Highland Park’s Schwartz finds her competitive outlet

As a young girl, Highland Park senior Samantha Schwartz briefly entertained the idea of following the path of her two older brothers and becoming a wrestler.

“I watched them wrestle my whole life and they showed me some wrestling moves,” she said. “They always challenged me, and I just wanted to try and keep up with them.”

Although she never wrestled competitively, Schwartz’s competitive spirit was still honed by her older brothers. The soccer field is her outlet of choice, and she’s started for Highland Park since the first match of her freshman year.

Given her background, the first word Giants coach Kate Straka uses to describe Schwartz on the soccer field isn’t surprising.

“The one word that comes to mind is tough,” Straka said. “She’s just tenacious. Her size is unassuming, but she can hold her own in the midfield against the best players in the state. She’s always been tough, but this is the year she’s come into her own.”

Due to injuries, Schwartz played defensive midfielder at the start of the season.

“I’ve never really had a chance to play defense, so it was something new for me to try,” she said. “I tried to win as many 50-50 balls I could get to and get up there and create some scoring chances. I think it brought something new to my game and made me better as a player.”

Once senior Lily Shannon and junior Lucy Hoffman returned to the lineup at the start of last week, Schwartz was moved up to her natural position. The results were immediate. In her first match as Highland Park’s central midfielder, Schwartz registered a hat trick against Waukegan. For good measure, she assisted on the Giants’ other goal in a 4-0 win.

“I’ve worked a lot on my shooting to make sure that I’m finishing the majority of my chances,” she said.

In the next match, a 6-0 victory over Maine West, Schwartz tallied two more times. Through its first 10 matches, Highland Park was 6-3-1.

“She’s been on a goal-scoring tear,” Straka said. “She’s become a lot more dangerous on offense. When she has a great game, her teammates really feed off that intensity. She can turn games around for us and is one of those leaders that you look to on the soccer field. Teams are having to be more mindful of where she is on the field. She’s getting better with each practice and each game.”

Added junior midfielder Shelly Feldman: “Her biggest improvement would be the way she controls the field from the center midfield. In (critical situations), we look to pass to her because she always seems to know where to go and when to pass.”