36 | sports
2 good: Senior Samantha Schwartz (No. 2) has scored 52 career goals for the Highland Park High School girls soccer team.
■ by bill mclean
sports@northshoreweekend.com For Samantha Schwartz, the experience of watching her older brothers wrestle for Highland Park High School was often a harrowing one. Schwartz usually sat next to her mother, Robin, in a set of bleachers while either Joey or Benji engaged in a wrestling bout. “My stomach would turn,” recalls Schwartz, a high-scoring senior center-midfielder for HP’s soccer team. “My mom … she’d squeeze [my arm]. It was intense. It’s a frustrating sport to watch.” Joey Schwartz (HPHS, ’10] finished fourth at 119 pounds at the Class 3A state meet his senior year. Benji Schwartz (HPHS, ’11) also played soccer and liked to go through intense one-on-one soccer sessions with his little sister on a field at the Lutz Family Center, located a short throw-in’s distance from their back yard in Highland Park. “He challenged me, taught me all about toughness and how important that is in soccer,” Samantha Schwartz says. “One of his reminders was, ‘Own the field.’ ” Samantha Schwartz has never owned a piece of wrestling equipment. But she did occasionally walk around her house while wearing a brother’s headgear. “I’m sure I looked strange, wearing that with my long hair,” she says. Nobody wants to grapple with Schwartz, the soccer player and Brandeis (Mass.) University recruit. A year after scoring 14 goals for the Giants for the second straight season, she has amassed a team-high 19 goals — including four in
photography by george pfoertner
a 7-0 defeat of Maine East on May 6 — for an 8-7-1 squad this spring. Schwartz struck for a hat trick in HP’s 4-1 win over Deerfield High School on April 22, and she set a program mark when she tallied at least a goal in an eighth consecutive match on May 7. Her career-goals total through May 10 was 52. “I love her fierce competitiveness,” Giants coach Kate Straka says of the fourth-year varsity player and one of five captains. “[Many of her goals] this year have been unassisted because she’s very good at creating opportunities for herself and because of her drive and feistiness. “Sam is quick and agile, a player who demands a lot from herself,” the coach adds. “Nineteen goals already … that’s quite a number. But it’s not surprising; she fights for everything in the middle, and her teammates look to her for a spark.” The daughter of former University of Wisconsin soccer defender Jeremy Schwartz, she has played several club seasons for FC United. Her U18 team captured a national showcase title in Las Vegas in February, winning its final two matches via penalty kicks. “I’m excited that she’ll play soccer at the next level,” Straka says. “Brandeis’ program is an extremely lucky one.” Schwartz’s talent is one of the Giants’ glaring assets. “She does a lot for us,” says Highland Park senior defender and captain Lucy Hoffman. “Everybody counts on her. She’s tenacious and real smart. Sam has become very good at bringing the ball down, controlling it and distributing it. “I love the way she puts the ball in the net.” Schwartz and Hoffman will serve as camp counselors for grade-schoolers in Eagle River, Wis., beginning in early
June and running through early August. Schwartz is a sailing and soccer instructor. “I enjoy it so much up there,” Schwartz says. “You get to be yourself, and everybody is so accepting. The kids look up to the counselors as role models. That’s what I did when I attended the camp as a camper.” Schwartz played on Highland Park’s sophomore basketball team as a freshman. Highly charged hoops battles with her brothers at home no doubt helped her prepare for that endeavor. But a love for dance made her retire her high tops. Schwartz has performed hip-hop numbers for the school’s Jammers Dance Team since her sophomore year. During a PE class her freshman year, Schwartz stood among peers as the teacher went over various wrestling moves. The sister of two accomplished wrestlers was not impressed. Schwartz probably felt like a tenured English professor in a room full of Reading 101 students. “I remember hearing the teacher and thinking, ‘OK, this is all so basic,’ ” she says. Notable: HP opens its postseason at Warren with a match against third-seeded Lake Zurich in a Class 3A regional semifinal on May 20. … Giants Shelly Feldman, Robin Israel and Natalie Rachman also scored in the 7-0 win over Maine East on May 6. Assists came from Hoffman, Feldman, Nicole Shiner, Sara Ebihara, Sydney Kalter and Jocelyn Dee. … Schwartz and Hoffman scored in HP’s 2-0 defeat of Lakes on May 7, with assists from Feldman and Lillian Pickus. ■