Naperville Central sophomore Eleanor Kane has always been a defender.
It’s not a glamorous position, and it’s not one that many people prefer to play.
“Honestly, when I was little — like super, super little, Park District little — I was a little scared of the ball,” Kane said. “So my coach just put me in the back, and it just kind of went from there.”
Years later, Kane is no longer little and no longer scared of the ball — or anything else on the soccer field. Already a second-year starter, she is one of the premier center backs in the area.
Kane’s efforts are a big reason why Naperville Central has allowed just six goals, four of which came on penalty kicks or other dead-ball plays.
The Redhawks have 13 shutouts, including a 2-0 DuPage Valley Conference win over host Naperville North on Thursday. Kane and her teammates held star junior forward Claire DeCook, a Tennessee commit, to one shot and the Huskies to four overall.
“I think her understanding of how to play the game has grown, especially from a defensive standpoint, as far as not everything has to be a win,” Naperville Central coach Troy Adams said of Kane. “Sometimes just making a player like DeCook play to somebody else is a win.
“We’ve talked about that if a team has an elite player, you win as a defender when she has to pass it to somebody else. Eleanor’s gotten a lot better about that, a lot better with the understanding of where to be, when to be and when to tackle. There aren’t many times she gets beat one on one.”
That ability has been vital this season because Kane is the only defender with starting experience for the Redhawks (16-1-1, 3-1). Fellow center back Sophia Cochran is a freshman, and the outside backs, junior Malia Shen and sophomore Emerson Burke, are playing defense for the first time.
“She has helped me positionally, telling me where to go,” Burke said of Kane. “I tell her, ‘Eleanor, if I’m too far up, you have to scream at me to come back,’ and she screams at me to come back and tells me what to do if I need help or I’m in the wrong position.
“If I make a bad pass, she says, ‘OK, next time, fix this.’ She’s just really helpful, a really good leader back there.”
Communicating is an essential skill for a center back. That’s not something that comes naturally to younger players tasked with leading older teammates.
“She has to be the leader back there,” Adams said of Kane. “She has to be the one that gives us direction, and I’ve given her permission to tell players ‘you don’t do that’ or ‘you need to do this.’
“I think she has that personality to be a type of a coach on the field.”
The Redhawks think Kane is a good one. Cochran, whose first varsity goal proved to be the game-winner against the Huskies (10-4-3, 2-1), feels welcomed by Kane.
“It’s amazing to play next to her,” Cochran said. “She just moves the ball around and helps me find out like what I need to do, where I need to be and where should I play the ball.”
Kane has enthusiastically embraced her enhanced role, although it’s not easy.
“It’s been really fun,” she said. “It’s been a challenge. Kind of organizing a whole back line and telling people where to go and their options is pretty hard. But I think it’s just a really rewarding job. I’m really enjoying the season so far.”
Enjoyment comes with winning, of course, and the Redhawks have won nine straight games, many against other contenders for the Class 4A state title. Those are the kinds of battles that Kane enjoys most. She considers trying to stop stars like DeCook an opportunity, not something to fear.
“We just tried to keep super calm and not dive in and step too early and let her get past us,” Kane said. “We just kept our cool, and that really worked.”
Everything seems to be working for the Redhawks, and Kane knows why.
“The whole team camaraderie is just amazing,” she said. “Everybody is so connected. We don’t have our own little cliques. We’re just like one big group.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.