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glencoeanchor.com sports
the glencoe anchor | June 6, 2019 | 29
Girls Soccer Player of the Year
Weaver brings home yearly award
Michael Wojtychiw
Sports Editor
Girls soccer Coach of the Year
Burnside, New Trier’s
consistency leads to yearly award
It would have been easy
for Emma Weaver to play
for a developmental academy
during her high school
career. Instead the junior
chose to play for her high
school, New Trier, and has
flourished since the day
she stepped on the field as
a freshman on the varsity
squad.
“I knew when I got offered
to go back to Academy
I knew the day I got offered,
that I didn’t want to
accept it because at NTGS
(New Trier girls soccer) it’s
family to me,” she said, “I
felt like if it didn’t do, if I
did accept the Academy
thing I would regret it. That
was my biggest fear.
“And I didn’t want to
live in regret, going to the
games and being ‘Oh I
wish I was out there, I wish
I was playing.’ I didn’t
want to let my teammates
and my coaches down and
I think that says a lot about
the program and the individual
players because
that’s what kind of struck
through me towards high
school because Academy,
yeah competitive, and better
games but it’s the fun
part that what motivates
me and I feel like it motivates
me in the off season
because I work harder because
I have something to
look forward to.”
After a season that saw
the junior score 33 goals,
she was named 22nd Century
Media’s Girls Soccer
Player of the Year.
In a year that saw the
Trevians lose three players
who combined to score
over 40 goals, Weaver was
looked upon to become
more of a scoring threat.
And not only did she, she
embraced it in stride.
New Trier’s Emma Weaver is this year’s girls Soccer
Player of the Year. 22ND CENTURY MEDIA FILE Photo
“Nicole Kaspi was one
of a kind, like Sydney
(Parker), Whitney (Hoban),
all those players were people
that I looked up to so I
needed to fill that role even
as a passer, which is also as
a leader on the team,” she
said. “Everyone is stepping
up, the freshman, the
sophomores, the juniors,
everyone’s filling roles
which has made it easy because
of the loss of players
we’ve had.
“I think we had such
high expectations and being
part of varsity New Trier,
that’s a pressure actually
served as motivation for
me at least. Because I want
to prove people wrong
when they say ‘you’re not
as good this year, you lost
these players.’ It’s like, no,
you recreate a team that’s
amazing every year. That’s
just what (coach Jim) Burnside
does.”
Weaver, who had primarily
played the midfield
position previously, was
thrust into the forward role
when the team played St.
Ignatius on April 2.
For Burnside, moving
Weaver up to more of an
attacking role was a move
he didn’t hesitate on.
“Not for a second,” he
said. “It’s not what she’s
going to do, it’s more
about what the people
around her are going to do,
“She takes up so much of
the other team’s focus that
if her teammates work hard
and get in the right spots,
she’s going to get them the
ball.”
For players who are as
skilled as Weaver, it’d be
easy for them to just let the
game come to them and not
have to really put a lot of
work into their game.
Not Weaver, however.
This offseason, she spent
four months getting herself
to be faster, quicker, have
better speed, so she can be
the best player she can be,
even if she is hard on herself.
“I love to watch film with
him (Burnside),” she said.
“He gives me great advice
and when there’s teams
that are now putting two or
three marks on me, I have
to be prepared for that and
know I can’t always go to a
certain foot, I can’t always
shoot there, because teams
are going to expect that so
I think his teaching strategy
when I watch film is what
helps me on the field.”
Weaver and the Trevians
played in their sixth
consecutive state final four
this weekend and took third
place.
For full story, visit GlencoeAnchor.com.
Michael Wojtychiw
Sports Editor
NORTH SHORE
New Trier’s Jim Burnside is this year’s Girls Soccer
Coach of the Year. photo SUBMITTED
It’d be fair to make the
argument that New Trier’s
Jim Burnside is one of the,
if not the, greatest girls
soccer coaches in IHSA
girls soccer history. His
now-529 career victories
are rivaled by only Quincy
Notre Dame’s Mark Longo
and his six career state
titles are the most by any
coach in state history.
This year Burnside led
his squad to an unprecedented
sixth consecutive
trip downstate and for that,
he was named 22nd Century
Media’s Coach of the
Year.
With the amount of soccer
talent in the state, it’s difficult
to have a team make it
to the state’s final four once,
much less six consecutive
times and 13 times overall.
So how does New Trier
continually make the annual
trip to Naperville?
“The kids constantly buy
A 22ND CENTURY MEDIA PRODUCTION
into the idea of working
hard, doing the little things,
and playing as a team,”
Burnside said. “Our kids
are willing to buy into what
we’re asking them to do.
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