The national signing day ceremony inside Carmel’s gymnasium on Feb. 1 was especially fitting for senior soccer star Angie Salvi.
The Carmel gym is officially known as Salvi Arena, in recognition of her family’s long-standing connection to the Mundelein school.
From the beginning of her Carmel career, Salvi had high aspirations. Now, she’s a state champion and headed to play Division I soccer at the University of Vermont.
“Angie’s had a certain level of maturity that, in my experience, in high school is rare,” said Carmel soccer coach Ray Krawzak, who was an assistant coach under John Halloran when Salvi joined the program as a freshman.
“In soccer, kids are either comfortable with the ball at their feet or they are uncomfortable,” Krawzak added. “She was always very comfortable with the ball. She knew she was playing college soccer from day one as a freshman. It was only a matter of where and how best to get there.”
Her signing marked the end of a two-year recruiting process. As a sophomore, while playing on the club circuit with Libertyville FC 1984, Salvi caught the attention of Vermont coach Kristi Lefebvre and her staff at a showcase event in North Carolina.
She fell in love with the Burlington campus on her recruiting visit last year.
During her breakout sophomore year at Carmel, Salvi scored a team-best 23 goals and added five assists for the Class 2A state title-winning team in 2015. Her final goal came in the state semifinal against Lemont and proved to be the game-winner in the Corsairs’ 2-1 victory.
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“Being on the varsity as a freshman with girls who are four years older than you, sometimes you end up pretty timid,” Salvi said. “But you also start to get confidence. Once I had that, I became more of an attacking and essential player.”
No longer simply a complementary player, Salvi was a creative and dangerous midfielder in space who had the ability to score with either foot and got as much of a thrill out of passing as scoring herself.
“She’s a very humble player,” said Carmel senior defender Haley Miller. “After that year playing varsity as a freshman, you saw the difference in her game. She was a big reason why we won the state championship. Every time we needed a goal, we looked to her. She is so smart and creative. She adjusted her game to make others around her better.”
Carmel moved up a class for the 2015-16 season and still finished a respectable 12-3-4 against elite competition in Krawzak’s first year as head coach.
Salvi is ready to finish out her Carmel career in grand style.
“I have been playing soccer since I was 6 years old,” Salvi said. “We lost seven starters from the state title team, and we had to learn how to play together. We have some great juniors who got that experience last year.
“It is going to be very exciting to see how we have all grown.”
Patrick Z. McGavin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer_Press
Twitter @Pioneer_Press