The Times 2023 Girls Soccer Player of the Year: Speed, strong leg, team culture power Streator’s Anna Russow

When Anna Russow got the ball with a little room to work during the Streator Bulldogs’ home regional championship match against Metamora last month, the excitement surrounding the pitch wasn’t just something you could feel.

You could hear it building, like a hum, from both sidelines – fans and players of the Bulldogs and opposing Metamora – to an edge-of-the-seat crescendo as Streator’s senior forward worked her way toward the goal and let loose a shot.

Russow was that on top of her game, that fun to watch, that electric at the close of her high school career, capping it by scoring both of Streator’s goals.

“Honestly, it was awesome,” Russow said. “Having my teammates cheering and the parents having that energy building ... it felt good being at the center of it.”

The first of those scores tied Jobey Smith’s 6-year-old Streator High School record for goals scored in a season. The second, in addition to tying the regional title match and sending it to overtime, where the Bulldogs eventually lost, made the record Russow’s own with 22 goals.

It also cemented her already-likely selection as the 2023 Times Girls Soccer Player of the Year.

“I put my mind to it, and I tried really hard for it. If I didn’t get it, I didn’t get it, but I got it. I thought it was really awesome,” Russow said.

“My teammates helped out with it a lot, obviously. Our defense, for example, does amazing work. Bridget [McGurk] in the middle does amazing, and our outside girls absolutely killed it all season long. It was everyone, and as soon as we get the ball and start the push forward, everyone was there, where they had to be doing what they need to do.”

“My teammates helped out with it a lot, obviously. ... It was everyone, and as soon as we get the ball and start the push forward, everyone was there, where they had to be doing what they need to do.”

—  Anna Russow, The Times Girls Soccer Player of the Year

Even though she was awfully good at it, thanks to her game-changing closing speed and nose for finding the creases in a backpedaling defense, Russow wasn’t just a goal scorer for the 17-win Bulldogs.

“It became evident with about a month left [in the season] that she had a shot at cracking the record,” Streator coach J.T. Huey said of Russow. “As a coach, you don’t want to openly talk about it and get it out there and end up putting some sort of hex on it ... but every time she popped one, me and Ethan [Koncor, assistant coach] would give each other a look. Then regionals came. ...

“The team and the crowd just had this energy when she got a touch on the ball, and the pressure kept building. It was electric. That last one, the record goal that tied us up in regionals, it was a trickle goal, not something that will make the ESPN reels, but she fought her way through a line of defenders and a goalie to win that thing.

“That was the most exciting goal I have seen. The best part? She fought for that goal – not for her, but to get her team back in the game.”

A key factor in Streator’s success this season – and by extension, Russow’s – was its team culture. A mindset of being positive, inclusive, resilient and supportive was a teamwide focus set by Huey along with seniors Ellie Isermann, Syria Zuniga, Franchesca Rodriguez, Emma Graves, Monse Gonzalez, Bella Dean and Russow.

Huey remembers a moment early in the season when Russow repeatedly was getting hit with offsides calls and was “frustrated to tears, the team was aggravated.” At halftime, before the coaching staff could address the issue, Huey said his captains took control and pointed out the offsides calls were more a result of the team’s slow transition into its attack rather than Russow’s overanxiousness.

Within minutes, they had adjusted and were laughing before the second half of an eventual come-from-behind victory.

“Coach [Koncor] and I were standing there like, ‘Oh, OK. I guess we don’t have to say anything here.’ That’s our team,” Huey said.

“It was never about an individual. It was about building each other up, and I think Anna’s success was because of that.”

Russow, who plans to attend nearby Illinois Valley Community College and study for a career in athletic training while playing soccer for the Eagles and then “see where I can go from there,” doesn’t disagree.

“In previous seasons, there wasn’t as much team bonding or team building,” she said, “but I felt this year we improved on it. We wanted to win. We wanted to be a better team. We saw [the need to build that winning team culture], and we pushed for it.

“It definitely made a lot of our friendships better, and that made the team better. I think it even helped the parents see what kind of future this program can have.”