Courtesy of Tate Lucas
May 12, 2022
One of 13 seniors on the girls soccer team, Tate Lucas will be headed to Denison University next fall to continue her soccer career. Notably, she will also be joining fellow Wildkit Sarah Sollinger in representing the Big Red, whom she has played with not only on Evanston’s varsity team but on club teams as well.
“I got to meet the coaches at Denison [last summer] and they gave me a tour of the athletic facility and just like the rundown of what Denison’s about,” says Lucas. “They said that they like a balance…a social balance, academic balance and athletic balance [and] a balance was exactly what I needed.”
As of May 4, girls soccer has accumulated a 12-1-1 record with a loss to Naperville North, 4-0 and a tie against Whitney Young, 3-3. As a matter of fact, the Wildkits are even ranked seventh in the state right now, according to MaxPreps. As a member of such a competitive team, Lucas has had to work hard for every minute of playing time that she has received.
“When you’re on the Evanston team, there are so many good players, and you have to prove yourself by playing your hardest,” explains Lucas. “If you work hard, then you’ll play, and then, when you play, you have to play hard.”
Despite the challenges she has faced, Lucas credits her coaches, and particularly head coach Stacy Salgado, as helping foster her a stronger sense of determination and grit.
“Stacy is really good at pushing me, [at] pushing everybody to their fullest potential. And then [Franz] Calixte is the assistant coach. He gets excited for you and believes in [the team], which makes our confidence go up.”
With just a few weeks left of her senior season, Lucas is already quite sure of her favorite moment: beating Libertyville, a team that finished third in the state last season. Regardless of their established prowess, on Wed. Apr. 13, The Wildkits narrowly edged out a win against the Wildcats, 3-2.
“I was really motivated to beat them, because I wanted to humble them in a way,” Lucas spells out. “That was probably the biggest highlight because it was [such] a big win.
On top of continuing her athletic pursuits, Lucas also plans on majoring in communications while at Denison.
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