West Aurora senior Lizzy Kuhn represents the avatar of a new generation.
Just call her a quick-change artist, a multiple-hyphenated player who can be utilized everywhere on the field.
“I have played almost every position consistently,” Kuhn said. “I have a team-first mindset before my own. I am willing to play wherever I can impact the game the most.
“Playing so many positions, I know where I should be in comparison.”
As a freshman, Kuhn was a lockdown defender and disruptive talent for the Blackhawks. After a sophomore season that was canceled due to the pandemic, Kuhn returned last spring with a vengeance.
The leader of a young and inexperienced team, Kuhn toggled between playing goalkeeper and midfielder. With the offense struggling to score, West Aurora coach Laura Wagley moved Kuhn to forward.
Playing at the top of the formation optimized her next-level speed, quickness and athleticism. Kuhn scored 13 goals and added an assist as the centerpiece of the Blackhawks’ attack.
Wiry and lithe, Kuhn has demonstrated great timing, presence and explosiveness on the ball. She has a great finishing touch.
“I think my speed, endurance and intelligence for the game are my best qualities,” she said.
She also is a fiery and intense competitor.
After a long athletic layoff created by the quarantine, Kuhn took up tennis in the fall of her junior year, just to experience the rush and intensity of competition again.
As a guard for the basketball team, she willingly shifted to the wing or post to help fill a team need. She battled players much bigger than her 5-foot-8 frame.
Kuhn used her guile, savvy and intense preparation to hold her own.
She is the youngest of a remarkable group of three sisters. Her oldest sister, Katrina, who danced at West Aurora, is a medical student at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.
Their middle sister, Abbey, holds the girls track school record in the pole vault and finished second in 2019 at the Class 3A state meet. She’s now a sophomore standout at Ohio State.
“It’s super inspirational to have a sister like Abbey,” Kuhn said. “We’ve grown closer as she has gone off to college and I have seen how hard she works.
“She has really shown me what it means to be a competitive player.”
Krystal Diaz, a senior defender and Lizzy’s close friend, said Kuhn’s intensity, preparation and thoroughness touches on every aspect on the team.
“Not just on the field, Lizzy is really good at keeping the team together,” Diaz said. “She makes sure everybody is bonding before we even start playing. She is focused and makes sure everything is on task.”
The sense of urgency is self-evident for players like Kuhn, who have come of age and dealt with the disappointment and heartbreak of trying to be an athlete in the age of the pandemic.
“My sophomore year would have been a phenomenal season,” Kuhn said. “That was going to be our greatest team ever. We graduated all but four of our players.
“Last year was very chaotic, and we had to create a whole team in less than a season.”
Diaz said when the most talented player on the team also is the hardest worker, that leadership creates a natural camaraderie and chemistry.
“We have only made it one full season,” Diaz said. “Lizzy really wants this last season to be a memorable one. She is making sure everybody is comfortable. Whenever we have to work on something, she is always on top of that.
“It doesn’t matter what position she is in, Lizzy just wants to play.”
Patrick Z. McGavin is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.