Girls soccer: 5 storylines to watch in 2024 across the Herald-News area

The final week of preseason practices is underway on soccer pitches across the Herald-News coverage area. As the start of the girls soccer regular season nears, here are five storylines we’re looking forward to following in 2024.

What do the Griffins have in store for an encore?

Always a top program with 13 regional championships this century, Lincoln-Way East broke through last season with a nine-game winning streak to capture the program’s first IHSA state trophy, finishing fourth in Class 3A.

The scary thing for the Griffins’ opponents? L-W East’s 2023 roster included only four seniors, just two of them regular starters. Neither of last year’s co-leading scorers, Cami Butler nor Ellie Feigl, were among those four lost to graduation, nor were Herald-News All-Area honorable mentionees Elizabeth Burfeind and Bre Herlihy.

Look out for these Griffins.

How does Plainfield North reload?

Led by the 2023 Herald-News Girls Soccer Player of the Year Tessa Fagerson, the Plainfield North Tigers had a magical season that included a 23-2-2 record, the Suburban Prairie Conference title, the program’s first regional championship since 2015 and the Tigers’ first sectional championship.

Fagerson has moved on to play Division I soccer at DePaul, however, and all four of Plainfield North’s other All-SPC performers – Alex Tetteh, Mia Davis, Georgia Liapis and Gabriella Mattio – also graduated.

With opportunities aplenty, who will step up for this spring’s Tigers?

Is Morris ready to take the next step?

The 2023 season was a pretty good one for Morris, which finished 12-8-3 overall and an impressive 4-2 in the Interstate 8 Conference, behind only Sycamore and Kaneland.

Notable in those records are two things: 1) Morris accomplished them with an overall young roster, meaning much of last season’s key contributors are eligible to return; and 2) The team posted those winning marks without putting together a winning streak longer than three games.

Ella McDonnell, who received Herald-News Girls Soccer All-Area Team honorable mention last spring, returns for her senior campaign.

Can Lincoln-Way Central get back to the big dance?

For the third consecutive year, Lincoln-Way Central navigated the 2023 regular season with one defeat and looked poised to follow up on 2022′s third-place finish in Class 3A. And while the Knights did capture their fourth consecutive regional championship, their run came to a sudden, somewhat surprising end with a shutout loss to Andrew in the sectional semifinals.

L-W Central did lose a strong corps of seniors last spring, but it has enough talent to contend for a trip back to North Central College in late May/Early June, including elite scoring presence Madi Watt, now a junior.

New leaders, new heights across the area’s pitches?

The Herald-News area’s girls soccer scene continues to grow more and more impressive.

Last season there were eight regional champions across the greater Joliet area: Lincoln-Way Central, Minooka, Lockport, Plainfield North and Lincoln-Way East in Class 3A; Lemont in 2A; and Illinois Central Eight Conference rivals Peotone and Coal City in Class 1A.

All but three members of the 15-girl Herald-News All-Area first team – Feigl, Butler and Wilmington’s Alaina Clark, who scored a school-record 28 goals – graduated, however, opening the door for new stars and new top teams to emerge when the season begins Monday.