Neuqua’s Moreau, Soderberg closing in on 300th victory

Neuqua Valley’s girls soccer game Thursday against Larkin?

“It’s just another game,” said Wildcats coach Joe Moreau.

With apologies to the humble coach, it’s not just another game.

A win over the Royals on Thursday at Elgin High School’s Memorial Stadium would be the 300th in Moreau’s 14-year career. Assistant Sue Soderberg has been beside Moreau throughout these past six seasons at Neuqua and eight years prior at St. Charles and St. Charles East.

The duo have led their teams to an overall record of 299-33-29 and 101-22-8 at Neuqua Valley. At St. Charles, the Moreau-Soderberg braintrust won five consecutive state championships from 1996-2000.

“We have a great relationship,” said Moreau, who has Neuqua Valley at 9-0 so far this season and atop the Daily Herald rankings. He’s also president of the Illinois High School Soccer Coaches Association.

“She’s an incredible coach and a very good friend of mine. We kind of read each other’s minds. We’re always on the same page. She’s a great mentor to the girls, too. She’s among the top couple coaches I’ve worked with,” Moreau said, citing former St. Charles coaches Tim Dailey and Bret Hall.

Moreau, 47, admitted he “didn’t know a whole lot about” his imminent victory landmark, but it’s a major accomplishment. Illinois High School Association records list only four girls coaches to have reached 300 wins: Quincy Notre Dame’s Mark Longo, Downers Grove South’s Barry Jacobson, Naperville North’s Al Harris and Cary-Grove’s Chris Phillips.

No matter how worthy the Moreau-Soderberg team is of the 300-win plateau, Moreau is like nearly all head coaches approaching major achievements, crediting both great players and a long career.

“It’s not about us,” he said. “It’s about the kids. We’ve had great players throughout the years. You can’t win without the horses. We’ve been fortunate to have stallions.”

Catching up with... Jill D’Amico

Naperville Central junior Jill D’Amico is high on the charts among the Redhawks’ top soccer goalkeepers in program history. Already third all-time in Naperville Central history for games played by a keeper, the two-time all-state and all-DuPage Valley Conference selection is third in career shutouts and leads all Redhawks’ keepers with a 0.50 goals against average entering this season. Her 16 shutouts as a freshman in 1999 rank second on single-season roles to 1999 graduate Ashleigh Koenig. A lifelong Naperville resident, D’Amico also plays club soccer with the Chicago Fire Juniors Red 11 with Neuqua Valley’s Megan Kelly, Waubonsie Valley’s Shannon Donaldson and Metea Valley’s Kristin Tomaras. She’s verbally committed to play soccer at the University of Jacksonville in Florida. Also a shooting guard on the Redhawks’ girls basketball team, D’Amico is cousins with brothers Brendan and Bryan Mullins, the former star basketball players at Downers Grove South.

Q: Have you ever played Bryan Mullins one-on-one?

A: I’ve played with him before. He taught me a lot, but I don’t think I could compete one-on-one.

Q: Speaking of basketball, do you have any neat quotes by Redhawks coach Andy Nussbaum?

A: Every time we win, when Andy gets in the locker room he yells, “Yeah, baby!” and screams it as loud as he can.

Q: What’s the thing you most enjoy about playing soccer?

A: Honestly, I love making that big save that can win the game or save the game for my team. That’s what I get out of it — my teammates knowing I’m behind them. I like having my teammates rely on me.

Q: What are your top skills at the keeper position?

A: I would say my overall shot-stopping ability. What I mean by that technically is not dropping the ball, having really good hands. I’m working on improving organizing my back (defense), like communication.

Q: What do you like about Naperville?

A: I like the people in Naperville. I have a lot of really good friends I’ve made here, I like the town. Downtown Naperville is right by my school, and there’s lots of things to do down there.

Q: How does it feel to have committed to Jacksonville for college?

A: It feels great to be committed and just kind of have that stress off me of deciding where to go for college.

Q: You’ve said you volunteer with special education students during your study hall period. What do you enjoy about it?

A: Honestly, they make every day so fun. They’re always happy. I originally had to do it for volunteering, for the hours. But then I stayed with the program. The kids are so much fun to be with.

Q: Do you see a future in this?

A: I’ve thought about it, but probably not. It’s just more of a volunteering thing. I want to get into soccer when I get older, like coaching or something.

Q: What has athletics taught you?

A: I’ve learned that sometimes you have heartbreaking losses, stuff like that, but you can’t dwell on it too long because there’s always another game — the next day, the next week, the next year. You can’t let it hold you back.

It’s a first

Last week Metea Valley held its first big track invitational, a girls meet. Now it’s the boys’ turn. Mustangs head track coach Aaron B. Lewis is scrambling to get everything just right. “It’s a bit of a challenge,” he said. “We have hosted smaller, three-team triangular meets. We hosted one last year and we hosted one at Grayslake North (where he was before Metea).

“Yeah, it’s a challenge, but I feel with the support of our school and athletic administration and our parents and other volunteers we’ll be able to put on a very good meet.”

Neuqua Valley, Marmion, St. Charles North, Plainfield North, Joliet Central, DeLaSalle and Kenwood all are participating in what will be called the Valley Boys Invitational. Neuqua Valley withdrew from West Aurora’s high-quality John Bell Invitational to compete at its fellow district school.

Metea will eventually get to hold Upstate Eight Conference meets, and down the line Lewis hopes to host a sectional meet.

In the immediate future he’d just like the boys to enjoy the sun that graced the girls’ first invite.

“They kind of laid the groundwork for us this weekend,” Lewis said. “Hopefully, some of the weather will be shifted toward us this Saturday.”

doberhelman@dailyherald.com