to Kusmierz, "any time she gets knocked down anywhere around the opponents' penalty box, she is the first one to get up and take the free kick to try to score."

Defenders are welcome to pound on Hinsdale South's Jessica Carlson all they want, too, as long as they're ready to get pounded on right back by the hard-nosed senior forward.

Goalkeepers might need to be elevated to a whole separate category of toughness. Glenbard East goalkeeper Erin Holden hasn't missed a game in net due to injury or illness in four years, and Rams coach Gregg Koeller calls Holden "the toughest kid I've ever coached, physically or mentally."

No shortage of tough players

Willowbrook defender/midfielder Amelia Weyer has missed "about three minutes in three years," according to Warriors coach Pete Montgomery.

"She has a perfect combination of physical and mental toughness."

Any scouting report on local toughness would urge opponents not to bother trying to intimidate Naperville North's Jessica Arabia (it can't be done), and any player that doesn't go in hard for a 50/50 ball against Lake Park's Rachel McMahon will be easy to spot. She'll be the one with grass stains on her uniform.

You won't ever find Immaculate Conception sweeper Marykate Manion backing away from contact, and Addison Trail attacking player Sammy Bender "doesn't have time for an injury, even when her body has reached the point of exhaustion," according to Blazers coach Sergio Nunez.

Montini's Jessica Kern perpetually gets up off the turf without complaint, and Downers Grove North's defensive-minded Kelly Rounce "exemplifies mental and physical toughness," according to coach Jason Hunter. "She represents what I strive to teach."

Toughness also hates to stand around. Wheaton Warrenville South's Liz Ciesielski invites 50/50 situations and welcomes the chance to run over and through whatever gets in her way. According to Tigers coach Guy Callipari, "She has the ability to make things happen, as opposed to waiting for something to happen.

"Her toughness comes in the form of being determined regardless of the obstacle in front of her."

Players can also surprise you with toughness. Her teammates call Glenbard South's Dominique Collins "Dominator", and she recovered from a broken leg faster than anyone anticipated and is playing like her former hard-nosed self again this year.

Benet's Katelyn Flynn is never the biggest player out there but somehow wins every on-field battle she enters.

"She is just tough as nails," said Benet coach Henry Wind. "She does all the dirty work for us."

Despite playing for a young Driscoll program that is taking its lumps on the field, Katie Florina uses toughness to handle the adversity the Highlanders face in almost every game, leading and encouraging her squad all game, every time out.

Most of the players mentioned here have teammates that could have easily been listed as well, and there was simply no way Naperville Central coach Ed Watson could single out Kelly Blumberg's toughness over Jessica Rubin's toughness, or vice versa.

"They're both so tough, and they really go after each other in practice," Watson said. "They beat on each other and laugh about it."

In the last 10 years high school soccer has slowly edged away from being a finesse game toward a more physical affair. There have always been tough players; today, by necessity, there are simply more of them.

"Today, every successful team is very physical," said St. Francis coach Tim Dailey. "I think that style trickled down from the professional and the college game."

Dailey thus has a final suggestion for anyone wondering whether girls are made of tough enough stuff.

"Go play soccer against them," he said.