2022 NewsTribune Girls Soccer Player of the Year

For Princeton’s Mariah Hobson, it’s all about trusting the process

NewsTribune Player of the Year Mariah Hobson scored a single-school school record 63 goals, which is ranked fourth all-time in state history.

Mariah Hobson wears her emotions and her way of life on her sleeve.

A tattoo etched on her right forearm – “Trust the process” – shares her inner thoughts on life and on the soccer field.

“Nobody gets where they’re going for free. Got to work for everything you need in life,” she said. “Ever since I was a little girl, I thought I was going to be all right. The challenge got bigger as I got older, so I realized I had to work harder, and it’s obviously shown up on the field.

“I’m just glad I can show other people and little kids going for the same goal that I am to be able to keep going and keep pushing through until they get what they want.”

The process has worked quite well for the Princeton High School junior. She led the Tigresses to a regional championship this season on the heels of an Elite Eight run a year ago.

Along the way she scored 63 goals to break the PHS single-season record of 56 by Jasmine Kunkel in 2012 and the area record of 60 by Mendota’s Lauren Kellen in 2011, a figure that ranks fourth in state history.

For all of her accomplishments, Hobson is the NewsTribune Girls Soccer Player of the Year for the second consecutive season.

For Hobson, the “process” is all about being mentally tough.

“I would say mentality is a big thing in soccer, especially like figuring out where you need to set yourself to be able to score, [to] help your teammate score,” she said. “Mentality is the biggest thing I learned growing up, probably even more important than the actual skills you have. I just work on my shots, my passes. Even the little stuff to help your team out.

“If you think you’ve done enough, you clearly have not come close to what you need to be doing.”

Hobson scored 32 goals in 14 games in 2021, an average of 2.4 per game; 63 in 25 games in this season (2.5); and now has 95 in 39 games (2.4) for her prep career (hundreds more overall), missing her freshman season because of COVID-19.

She is a shoo-in to break Kunkel’s PHS career record of 106, and if she duplicates or approaches this year’s totals next year, she will take aim on the top 10 for career goals in state history.

Seeing 63 soccer balls put in the goal for her Player of the Year photo shoot helped put Hobson’s accomplishment in perspective for her, calling it “crazy” to see that.

PHS coach David Gray said Hobson is a scoring machine.

“She is a great player, and she scores a ton of goals. I am looking forward to how she does next year. I think it will be difficult to match her 63 goals this season, but I know she will be motivated to do it,” Gray said.

“Much of her ability to score will come from the team around her. It is going to be hard, if not impossible, to replace this year’s seniors, but we will see. I cannot wait to see Mariah play next season, and beyond.”

Of all the goals she scored this year, Hobson said her favorite is the one she knocked in against Rockford Christian in their sectional semifinal loss.

“It was the last game we ended up losing, unfortunately,” she said. “We had been going back and forth, and there were five people on me at all times. I just shot that ball, and when I saw it go right over the goalie’s fingertips it was unreal. Chills, honestly.”

Hobson said she wasn’t overly confident going into this season because Princeton had lost a lot of good seniors from last year.

“I was a little worried how our team would develop and stuff. Once we got into it together, we did really well,” she said. “I honestly just had to stand there until my team made a play and be there to clean up the mess. Almost all the goals I got were most likely because of them, not because how good I’ve gotten or anything.”

One noticeable absence this year was 2021 grad Savannah Birkey, who now plays for St. Ambrose University.

“It was kind of hard to deal without her being there because she was always there to be like my guide – ‘You need to do this, instead of that.’ I kind of had to do it on my own and grow up a little bit as a player and a person after she left,” Hobson said.

“I mean, I miss her a lot, but I’m glad that I had that chance to grow on my own, and my teammates like Savannah and Viviana [Robledo] this year, they really helped me out this year.”

The Tigresses were so close to making it back to the sectional final only to lose on penalty kicks to Rockford Christian. It was a disappointing defeat, but it’s not what hurt Hobson the most.

“I wasn’t sad this season was over. It was just the fact I couldn’t play with my girls anymore,” she said. “Me and Maggie Davis have been playing together since I was about 7 or 8, and now she’s going on to bigger and better things, it’s going to be harder not to have those girls be there to help.

“Definitely got to step it up because next year we won’t have Maggie, or Maya [Gartin] or Viviana. Those girls were always a big asset and top dog. It’s just going to be hard to fill their shoes, but I’m going to do my best, and I’m going to hope for a good season next year as well.”

Hobson already has colleges looking at her and is keeping her options open. She would also like to become a teacher and coach soccer, perhaps at PHS, one day.

“I want to teach history, so might as well be Coach Gray, copy and paste. ... Kick the old man to the curb some day,” she joked. “He’s done a lot of good things for this program, and I just want to be able to do that, too.”

The Mariah Hobson File:

• Two-time NewsTribune Player of the Year

• Set single-season school and area records with 63 goals

• 63 goals is fourth most in state history

• Has 95 career goals