Girls soccer: Stark finds great success at St. Charles North, leads North Stars to 2nd at state
Laney Stark compiled many great moments on the hardwood as a standout basketball player during the winter for St. Charles North.
She just finished off her brilliant high school career on the soccer field, leading the North Stars to second place in the state.
Rumor has it that the senior forward also was pretty dominant in assistant coach Eric Willson’s PE class.
It was just another venue to compete in for Stark, who will take her soccer game this fall to the Division I level at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. For her efforts this spring, Stark has been named the captain of the 2024 Daily Herald Fox All-Area girls soccer team.
“I’ve always been really competitive and have always wanted to win,” she said. “There were mostly guys in Willson’s class so playing to win was so much fun. And my parents taught me (that) you are fighting to win and it’s always been like that since I was a little kid.”
St. Charles North girls soccer coach Brian Harks recognized Laney’s hyper-competitive nature and ability to take over a game. She scored 20 goals and distributed 12 assists to help the North Stars (19-3-5) win the program’s third second place trophy and first in 12 years.
“Laney is the ultimate competitor, and it doesn’t matter if it’s basketball in the winter or soccer in the spring or doing this little drill we are running (in practice) or in the state final, she has a drive to compete and drive to win that sets her apart,” Harks said. “She doesn’t like to lose in Coach Willson’s PE class. It’s one of the things that separates her — that drive to win, being that competitive.”
As a freshman at Bartlett, Stark wasted no time in making an impact at the varsity level, with six goals and eight assists. She spent her sophomore season with the Hawks before relocating to St. Charles North a season ago.
After adjusting to the new school and team as a junior, Stark seemed right at home as a senior leader in addition to scoring for the North Stars. Just two years ago while playing for Bartlett, she almost helped the Hawks to an upset before the North Stars rallied to win in double overtime.
“She was a difference-maker then and now she’s bigger, stronger and faster, and more vocal,” Harks said. “I think her first year coming to us as a North Star she stuck to her roots of that competitive spirit and was the same player this year as a senior, and as a leader she felt that responsibility and leadership and could really take over games. She also scored some pretty big goals last year.”
She’s motivated to be her best, a truly committed athlete.
“She played with more confidence and more composure, and she was definitely more polished,” Harks said. “As a player she’s never satisfied. She’s always getting better. She had her natural core traits and refined them a little a bit as an area of growth this year.”
A goal in the regional title game, an assist on the game-tying goal along with the game-winner in the supersectional, the game-winner in the state semifinal, a pair of goals and another in the shootout in the epic state final game and on and on …
“I personally like being productive on the field and I did more for the team with producing and creating chances than I did last year,” Stark said. “The success we’ve had the last two years is really cool because it was not what I expected. The girls were awesome and (so was) having the whole community involved in it.”