As she embarks on her third varsity season, junior midfielder Emily Crotty knows what Andrew soccer is all about.
Well, actually, Crotty had that knowledge before she ever stepped on the field in high school. She grew up watching her older sister, Leah, star for the Thunderbolts.
“Watching my sister for four years was great,” she said. “I really look up to her. Coming to Andrew soccer games and knowing how they were as a team and a school, it was awesome because I know they all wanted the best for each other.
“It’s definitely awesome to be a part of it now and see the positivity throughout the team.”
And now, Crotty is one of the standard-bearers for the program. It’s a role she’s ready for.
Crotty continued her hot start to the season Tuesday night, scoring her fourth goal of the year to lift Andrew to a 2-0 win over Oak Park-River Forest in a Windy City Ram Classic semifinal at Reavis in Burbank.
North Central College recruit Paige Swaw added the other goal for the Thunderbolts (4-0), while Ella Karnezis tallied an assist and Annabel Walsh made three saves to record the shutout.
Wisconsin-Stevens Point commit Sophia Ryan, Kaitlyn Gudyka, Abigeal Gallagher and Annie Lloyd led a dominant defensive effort in front of Walsh.
Andrew advanced to take on Lincoln-Way Central (4-0) at 6 p.m. Thursday in the championship game of the 32-team tournament. The Knights earned a 6-1 win over De La Salle (3-1) in the second semifinal.
Crotty, meanwhile, put the Huskies (3-1) in an early hole Tuesday night. She took a pass from Karnezis, raced down the middle of the field and buried a goal just over nine minutes into the game.
“We were all kind of talking on the bus about coming out strong and getting a goal kind of quickly to boost the energy,” Crotty said. “I saw an opportunity. Ella played a very good through ball. I knew I had to put it away.”
Andrew coach Loren Zolk has long known how talented Crotty is. But even though she scored 15 goals and dished out 18 assists last season as a sophomore, the Thunderbolts didn’t need to lean on Crotty.
Things are a bit different this spring.
“Last year as a sophomore, she was kind of more of a role player in the middle with Grace Wood and Taylor London in there with her,” Zolk said. “Emily balanced them really well. But now as a junior who’s been with us for a while, she’s kind of taken over the middle.
“I’ve seen her take her game to a different level in terms of what she’s allowing herself to do in the middle that she wasn’t doing as much last year because she was kind of deferring to the two seniors a bit.”
Lloyd, a Beloit recruit, has watched Crotty grow into a star. As one of the nine seniors on the team, Lloyd has no problem letting Crotty be one of the leaders as a junior.
“Emily’s amazing,” Lloyd said. “She always works so hard. She motivates the team, for sure. She always keeps everyone on track, and when we’re goofing around, she makes sure we get focused.”
When it comes to leadership, Crotty has always had a good role model in her older sister. Leah is heading into her senior season as a Division I soccer player at Coastal Carolina.
“She’s always driving me to be the best player and the best teammate on and off the field,” Emily said. “She’s a leader, and I’ve always looked up to her for that. She’s always communicating and looking out for her teammates, so I learned about that from her.
“I always look forward to talking to her before and after games because she always has something positive and some things that I can work on.”
