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44 | July 21, 2016 | The New Lenox Patriot sports
newlenoxpatriot.com
Alumni Spotlight
From walk-on to starting on the field
West alumna aims
to be Lewis’ primary
goalkeeper
James Sanchez
Assistant Editor
Audrey Pearson left
Lincoln-Way West in 2015
as one of the most accomplished
athletes ever to come
out of the girls’ soccer program.
But she came into
Lewis University
the following
year as
an unknown.
After a year
flourishing
with the Flyers
against top Pearson
Division-II
competition mostly on the
sidelines, the sophomore is
ready to make the leap to
battle and become the team’s
full-time goalkeeper.
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Lewis is looking to be on
the rise after finishing this
past year with its first double-digit
win season since
2012. It is only the second
10-plus win season since
1997. Pearson said the team
dealt with a variety of injuries
throughout the course of
the season, which led to an
early end in the Great Lakes
Valley Conference Tournament
in the first round.
It was an eye-opening experience
for Pearson. She
chose Lewis University out
of the eight total schools that
recruited her mostly because
it was the only Division-II
school. Most high school
teams have only a few highly
skilled players, unlike college
where everyone is welltrained,
she said. Pearson
noticed the difference first
hand within the first couple
of practices.
“When I first started seeing
some of the girls and
having them take shots on
me, the skill level was probably
three steps higher than
[high school] varsity level,”
Pearson said.
Pearson appeared in three
games in her freshman campaign
with the Flyers. It is a
small sample size, but she
has come a long way, entering
the program as the
team’s only walk-on.
Despite leaving West
with 30 shutouts in her high
school career, she entered
Lewis in the back of the
pecking order as the third
goalie. By the end of the
season, she moved up as the
team’s primary backup behind
starter Jennifer Meyer.
Her work earned herself
scholarship money for this
upcoming school year. She
earned quality minutes competing
in spring exhibition
games, which included shutting
out Division-I Loyola
University for an entire half.
The early progress was accelerated
because of her varsity
experience at West and
her time working with Warriors
head coach Jeff Theiss.
“I don’t know if any other
school could have prepared
me any better,” she said. “...
I cannot thank Jeff enough
for what he gave me in terms
of assets, work ethic and
being a team player. I was
a step ahead of most of the
freshman because I knew
what kind of work I needed
to put in.”
Even though Meyer started
all last year, it does not
mean she will maintain her
starting role this fall. Pearson
said Lewis head coach
Chris Koenig gives all his
players an equal opportunity
to earn a spot.
With Koenig starting each
season from scratch, it has lit
a fire to the team, who are all
vying for positions, as well
as building off last year’s
success, she said.
“People come from an
hour-and-a-half away just
to be here with each other
and work with each other,”
she said. “We want to win
so bad, we’ll almost do anything
for it.”
And if Pearson won the
starting role, it would mean
a culmination of work, coming
into Lewis as a walk-on
to a starter in just a year’s
time, has paid off.
“[Being the starting goalie]
would mean that what I’m
doing is what I should be doing,”
Pearson said. “My work
is worth something, and if I
keep working harder I’m going
to keep that position. The
other goalkeeper I’m competing
against, I love her to
death. She’s above me right
now. If I keep pushing and if
I get passed her, I’ll push her
to try and beat me again. That
will only raise our level even
higher.”