Girls soccer: Multi-sport standout Quinn leads York to another level
It’s not how you start that’s important, but how you finish.
As a freshman four year ago, York senior Michaela Quinn’s introduction to high school soccer was a frustrating 3-11-1 season.
This spring, behind Quinn’s 18 goals and 20 assists, the Dukes brought home the West Suburban Silver Conference title for the first time in 13 years, won a regional title, advanced to a sectional final and finished 18-2-1.
Quinn, a multi-sport athlete who will run cross country and track and field at Indiana University, has been named the captain of the 2024 Daily Herald DuPage All-Area girls soccer team.
“During my younger years here the team chemistry wasn’t always there so I made sure that changed,” she said. “So I got to lead a program and accomplished a lot of things that hadn’t been done in a long time.”
Quinn is now second all-time in assists at York with 39. She scored 45 goals.
‘Her competitive nature was so strong in matches,” York coach Stevan Dobric said. “I’ve seen players give 110% but Michaela was so special. She willed goals out of nothing other than she wanted it and worked hard and created something out of nothing. She did that several times this season.”
She pushed her teammates, recognizing their collective talent could put them in a position to be among one of the state’s elite teams.
“With training she was always pushing practices like every game,” Doric said. “She was always pushing, so they were successful because they were not just going through the motions, they were getting better technically and tactically, and she was the driving force with that along with other seniors driving it as well.”
Ava Hansmann, the Dukes’ other fourth-year player, was impressed by Quinn’s leadership qualities.
“Michaela is not just a great player, but a great leader,” she said. “In order to be a great player, you have to be able to be a good teammate, which Michaela excels at. On the field, she’s able to use her speed and quick technical skills to easily slide past defenders. Watching her from the defensive line, I always have full faith in her and I feel like I am able to ease up and become stress free when she has the ball. She’s easily one of the most talented players I know.”
Undoubtedly the biggest regular season win for the Dukes was beating Lyons in a shootout and ending the Lions’ 47-game conference winning streak.
“We started down 1-0,” Hansmann said. “But seeing her resilience and inability to let down and constant push for success sort of helped to motivate the rest of the team to keep fighting.”
The addition of a couple of prized club additions in Stella Kohl and Sophia Musial pushed York’s roster up to 12 seniors this spring, providing a potent attack that more than tripled the offensive output from Quinn’s freshman season.
“Our coach talked a lot about how we were able to break down a lot of backlines with our front press,” Quinn said. “We went over it time and time again, putting in 100% during practice that led to a lot of connection from the front line and we did so well connecting from the midfield.”
Away from the soccer field, Quinn helped the Dukes win a pair of cross country state titles. She also was a key contributor on the girls basketball team.
“I think from my perspective she’s always had her competitive nature, I think she was born with that,” Dobric said. “She super humble, hard working and always driven to improve. As a freshman she wasn’t as big or strong but still had the desire and every aspect of her game improved and it showed in her stats as well.”