Naperville North forward Claire DeCook had a lot of questions heading into her sophomore season.
Would her knee hold up as she returned to action just seven months after surgery for a torn ACL? If it did, could she overcome the fear of reinjuring it? Would she be the same player she was before?
The answer to the first two questions was a resounding “yes.” The answer to the last was “no” — because she was even better.
“Claire is really remarkable,” Naperville North senior midfielder Audrey Hartmann said. “We almost call her robotic because coming back from an injury that serious and being as good as she is is insane. I’ve never in my life seen someone tear her ACL and come back just as good.”
A year after scoring 16 goals in 13 games before the injury, DeCook dazzled again. She tallied 14 goals, five of them game-winners, and 10 assists to lead the Huskies (13-6-4) in both categories and amaze everyone who watched her.
DeCook, the 2024 Naperville Sun Girls Soccer Player of the Year, regularly faced double-teams and shouldered much of the scoring load for an offensively challenged team playing a tough schedule.
The Huskies won DuPage Valley Conference and regional titles with a strong defense and the gritty determination and electric athleticism of DeCook, who had a hand in 60% of their 40 goals.
“Everybody knew who Claire was because of the season she had last year,” Naperville North coach Steve Goletz said. “To be able to not only deal with that but deal with coming off an ACL tear, it’s so hard to mentally work through that but also physically.
“The demand and the grind of playing two to three games a week weighs on everybody, but especially somebody who wasn’t able to have the opportunity to do it much in the offseason. She was so fearless again this year in how she played on both sides of the ball.”
DeCook, as usual, gave it her all, although she was nervous at first to put her full weight on the knee when cutting back.
“This season was very different,” she said. “I encountered a lot of feelings I had never felt before because I often compared myself to last season.
“Talking to my parents and coaches, I realized I’m such a different player, not even just with my whole knee situation, but such a different player. It’s like comparing two different people.”
DeCook said she has gained mental toughness.
“I asked my trainer, ‘How long am I going to feel like I should shy away from things?’” she said. “He’s like, ‘Unless you actually focus on the game, it’s going to be there forever.’
“I was so locked in that it started to fade away. It’s just focusing on what’s in front of you and not what could happen or what happened in the past. ‘Always leave it behind’ is what I’ve learned this season.”
DeCook also learned how to deal with the increased attention and physicality of opposing defenses.
“It was definitely a big learning curve because as a freshman last year, not everyone knew me, so I was able to kind of like bang-bang, get it done,” she said. “But now everyone is aware of me and I’m more predictable in a way, but it also made me realize, ‘Well, if they’re going to (key on) me, then I have nine other field players that I could pass to.’
“So I do think it’s important to highlight my assists. I had less goals than last year, but I had more assists this year, so there is growth in that perspective.”
Because DeCook is so much faster than most of her teammates, Goletz actually wants her to be more selfish when the situation warrants it, such as driving to the net instead of crossing it.
There were plenty of times DeCook did that. She scored the spectacular game-winning goal with 43 seconds left to beat Waubonsie Valley 2-1 in the regional final and had the Huskies’ goal in their 2-1 loss to Naperville Central in the sectional semifinals.
“Claire impacts the game every time she steps on the field with her ability to consistently put teams under pressure all game every game,” Goletz said. “Regardless of if she scored, her willingness to work for the team never changes.
“She’s really special and set herself apart from any other forward that I’ve been fortunate enough to coach.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.
