Ottawa’s Gabi Krueger repeats as The Times Girls Soccer Player of the Year

For many athletes, heading into a new season brings individual goals.

But for recent Ottawa High School graduate and girls soccer standout Gabi Krueger, who was coming off a 25-goal junior season, helping and seeing the team improve from Day 1 was the most important objective in her mind.

Krueger, The Times Girls Soccer Player of the Year for the second consecutive year, did that in many ways beyond the 10 goals and 10 assists she recorded this past spring to help the Pirates finish with a 6-7-1 record.

“My main goal was I really just wanted the team to improve, not only record-wise but also how we played the game,” said Krueger, who finished her Pirates career with 40 goals and 17 assists from her midfielder spot. “I feel like we did both.

“I think the girls that were new last year worked on their game in the offseason, and it showed this year. From the very first practice until the final seconds of our last game, we were better. I also think we all had more trust in each other, that we were going to be in the right spots or make the right plays. ... Because of inexperience, that wasn’t always the case last season.

“There was just a better flow to everything we did.”

The game of soccer is different from many sports, as there are not only fewer statistics to keep track of, but even those may not always tell the true impact a player has on a given day or season.

It was commonplace to see Krueger, a two-time All-Interstate 8 Conference selection, take a shot or make a pass that led to a chance in the offensive third, then seconds later be in the defensive third helping clear the ball out of danger – all of that in between making sure her team won the battles in the middle of the field to gain an advantage.

“Her stats back up how great she’s been for our program on paper, even with her sophomore season being canceled, but it really only tells a small part of the story,” Ottawa coach Sean Porter said of Krueger. “We’ve won 21 matches in the last three seasons that were played, and I feel that number may be closer to just five or six without her contributions. She has the special talent to be able to dictate the flow of a game, and she’s probably the most well-balanced player I’ve ever coached. She made every player around her better every practice and game.

“Success is a way of life for her. She made an incredible, positive impact, not only for the Ottawa girls soccer program, but also for the high school itself. I think she showed that you can be all business but have fun at the same time, that you can be successful and also enjoy it, and that you can balance athletics and academics.

“The bottom line is, she’s a true role model and winner on and off the field. We will sorely miss her in the coming seasons, but she’s also shown the younger players what it takes to be not only a solid player and leader, but an outstanding person as well.”

Krueger scored the only goal in a 1-0, season-opening victory over rival Streator, and a few days later found the back of the net in the Pirates’ 2-0 win over La Salle-Peru. She also had two goals and two assists in a triumph over DePue-Hall, and two scores and an assist in a win over Coal City.

Ottawa, like many other teams across the state, had a number of its games postponed and then ultimately canceled because of this spring’s cold and rainy weather. Although she couldn’t recall the specific opponents, a pair of games came to her mind as her favorites.

“There are two games that really stuck out in my mind,” Krueger said. “They were games that I think maybe those teams were overall better skill-wise than we were, but we outworked them and ended up winning. That’s one thing about our team this year, we always played hard, no matter the situation. I don’t think coach Porter had to say to us once that he felt we weren’t playing as hard as we could. I feel like that was the best unknowing compliment he could have given all of us.”

Although soccer at the college level for Krueger may be as a club player, she said she’s excited to move on to the next chapter of her life.

“I’ve decided I’m going to the University of Illinois to study sociology,” said Krueger, who plans to major in criminology with maybe a future job in the FBI. “It was a choice between that or continuing to play soccer at Wheaton College, where my dad wrestled. I just wasn’t sure I wanted to keep playing, and I also just fell in love with the campus at U of I.

“I’m excited to get started.”