There are times when Lake Central senior goalkeeper Olivia Pelot talks like she plays a sport other than soccer.
In those moments, the Purdue Northwest commit sounds more like a linebacker, but with good reason. She used to be one.
“I’m a very aggressive person,” Pelot said. “That’s why I played football for a while — because I liked tackling and stuff like that — and as you get more advanced in goal, you have to be able to come out and make saves diving into people. You can’t be afraid.”
Fear doesn’t seem to be a problem for Pelot, a former two-sport athlete who gave up football to focus on soccer and has been a fixture in Lake Central’s lineup throughout her career.
Pelot had a 12-0-1 record and a 0.85 goals-against average last season, reflecting her steady improvement over the years. She was 4-1 with a 0.93 GAA as a sophomore and 7-1-0 with a 1.40 GAA as a freshman.
Those numbers back up what Lake Central coach Genna Shinkan has noticed while watching Pelot play.
“I’ve never had a player like Olivia that, even when she knows she’s doing well, she’s still trying to get better,” Shinkan said. “This summer, she was at ID camps, she was training with goalie coaches and you can see the growth — not only as a keeper, but also as a leader on the team. She’s been working on all of those aspects.”
Senior defender Malia Silvers agreed that Pelot is always improving as a goalkeeper.
“Every year, she’s gotten so much better,” Silvers said.
Silvers also confirmed Pelot’s aggressive approach to the position.
“She doesn’t have any fear,” Silvers said. “If a ball’s coming into the box, it’s hers.”
Pelot said her first football experience came in seventh grade at Kahler Middle School, although she didn’t get any playing time that season. That changed in eighth grade, when Pelot played linebacker and handled kicking duties. So she decided to play both sports in the fall of her freshman year, which made for a difficult first few months of high school.
“It was busy and hard to manage,” she said. “But I was still at a hard point in my life where I was trying to figure out what I wanted to pursue.”
As Pelot’s sophomore year approached, she said she started seeing a future for herself in soccer that might not have been possible in football. But that wasn’t the only factor in her mind.
“I just loved this team and the environment,” he said. “I love all of these girls with my whole heart. They’re like a family to me. We all treat each other like family, and at the end of the day, I couldn’t leave them behind.”
Pelot said there are still moments when the itch for football returns.
“Sometimes, when I’m watching it on TV, I’ll really miss going out there and making tackles or being around some of the guys who were my friends too,” she said.
But Pelot is fully immersed in soccer. Her most recent offseason work focused on higher balls that present a challenge for a 5-foot-7 goalkeeper. She expressed confidence in that part of her game, though.
And if there are any loose balls in front of Pelot, the former linebacker won’t hesitate.
“I like being that aggressive person who’s ready to go up for any ball,” she said.
Dave Melton is a freelance reporter.
