Her love affair with soccer took time to develop, but once hooked, Round Lake’s Alexandria Wawrzyniak discovered the joy of being a fish in water.
“The thing I love most is when you are out there you get to be yourself and create your own character,” she said.
Originally, her father Richard and her older brother Sergei had to convince Wawrzyniak to play the sport.
“When I was younger, I was not a big fan of soccer,” she said. “I did not really want to do it, but my dad and my brother really pushed it, and it just grew on me.”
Wawrzyniak, who’s the rare player in the Round Lake program with high-level club experience, has come into her own this season.
The junior midfielder has scored nine goals with six assists for the Panthers (7-2), who already have surpassed their win total of six from last year when Wawrzyniak was named all-sectional by the Illinois High School Soccer Coaches Association.
“Ever since she was a freshman, she was a well-rounded player with good vision,” Round Lake coach Josue Jimenez said of Wawrzyniak. “She has gotten a lot stronger on and off the ball. Her confidence is a lot higher. She has become a great leader.
“She has gone from being a really good player to a great player.”
Wawrzyniak has complemented her technical skill with physical maturity and growth.
“I was always used to playing with older girls and it made me more determined to get stronger and bigger,” she said.
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Jimenez said Wawrzyniak plays with a physical abandon. As a center midfielder, she commands the stage. Every game is a chance to show off her skill level.
“I see myself as more of an attacking player,” she said. “I love playing in the middle. You get the ball more, and I really want the ball all the time. I love taking people on, even two or three defenders, drawing them in and then slipping the ball to my teammates.”
Round Lake is a developing program that has never won a regional. As a younger player, Wawrzyniak confirmed the losing was difficult and weighed on her.
“My freshman year it was a little frustrating, and I knew I had to take a leadership role and even guide the older players and show them some things,” she said.
Now, Wawrzyniak is surrounded by some talented young players. Her importance to the team is not just through her play on the field, but also with her leadership.
“I think we’ve gotten a lot better since my freshman year and that makes playing so much more fun,” she said. “Now we have a lot of young talent, and a lot of the girls, especially the freshmen, look up to me and are always asking me stuff about how to make runs.
“I like encouraging and helping them.”
Patrick Z. McGavin is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.