Highland Park senior Grace Quirk may not admit it to them, but the soccer standout may have her brothers to thank for getting her started on the road to becoming one of the area’s best goalies.
“I’ve always joked that I play goalie because I don’t like to run, but I think I’ve been using that one a little bit too much lately,” Quirk said. “I’ve got two brothers, and we grew up playing tackle football together. We played baseball. I became good at throwing and catching a ball.”
So when her youth soccer coaches asked who wanted to play goalie, Quirk was quick to volunteer.
“I said, ‘Sure, I can catch a ball,'” she said. “Let me give it a try.
Stepping up certainly paid off for Quirk, who last week signed her letter of intent to attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison, reigning women’s soccer champion in the Big Ten. She said she had known for a long time that the school was where she was headed, but it was still nice to make it official.
“I’m so excited to be going there,” she said. “I know it’s the perfect fit for me.”
She wasn’t always so sure, though.
She said a coach from the university saw her playing in a tournament as a sophomore and asked her to attend a prospect camp and meet with the goalie coach.
“I really didn’t want to go,” Quirk admitted. “I thought, I’m not going to go here, so why should I waste my time?”
But her parents nudged her to at least give it a try.
“Then as soon as I got there, I loved it,” she said. “I loved working with the goalie coach. I saw how different the atmosphere was, and I wanted to be there every second.”
Her high school coach isn’t surprised that schools like Wisconsin sought her out.
“Grace has many strengths,” said Kate Straka, head coach at Highland Park. “However, I believe her intelligence about the game of soccer sets her apart from other keepers her age.”
Straka, a Division I goalie herself at Duke University, would certainly know.
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“She’s a student of the game, as she is always analyzing the game and striving to be a better keeper,” Straka said. “She understands the intensity it takes to lead her team to a higher level of competition.”
While she’s now a forward on Highland Park’s varsity basketball team—and swam competitively for eight years—soccer has always been the sport about which she is most passionate.
“I love soccer,” she said. “I love the pressure of (being goalie). Whenever I had to make a choice, I always chose soccer.”
Last year, Quirk missed most of her junior season after breaking a finger against New Trier in the season opener.
“I think I played in a total of four games,” she said.
“It was hard to watch,” Quirk said. “I had a good sophomore year, and I got a lot better and was excited to have another big year. When you get hurt, it just makes you appreciate playing so much more.
“I was excited for Maile (Lunardi, the freshman who took her place),” she said. “We play on the same club team, and I was happy she got the playing time and was able to make the most of it.”
Highland Park, which shared the conference championship with three other teams last season, begins practice for the spring season early next month.
“(Our goal) is to have the conference championship all to ourselves,” Straka said. “Our team will be led by Quirk in goal, Lily Pinkus in the midfield and Hannah VanCleve on defense, all seniors.”
With her senior season fast approaching, Quirk is hoping to end her high school career on a high note.
“I’m very excited to be back in goal,” she said.