Metea Valley senior midfielder Riley Strcic has been close friends with classmates Kaylee Bannack and Jordan Lange for a decade.
They live in the same neighborhood — Bannack and Lange are next-door neighbors — and have always played on the same team.
You could say they are the high school soccer version of the Three Musketeers.
“We do everything together,” Strcic said. “Our parents are all best friends.”
Bannack said they even carpool together.
“We’re very close,” she said. “We played for the same club for a really long time, and we’ve gone through a bunch of different coaches, but we’ve always stuck together.
“We came to high school ready to get better as we go up, and it’s been really fun.”
It’s always fun to take a team to unprecedented heights, which is exactly what the trio did last year while leading the Mustangs to their first state championship.
The team captains are primed to help the top-ranked Mustangs (14-0-3) win another one.
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“It’s amazing because we’ve been through it all,” Strcic said. “We’ve had people come and go, but the one consistent thing is us staying together and playing together.
“We trust each other so much, and we rely on each other, so being able to be captains together means so much. We’ve talked about that since we were little kids.”
Lange, who has been sidelined with a foot injury, is Metea Valley’s leading scorer, while Bannack is a lockdown defender. Strcic, the least heralded of the three, has been a rock at the 6, as her defensive midfield spot is called.
“She definitely keeps us composed,” Bannack said. “She’s so good at finding open pockets of space in the middle, just switching the field, getting it from left to right and right to left.
“She’s a very smart player, just always knows what to do with the ball.”
In a sport where coaches often have players switch positions, Strcic is an outlier.
“In sixth grade, my coach put me at the 6, and I have not moved once,” she said. “I’ve always played every single game there.”
Metea Valley coach Chris Whaley toyed with the idea of moving Strcic earlier this season but eventually thought better of it.
“She was a candidate to replace one of our center backs who graduated, just because of the type of player she is,” Whaley said. “But she is so valuable to the team at the 6, it’s not worth changing that.
“She’s such a strong kid, and she brings that stability and strength to this team that at times is young and sporadic and vibrant. She’s that solid kid in the middle of the field that you need to kind of steer the ship.”
Being at the helm appeals to Strcic, which is why she enjoys playing the position.
“I like that I can be involved in both defense and offense,” she said. “I’m able to connect both lines, and I feel like I can do anything because I’m able to play defense and also help the attack.”
Strcic has been getting more involved in that attack. That was evident Friday, when she converted a 32-yard free kick to open the scoring in a 4-0 DuPage Valley Conference win against Waubonsie Valley.
“We’ve been practicing our free kicks,” Bannack said. “And for Riley to step up and score our first one, it was great.”
It was Strcic’s first career game-wining goal and just the third time she has found the back of the net in the past two seasons. But Whaley expects more will come, noting Strcic delivered the cross that led to Lucy Burk’s goal that beat Lincoln-Way Central 1-0.
“We just recently got her involved in more dead-ball situations, which has been nice,” Whaley said. “It’s been a slowly developing thing that’s helped us get a little more organized in dead-ball situations.”
Strcic has been organizing the Mustangs for a while but said she has been more vocal about it this season, which will be her last. She intends to study business at Indiana but will not play soccer there.
“I’m not naturally as vocal, but this year I feel like I’ve come into being a leader and being a strong role model for the rest of the team,” Strcic said.
“I’m just so happy to represent the team. It’s such a special opportunity, and Metea soccer means so much to all of us.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.