Former Waubonsie Valley girls soccer star going into Illini Hall of Fame
The call from University of Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman earlier this week brought Vanessa DiBernardo big news.
The Naperville native is going into the Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame.
"It was a big shock," she said.
After winning state championships at Waubonsie Valley High School in 2007 and 2008, DiBernardo piled up awards at Illinois. She was selected with the fourth overall pick in the 2014 National Women's Soccer League draft by the Chicago Red Stars.
A three-time second-team All-America and all-Big Ten selection, DiBernardo also was on the Hermann Trophy watch list three times.
DiBernardo now ranks fourth in all-time scoring for the Fighting Illini with 43 goals, first in assists with 22 and third in all-time points with 108.
She will become only the second soccer player to enter the Illinois hall of fame. The induction ceremony is scheduled for Sept. 18.
"It made me think back of my time at Illinois and really made me appreciate the memories that I had there," DiBernardo said. " ... I truly don't think I would have enjoyed my time there if it wasn't for my teammates and then especially the coaching staff (led by Janet Rayfield) and the environment that they created for us to be able to play and be successful."
DiBernardo has good company in this year's hall of fame class. Men's basketball players Derek Harper and Tal Brody, football players Ray Nitschke, Moe Gardner and Kevin Hardy, plus two-time Olympic gold medal pole vaulter Bob Richards also are in the Class of 2020.
"Looking up some of the other athletes that are in the hall of fame, it was just kind of like, Wow," DiBernardo said with a laugh. "It's pretty sweet."
For now, though, DiBernardo is trying to stay in shape with the goal of rejoining her Red Stars teammates for the upcoming NWSL season. Preseason training was interrupted after one week due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It was exciting," DiBernardo said of that first week of training. "It's still the core group that's been together for many years, so there's us. And then there's a lot of new players coming in.
"The first few weeks are always a little weird in the preseason, but you can kind of get to see everyone starting to feel comfortable and seeing what our potential is like."
Also returning to the Red Stars this season are local products Hannah Davison (Geneva), Zoey Goralski (Neuqua Valley), Sarah Gorden (Conant), Kayla Sharples (Naperville North) and Casey Short (Naperville Central).