State soccer notebook
Naperville — Mike Morse called in sick to work Friday to watch his daughter, PHS senior Eliza Morris and her Tigresses teammates play in the IHSA Class A soccer tournament, and he hoped everyone else called in to.
The Princeton insurance agent said he was giving himself the day off and hoped the “rest of Princeton is out of town, too.”
• Pump you up: The PHS pep band joined their classmates in a royal send-off for the PHS Queens of Soccer Friday morning at Prouty Gym before the team departed for Naperville. Many of them would be following them to Naperville.
All of the spring sports teams at PHS were recognized by athletic director Dave Smith, who saved the girls of the moment for last.
Soccer coach Ed Young told the PHS students if they didn’t know him well they would quickly find out he didn’t like to talk. The PHS soccer team rolled their eyes is unison because they know if there’s one thing their coach likes to do, it’s talk.
Young told the PHS student body massed for the pep assembly the Tigress soccer team would be taking a piece of them with them to Naperville and they hoped to bring back a piece of Naperville back to them.
Senior Josie Gustafson said the pep rally was great and “our fans our great.”
Gustafson helped to load the equipment bags in the bus luggage compartment, but didn’t receive any tips from her teammates.
There was some concern the Tigresses might be late for their 1 p.m. kick-off in Naperville, but Young soon turned the microphone to his eight seniors. Unlike, their coach, their words were short and sweet.
• Student body left: Nearly 200 students opted for a ride to the suburbs to support their classmates than spend the day in the classroom. A fan bus took 63 students with three to a seat and as of 9 a.m. Friday, another set of 130 students had excused absences to make the trip.
PHS staffer Maria Gold is trained on sniffing out bogus “parents” calls, saying she’s heard them all before.
PHS senior Jordan Brown said it was great to get out of school, he just hoped they could have got out earlier than 10 a.m.
Junior Justin Bullington said it was great to see the soccer team make it to state and was happy to come cheer for them.
• Mom the coach: PHS assistant coach Jessica Odell brought her little helper along Friday, her 11-month son, Cade. With her husband helping out the boys track team in Charleston at state, she had to double up as mom in Naperville. Cade found one big sandbox to play in at the long jump pit.
• Ball boys: Three Princeton boys weren’t about to be upstaged by their big sisters. Zach Hicks (Tristan), Zach Andersen (Kirsten) and Brady Frank (Lindsey) all got to serve as ball boys and ball chasers along the sidelines for the PHS-Hampshire game, making sure they got a new ball into play as quick as they could.
• College bound: At least four of the nine seniors on the PHS team will be playing in college next year. Josie Gustafson and Ashley Compton are heading together to Illinois Central College in East Peoria, Jackie Arndt will play for Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis. and Maggie Griggs will help start up the new program at Heartland College in Bloomington.
A fifth, Amanda Prostko, will play volleyball at North Park College in Chicago.