Loyola sophomore forward Maggie Brett admitted the details of her game-winning goal against Evanston were initially a bit of a blur, which is how the lighting-quick Brett might have appeared to the Wildkits’ defenders that night.
Brett’s strike, the 23rd of her just-completed breakout season, came with 5:30 remaining in a tense Class 3A Glenbrook North Sectional semifinal on May 23, and it broke a tie game. On a rainy evening, Brett collected the ball at the top of the box, motored past an Evanston defender and, while angling right, cut the ball back into the goal inside the far post.
“Right after (the game), I couldn’t remember it, but after going through the film, I saw that I made a cut back around one defender and broke free, took a shot and somehow it went in the back of the net,” Brett said a few days after the goal handed the Ramblers a 2-1 victory, the team’s 11th straight win.
Brett added: “(Leading up to the goal) the ball had been worked (forward) all the way from the backline. That was the coolest part about it. To score that late, it was the best feeling. I can’t even describe it. To have (so many players) be a part of it was awesome.”
The Ramblers’ season came to an end with a 3-0 loss to New Trier in the sectional final on Friday.
A first-year starter, Brett was Loyola’s leading scorer, and she formed a strong partnership with junior forward Stephanie Ramsay (15 goals, 15 assists). Brett, who added nine assists, was one of 14 girls from Illinois voted to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Spring Girls All-Central Region team, according to Loyola coach Craig Snower, who said he received notification ahead of the team’s official release in June.
“Maggie is such an unbelievable story,” Snower said. “She’s just grown so much in a two-year span, more maybe than any player I’ve seen in my club or high school coaching career in 22 years.”
Entering the season, Loyola appeared to have question marks up front after losing two of its three starting forwards — KK Phelan and Devin Burns – to graduation after the 2016 season.
Brett scored just a single goal last spring after her midseason call-up to varsity.
However, in the fall and winter, Brett began to make her mark on the club level, where she played a year above her age group with FC United’s U17 team.
Brett had spent the previous two seasons playing with the program’s second team at her age group, and started there again last summer. But she played very well and got bumped up to the top U17 team because there wasn’t an opening on the U16 first team.
Brett said the step up in age and classification was a key to her development.
“(Playing a year up) was completely different, and at first it was hard to adjust (to the speed and physicality),” said Brett, who lives in Glenview. “It’s just a different mindset, but that changed my game completely. I don’t think I would be in this position if I had not played with the older girls.”
On that squad, Brett said she played as a wide forward or winger, as she had during much of her career. But Snower, who also was her U17 club coach, spent those months preparing Brett to play as a central striker, a position she would take up for him with the Ramblers this spring.
“Previously, I had been an outside player, and I was always using the sideline and my speed to beat a defender,” Brett said. “Snower put me in the middle in drills and gave me a sense of the game there. He forced me to see the field, distribute and make plays, not be a one-trick pony dribbling up and down the sideline. He added depth to my game.”
One of Brett’s club teammates was Ramsay, who had started as an outside forward for Loyola in 2016. With FC United, Brett and Ramsay got to know one another’s tendencies before being paired on the high-school level.
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“(Coming into high school) we already knew what we could do and what we needed to help each other on. (Having played together) made it easier to read each other,” Brett said. “It’s been so much fun to play up top with (Ramsay). We work so well together and have become so much closer (off the field).”
The 5-foot-3 Brett and 5-5 Ramsay have somewhat similar games, though Brett concedes Ramsay has a bit more technical ability, while Ramsay said Brett’s speed is nearly unmatched.
“Maggie is for sure one of the fastest I’ve ever played with, top two, if not the fastest,” said Ramsay, who lives in Lake Forest. “We’ve played balls through and I’ve thought, ‘No way she’ll get there,’ and miraculously, she does. Her speed is incredible.”
Dan Shalin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press