Simply put, Huntley’s Wronski amazing

What is about to be recited is not — to quote that new hip term — a throwing under the bus of Huntley girls’ soccer whiz-kid Aimee Wronski

Rather what Dundee-Crown senior all-area defender Mallory Fryer is doing is paying Wronski one heck of a compliment.

“If she has to push you to the ground and not get a foul to do it, she does,” Fryer says. “She’s very determined to score. She’s very powerful. If she has to get aggressive she will. When she sets her mind to something, she does it.”

One of the things Wronski, the Honorary Captain of the Daily Herald’s All-Area girls soccer team for a second year in a row, has done over her tremendous four-year run on Harmony Road is put the ball in the back of the net with frequency.

A 35-goal effort this season left the Illinois State-bound standout with a C-note, plus-2—102 career goals. The 35 goals this season and the 102 for her career are both Huntley program records. The all-conference, all-sectional and all-state selection, also holds the school record for most goals scored in a game with four.

“She has brought energy to our program,” Huntley coach Kris Grabner says. “Aimee’s speed and excitement for the game have encouraged not only players currently in our program, but many girls that will still come into our program in the future. We have always built our team through strong defense. She is so explosive that she changed the way we play.”

And she certainly changed the way other teams played against her.

“She’s very fast,” Fryer says. “When you have one person that keeps everybody on their toes, it takes away more of the defense because you are focusing on one player rather than on the whole offense.”

McHenry coach Jim Nelson notes Wronski has a knack for turning nothing into a big something.

“She can read the game well and create opportunities from very little, turning a seemingly innocuous play into a dangerous shot on goal,” the Warriors’ coach states. “She can accurately place shots on goal from difficult angles and strike the ball with power. She is a threat the moment she steps onto the field. It is quite a difficult task to shut her down for an entire game.”

Grabner, who excels in vividly reciting Wronski superlatives during games, recalls two contests in particular that resulted in jaw-dropping performances this season.

“We were playing Wheaton North in the Pepsi Showdown (where she was all-tournament and tabbed the best forward in the tournament),” he starts. “Aimee was dribbling down the sideline — I mean she was on the sideline. She looked up and saw the keeper off her line. The next thing you know she shoots and chips the keeper. She was just below the center circle when she released the shot. By my calculations she was just over 50 yards from goal.”

The team’s Fox Valley Conference Valley Division match on senior night against Dundee-Crown also contained some Wronski histrionics.

“Aimee was shooting from 35 and 40 yards,” Grabner notes. “I was preparing to talk to her about shot selection when she turns on a ball from 30 yards out from a tough angle and beats the keeper.”

It gets better.

“In the second half she steals a ball running across the field,” Grabner continues. “The ball is running out of bounds when she cut it up the sideline running full speed. She is about 12 yards off the end line and outside the box when she suddenly strikes a shot. She beats the keeper near post.”

Did you think that was the end of the story? Afraid not.

“Minutes later, she turns on a ball from the corner of the 18 and beats the keeper over the top to the far post,” Grabner says. “All three goals were improbable.”

Grabner later found out Wronski’s participation in the game was rather improbable.

“After the game I found out she had a 102-degree temperature,” he says.

Dundee-Crown coach Sebastian Falinski was on the other side of that Wronski magic.

“Every time you face Huntley, your main focus revolves around Aimee Wronski,” he says. “As a coach, you focus so much energy on Aimee because she is just as dangerous with the ball as she is without. She can strike the ball with both feet. She can hold the ball with a defender on her back, or turn and attack a player one-on-one. She is dangerous in the final third because all she needs is a small window and she can set up teammates or she can shoot. Aimee has been Huntley’s catalyst for the past four years, and as a coach you dream of having a player as talented on your team.”

Wronski added to her talent level this year by continuing to work on her game in the air — a source of consternation after being hurt in a collision on a head ball during club season.

“I still got a little nervous, but if I had a chance to head it, I did,” she says. “I scored on a header this year. It felt good. It made me a lot more comfortable knowing I could do it. It helped me in the box and with punts in the air. The ball is crossed a lot in the box in the air. Being able to do that creates more goal-scoring opportunities. It plays a big part in the game.”

Wronski says goal-scoring isn’t a matter of how many times she buries the ball into the net during a match or a season.

“I don’t try and get a certain amount of goals,” she says. “My job as a forward is to get goals. I do it for the team. Everybody has jobs. I don’t look at it as getting this amount of goals. It just happens.”

But it happens for a reason.

“I’ve worked really hard to get where I am at,” Wronski states. “I would not be where I am at without my teammates and my coaches. I practice a lot and I play as hard as I can.”

Wronski is anxious to begin the next chapter of her career at Illinois State.

“It’s sad to leave Huntley, but it’s the end of one chapter for me,” she says. “I’m very excited about college and I’m very nervous. I’m going to work very hard in the summer and go in there as a freshman and fit in and do well and try and get some playing time. I know I am going to have to work a lot harder in college. I’ll have to come in with a totally different mindset. There are so many talented players out there.”

Illinois State women’s soccer coach Drew Roff regards Wronski as one of those talented players.

“Aimee is an explosive attacking player that can put the ball in the back of the net,” he says. “She plays the game with a very aggressive, attacking mindset and has all the physical tools to be a dominant goal-scorer. What really sets her apart and makes her a special player is she doesn’t need a great deal of time or space to create some magic.”

Roff plans on using Wronski as a center forward in the Redbirds’ system.

“She has the strength to hold the ball up for us and her speed gives us an added dimension to our attack,” he says. “I am very excited to see what she can do next fall once she gets comfortable in our system and develops chemistry with our other attacking players.”

Wronski admits the final curtain on her Huntley career — a premature elimination in the Class 3A sectionals — was an emotional one. Yet the early exit did not damper the entire body of work.

“I don’t even know how to put it into words,” she says. “It was sad. We worked so hard over the summer, but anything can happen. We did what we could, but we didn’t get the outcome we wanted. I don’t really know how to explain it. (Being ranked nationally) did put some pressure on us, but we overcame it. We worked so well as a team. This class was the underdog at one point, but we proved so much to ourselves. We didn’t make it to state, but the Huntley program grew so much. We are much better compared to where we were before.”

Grabner thinks Wronski hasn’t shifted into high gear yet.

“I think Aimee has just started to scratch the surface of her potential,” he says. “She is going into a very strong program with a great coaching staff.”

So as Wronski prepares to get into the good hands of Illinois State, she leaves a program that was always in good hands when she was around.

“Aimee led our team all four years by bringing endless energy and effort to the field,” Grabner says. “She just never stopped working. In practices, she made everyone better because she brought the pressure to them that she played every game with. Her teammates had to play faster or she would run through them to get the ball. She is also an incredibly caring person. She is always there for her teammates. She brought laughter when we needed it, however she always brought focus when she played.”

And her presence sparked added confidence and motivation for her teammates — the telltale sign of a true superstar.

“Whenever Aimee runs hard for a ball, it gets everyone else motivated,” Huntley senior midfielder Bre Burry says. “It makes everyone else want to get the ball. She was our go-to person. If you get her the ball, she has a great chance for scoring. She has a great opportunity to score on the field no matter where she is at. She can fly by anyone. I don’t think anybody that we played could keep up with her. When she turns on a defender, it’s pretty much goodbye to them. In big games it was great to know we had Aimee up there to step up and put it in goal when we needed it. She is amazing.”