Allon bleeds Geneva blue

By itself, there’s nothing that special about a Geneva girls soccer jersey — or any other girls soccer jersey. They are white at home, blue on the road, have the school logo and numbers on them, and holes for the head and both arms.

But once put on a player’s back, the jersey becomes something more, especially if the wearer is someone like Catherine Allon, who always wanted to wear that team shirt and embody everything that shirt represents.

Now a recently graduated senior. Allon gets to wear something else, the title of the captain of the Daily Herald Tri-Cities All-Area Team.

Born in California, Allon moved to Geneva when she was a toddler and she dabbled with other sports including cross country and basketball.

But when it came time to get serious about one sport, the game that held her passion was soccer.

“I think I had the most passion with that sport,” Allon said of soccer. “I love having the ball at my feet and I love the game a lot. Before every game, I am always excited to play. No matter who it is we’re playing, I always look forward to when I have a game.”

Playing the game, of course, means wearing the team jersey, and that’s something Allon never took lightly either. Like every good soccer player, there were options to play for a club team through the high school season, but that playing avenue never appealed to her.

“I was always excited for the chance to play high school,” Allon said. “When I was a little kid, I would come to Geneva varsity games and I would say ‘I can’t wait to get out there.’ I love playing for Geneva.”

That desire to wear the team shirt goes beyond some selfish idea to be successful and grab the limelight. In fact Allon is one of those players around whom the team operates. Not only did she score some massive goals for the Vikings this year, many of those goals were the ones that sparked her team’s rally.

For example, Geneva ended with a 6-0 win in its regional championship match with Wheaton North. But the match was scoreless until Allon scored a pair of goals in the second half.

“It’s such a privilege to play for your school,” Allon said. “There is the whole team aspect and the whole team bonding thing that we do, like when we dress up at school before we have games. I think I would miss things like that if I didn’t play high school soccer.”

Then there is the deeper aspect. Just as she was once a young girl coming to Burgess Field to watch some great Geneva teams play, she knows there are youngsters in the crowd now that might one day want to wear her No. 6 or be part of the varsity team which she has represented for four years.

“It’s a great feeling,” Allon said, “wearing your jersey and knowing that you are representing the City of Geneva and knowing that all of them know that the girls soccer team is playing. You are playing for your teammates, your school and your city, and it’s a rewarding feeling.”

As a player, Allon has adapted to a different role in high school to what she plays for her club team or which she will play in college for Xavier. For Geneva, she has been a forward, where her speed has been a constant problem for defenses to handle. But when she travels to college this fall, she will revert to being a central midfielder.

“I think I prefer central midfield,” Allon said. “It’s a position where you’re more involved with things and you get more touches on the ball. I do like being up top. I like that as well.”

Watching Allon operate at the top of Geneva’s formation, you’d never know she had any other position than forward. After missing her sophomore year through injury, Allon burst onto the scene a year ago and continued this year. In those two seasons, she has scored 38 goals.

“She has that uncanny ability to find the back of the net and finish,” Geneva coach Megan Owens said. “It’s something the girls game seems to struggle with. Catherine’s not a true forward, but we did our best to turn her into a forward.”

One thing that she has carried from her midfield days is an unselfishness to her play. Despite scoring so many goals, Allon has contributed 20 assists in just two seasons.

“Catherine has never been one to want the limelight,” Owens said. “She’s a very unselfish player. She doesn’t like being the center of attention or having the attention drawn to her. She’s not like a queen bee, and I think the girls respect her more for that.”

As an example, as Allon about the goals she has scored in the last two years, and the first thing she does is praise those who delivered the ball to her.

“Especially with Geneva, we work on crossing the ball and aiming it at forward’s heads and getting nice, easy goals,” Allon said. “I can’t take any of the credit for what I’ve done without my teammates. Without them, I would have had none of this.”

For a high school coach, Allon has had Owens, who was a star forward at Lyons Township and then at Knox College. Sometimes it is difficult when a player has a coach who was very proficient in the player’s position. That hasn’t been the case in the Owens-Allon relationship.

“Since my freshman year was her first year coaching us, I think my relationship has grown with her,” Allon said. “It’s grown as we’ve moved through different conference and it’s definitely been a great relationship. She definitely gives me advice. Coming into high school, I’d never played up top and she taught me how to play that position better. I don’t think I could have done that without her.”

Owens said she and Allon have definitely grown through the last four years.

“We started off the same,” Owens said. “I’m sure she felt a lot like me. I was a little intimidated my first year being the coach and she was a little intimidated being a freshman on the varsity. She’s grown and she’s a tremendous kid both on and off the field.”

Geneva’s season ended at the hands of conference rival St. Charles North. Even a week after the match, Allon said the result was still a tough one to process, though she was one of many area players in the North Central College grandstand watching as the North Stars eventually finished second in the Class 3A tournament.

“I think we had the potential to go very far this year,” Allon said. “It’s sad that our season was cut short. But everything happens for a reason and all things come to an end. It’s tough that we’re out of it and our neighbors are still playing.”

This fall, Allon puts on the slightly darker blue of Xavier as she begins life in the Musketeers’ program.

“I’m definitely looking forward to working with my teammates,” Allon said. “I really like the coach a lot. I think he’s going to teach me great things. I’m excited to see what I can learn.”

One thing she won’t have to learn is to respect her team’s jersey and to represent it to the best of her ability. She’s got that part of athletics mastered.