Tri-Cities captain: Leah DeMoss

Just this past weekend, Leah DeMoss gave plenty or reasons to be considered one of the best soccer players, not just in her area of Illinois, but the entire state.

There was the ball the St. Charles North senior crushed while it was in midair, a 20-yard blistering shot that nearly pushed back the Sandburg goal as it hit the crossbar.

There was a goal later in that match, as DeMoss steamed in on the left wing and shot low to put her team on the scoreboard and give the North Stars some life after falling behind 4-0.

There were goals this spring - 23 of them - and 19 assists as well. Some of those postseason goals were huge, including a pair against Batavia, a pair against Geneva, another two goals against Conant, a key initial shot against Barrington that led to a goal and one of her team's two goals in the semifinals.

There were moments in midfield when she would track back to win the ball. Earlier in the season, DeMoss would track all the way back into defense if needed to solidify that area of the field.

But the final impressions were of her final moments on the field, as she and fellow senior Alyssa Peterson carried the Class 3A third place trophy from the field at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium.

Always supremely talented, there was a time when DeMoss was just another soccer player plying her trade in the area and she had to walk quite a pathway to reach the level at which she now plays.

But that pathway ended in a pot of gold - University of Iowa "Old Gold" to be precise. In addition to her other honors - all-state, all-conference and a captain on her high school team, DeMoss can add the captaincy of Daily Herald Tri-Cities All-Area Team. And she will take those honors with her to Iowa City, Iowa next fall.

"I was talking to Ashley Capone and she said 'I remember your freshman year and I hardly remember you being on the team,'" DeMoss said. "Lynda Judy, Vicki Traven, Caitlin Winkelman - I watched those great players and I took the 'follower' role as a freshman and sophomore. There were others who were clearly stronger than me on the field."

There were those who had seen the talent DeMoss had. One was club coach Matt Hamnett, an Englishman who has coached for various clubs, and is currently with Ela Soccer Club in the northern suburbs. DeMoss encountered Hamnett as a fifth grader on Tri-Cities travel teams.

"He got me really focused on playing college soccer," DeMoss said. "He took me under his wing and taught me how to play. I'd was always on 'B' teams until seventh grade and he took the time to develop me as a player."

DeMoss said one of the keys she received at that early age was confidence - something that would again become something that needed bolstering when in high school.

"I wasn't really one of the good ones," DeMoss said. "(Hamnett) gave me the confidence that I could be a good player. That's what I needed when I was little. He taught me how to put two passes together and he really pushed me to be the player I am now."

Joining St. Charles North for the 2007 season, DeMoss has worked slowly and steadily to become the player who helped spearhead the North Stars to the state finals. That meant working with North Stars coach Ruth Vostal, who has become another huge influence.

"My club coaches, they coach age groups and they get new girls every year," DeMoss said. "Ruth Vostal and the rest of the North coaching staff - they care so much about the team. (Vostal's) so dedicated. She has three kids at home and she treats us all like her kids. She'll call and say 'are you icing? Are you in bed yet?' She dedicates so much to the team."

That sense of personal involvement began early in DeMoss' career, though it was nowhere near what it became this recently completed season.

"What's amazing is to look at them and to have a chance to watch them grow - as athletes as also as people," Vostal said. "I remember I saw her as a freshman and I talked to my brother Tom, who is the boys basketball coach at North, and I said 'I have a girl named DeMoss.' He said 'the DeMoss family.' He remembered her brother Jon from basketball. He said 'she'll be awesome.'"

Jon DeMoss is going to play basketball at Wheaton College this fall, part of a strong family sporting legacy. Her grandfather Bob DeMoss was a longtime and revered Purdue football coach while her father Gary was a basketball player for Miami of Ohio, whose roots are still firmly rooted in the Big Ten.

"My whole entire family is 'basketball,'" Leah DeMoss said. "When I told my dad I was going to stick to soccer, I thought he was going to have a heart attack. But I also remember him being at all my games, no matter what the weather was, and I was terrible.

"My mother was a crazy good track runner in high school who concentrated on school in college. My father just bleeds Big Ten. My grandpa coached at Purdue and that's where I feel I belong. My dad loves the conference and my whole entire family is crazy about it."

But that same fidelity toward a school or a conference also worked its way to Leah DeMoss, who said she has never taken for granted her ability to wear the Blue and White of St. Charles North.

"It's awesome," she said. "When I was in eighth grade, I looked up to the girls who played varsity soccer for this school. You don't realize sometimes that when you put on that jersey, what you represent and what you symbolize. You're representing your team, your school, your city, your parents - not to mention things like sportsmanship. It's not just a T-shirt. Vostal tells us all the time that it's a privilege to put on that jersey. And it's a big deal."

That may help to explain how DeMoss helped pick up her team from a first half funk in its regional title match with Batavia. DeMoss - and other seniors - did most of the loud talking during a lightning delay with their team trailing 1-0. St. Charles North ended with a 3-1 victory.

"It's interesting," Vostal said. "This was one of the most talented teams I've had, if you pick the players apart one by one. But they also turned out to be one of the most hardworking teams. That game against Batavia, I didn't say much. It came from them."

DeMoss' career continues at Iowa. She said she is pleased that North Stars teammate Paige Dusek - one of three St. Charles North players who were named all-state this year - will play at Drake this year and not be so far away. Kristen Manski is the other North Stars all-stater.

"We all go through this stage of 'I don't want to play,' but really I just can't imagine not playing," DeMoss said. "I have lived this lifestyle since eighth grade - missing homecomings and missing Halloweens. I can't think of missing all of those things and not putting it toward something like college. I just can't imagine not playing soccer."

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<h1>More Coverage</h1>

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<h2>Related documents</h2>

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<li><a href="/pdf/trigirlssoccerfront10.pdf">Tri-Cities all-area team Page 1</a></li>

<li><a href="/pdf/trigirlssoccerteam110.pdf">Tri-Cities all-area team Page 2</a></li>

<li><a href="/pdf/trigirlssoccerteam210.pdf">Tri-Cities all-area team Page 3</a></li>

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