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| saturday may 02 | sunday may 03 2015
the north shore weekend
sports Aesthetic & athletic
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Yasko’s creative — and relentless — style of play a work of art for Ramblers
T
he oil painting of Aaron Yasko hangs on a wall in a hallway at Loyola Academy. He is standing outside, cold, his hands near his mouth and warm breath. He appears to be contemplating something, staring off into the distance. The background of the portrait is an icy mixture of blues and grays. You look at it. You shiver. Yasko is a senior at Loyola Academy. He plays lacrosse. His sister, Alex Yasko, is a junior at Loyola Academy. She plays soccer. She also paints. She created the oil painting of her big brother. “It turned out really well,” the big brother says. “The assignment was to portray a feeling, an emotion. Alex did that.” An art teacher also thought it turned out really well.The art teacher gave Alex Yasko a grade of 98. “I’ve seen the painting,” says junior defender Lauren Chrisman, a co-captain of the Ramblers’ soccer team. “It looks exactly like Aaron.” A portrait of Alex Yasko as a young artist would have to include a soccer ball. The leftfooted Lake Forest resident and School of St. Mary alumna first kicked one at the age of 3. It didn’t matter how far that ball traveled. She wanted to kick it again. And again. Soccer moms and dads have seen the drill: Tot kicks soccer ball. Tot giggles. Tot half-runs, half-teeters after the soccer ball. Tot repeats sequence until tot gets hungry. Soccer eventually enabled Yasko to travel all over the country. She and her FC United Select U16 soccer teammates finished third at the US Youth Soccer Championships last summer in Germantown, Md. Craig Snower coached that club. He also coaches Loyola Academy’s girls soccer team. “Best left back in the state,” Snower says of the 5-foot-8 Yasko, also capable of playing at a high level as a forward or as a center back or as a center midfielder. “Alex is the whole package … speed, skills, tough as nails, does not like to lose. She runs nonstop for 80 minutes. That’s not easy.”
BY bill mclean sports@northshoreweekend.com
What Yasko told Snower last month was not easy, either. Yasko informed the coach that she is no longer interested in pursuing a college soccer scholarship. A lifelong soccer enthusiast had another post-Loyola Academy life in mind. “That was tough, telling [Snower],” Yasko admits. “He has coached me for so many years. He had helped me a lot with the start of my college search. He’s concerned that I might have regrets later; I don’t think I will. I’m fine with my decision. I stand by it.” Yasko has not ruled out participating in an occasional pickup soccer match on patch of land on a campus quad. Not playing college soccer will give her gobs of free time to hone her artistic talents. She wants to study abroad for at least one semester, a want most big-time college soccer coaches don’t want soccer recruits to have. D-I soccer, in essence, is a fall-semester-to-end-of-spring semester commitment, a “major” without syllabi, though a typical schedule of matches could pass for one. A semester in Italy interests Yasko. So does a semester in the United Kingdom. Most natives from both lands are mad-aboutsoccer natives. An occasional pickup soccer match stateside just might turn into a daily pickup futbol match overseas. “My mom [Laura] was OK with the decision after I told her, as long as I do what I plan to do in college,” Yasko says. The decision surprised Aaron Yasko, also an artist (technical drawer). He had watched his sister’s Ramblers role expand significantly this spring because of season-ending knee injuries to scoring-threat-per-second Devin Burns, a junior forward, and standout junior midfielder Natalie Joyce. He had watched his tireless sister help anchor LA’s defense (with Chrisman) and somehow summon enough energy to score goals for an 11-3-1 squad. His sister scored her team’s goal in a 3-1 loss to reigning Class 3A state runnerup St. Charles East in a Naperville Tournament match held at Wheaton North High School
Junior left back Alex Yasko of the Ramblers (left) makes a play during a recent game against Trinity. Photography by George Pfoertner
on April 24. “I had assumed she would continue to play soccer in college,” Aaron says. “Many had. But she has her reasons. I’m all for whatever works for her. How well she manages her time each day, with all the things she does … I don’t know how she does it. I’m proud of her. I’m proud of what she’s done academically and as a soccer player. “I’m proud to be her brother.” The brother critiques his sister’s artwork. The sister critiques her brother’s artwork. Both appreciate the feedback, a couple
of talented, determined teens interested in some quid pro quo (or some quid bro/sis quo). Aaron Yasko is asked to evaluate his sister, the soccer player. Aaron does need much time to start his assessment. “She is a hard worker, dedicated,” he says. “She is a lot more responsible, offensively, this year. She’s pushing the ball up more. She’s handling everything well.” He does not give her a grade. Based on his words, Alex Yasko, soccer virtuoso, deserves a 98 … at least.
Notable: Loyola Academy was scheduled to compete in two more Naperville Tournament matches, beginning on April 30 (vs. Benet Academy). The Ramblers will face an opponent to be determined for their tourney finale on May 2. … LA defeated Sandburg 2-0 in a Naperville Tournament opener at Wheaton North on April 23. … In last weekend’s tourney loss to St. Charles East, Yasko scored off a rebound shot from LA freshman forward Riley Burns, another School of St. Mary (Lake Forest) graduate. The tally came with
1:28 left in the first half and pared the Fighting Saints’ lead to 2-1. Ramblers freshman goalkeeper Maggie Avery made two sterling saves in about a twominute span in the first half, including one off a header at point-blank range. … Devin Burns was one of three Ramblers named to the Illinois High School Soccer Coaches Association All-State Team last spring. Goalkeeper Lauren Smith and midfielder Tori Iatarola — a pair of 2014 LA graduates — also earned all-state honors.