Grayslake Central ‘D’ holding tough

Updated: May 10, 2011 7:36PM

A successful soccer team is not unlike a puzzle.

There are a lot of pieces and they all have to fit together for the picture to be complete.

This spring at Grayslake Central, the parts have fit perfectly together, and the result is one of the most successful seasons in school history.

Going into Tuesday’s action, the Rams were 13-4 overall, and 8-2 in the Fox Valley Conference.

They are a virtual lock to win the first Fox Valley Conference Fox Division title in school history and are the top seed in their own IHSA Class 2A (smaller schools) regional.

The reason for the team’s success?

Well, there are a lot, but the Rams play a defensive style so rather than staying it starts up front, with this championship club, it literally starts in the back.

And that’s where six solid defenders hang out.

They are junior sweeper Michelle Lettenmair, right-defender Allison Mitchell, left-defender Brooke Swearingen, stopper Kelly Jay, Caitland Nance and Colleen Daly.

They jealously control the pitch that’s in front of senior goalie Kat Dickson who, by the sheer nature of the position, gets the lion’s share of the credit when the team is winning and hears the roar of the lion when the team is not.

“Our defense does a great job in front of Kat,” said veteran coach Mike McCaulou. “We’re a defensive-minded team, and we have been for the last few years.

“It’s hard to stay focused for 80 minutes when you’re not seeing a ton of action, but Kat does a great job. We talk about her being one of five, along with four defenders. They have to stay together and talk to each other, and they’ve really done that.”

And how!

So far this season, Dickson, a senior and her defenders have recorded a dozen shutouts, which is a school single-season record.

This is Kat’s fourth year as varsity keeper and the best guess is that she has 36 shutouts in four campaigns.

She knows those zeros are the result of a team effort in the box.

“I definitely have a really good group of defenders in front of me,” she said. “We’ve really come to understand each other’s playing styles, and as a team we’ve developed a great chemistry.”

One of the defenders Kat mentioned was Lettenmair,.

“She’s been a really big help for me as a goalie,” Kat said.

Of course, the goalie is the last line of defense, and in Dickson, the Rams have one of the best.

“Kat’s athleticism is phenomenal,” said her coach. “She has such great composure, and that keeps everybody relaxed. She’s a very intelligent kid obviously, on and off the field. She knows what she can and can’t do.

“In the big games, she comes up with really big-time saves where you just go, ‘Wow! How did she get that?’ That’s a real tribute to her athleticism.”

Of the Rams’ 13 wins this year, all but a 4-1 win over Carmel have been shutouts.

The losses have been to Fox Valley Conference Valley Division (big schools) power Huntley and also to McHenry.

Neither of those teams is in the Rams’ division for soccer’s version of March Madness.

Fact is, the future is a bright one both for the Rams’ team and for Dickson.

Next year, she’ll be playing soccer at Hope College in Holland, Mich., which plays at the NCAA Division III level.

As for the Rams, after wrapping up the division championship, it’s possible they could win a first-ever sectional title

They’ve lost in the regional finals each of the last four seasons, but appear poised to take the next step later this month.

(Being the first Ram girls soccer team to win a sectional), “it’s definitely something we have on our minds,” Kat said. “But we’re still looking at it one game at a time.”

Dickson knows she still can raise the level of her own game.

“I need to work on communicating with my defenders and coming out to stop the ball on breakaways,” she said. “ Those are difficult saves.

“In particular, I have to work on my decision-making. If I decide to go out I have to commit to that. I can’t hesitate.”

Because, of course, she who hesitates is lost. And Grayslake Central just doesn’t lose very often.

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.