Why Sacred Heart-Griffin girls soccer is turning up the pressure this season

ROCHESTER — The Sacred Heart-Griffin girls soccer team can always count on Isabella Perryman.

There isn’t a task too small or too big for the crafty senior midfielder to handle.

“If you don’t see our games, you don’t understand what she does for this team,” coach Mike Lindsey said. “She gets back on the ball, she defends, she gets forward, she makes great passes, she knows where she wants to go. She does a lot of just technical things that people don’t really see if they’re not watching her.”

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That attention to detail in the middle of everything makes her indispensable on the field.

“I’ve had more than one coach say, ‘Hey, you’re No. 10 is legit,’” Lindsey added. “She doesn’t have a lot of goals and assists. I think it probably bothers her, but she doesn’t show it. She’s, ‘I’m here for the team, I’m here to play.’”

On the attack

The Cyclones certainly have a wealth of scoring options.

It not only includes Perryman but also juniors Caroline Sheehan, Ava Hancock and Lauren Johannes just in the midfield alone.

Both Perryman and Sheehan tacked on goals in a 2-0 Central State Eight Conference win over Rochester. Sheehan added the insurance goal in the second half on a penalty kick following a cross by Hancock.

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It was the team’s first win over the Rockets since 2019.

“I think we work really well because we have our attacking and holding mids, but I think we all alternate pretty well, so if one’s up, one of us drops back,” Hancock said. “I think we’re at the point that we’ve been playing so long together that we just kind of know when one of us is going, so we just fill in the gaps. It’s pretty easy and it’s gotten a lot quicker now, too.”

The Cyclones graduated Illinois High School Soccer Association all-state forward Hannah Lambert, but largely retain the same lineup.

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That includes nimble forwards Caroline Lambert and Lily White, both designated as senior captains alongside Perryman and defenders Callie Huston and Ava Danielson.

“It’s really nice,” Perryman said. “We have a lot of leadership and camaraderie between us.”

Making improvements

The Cyclones dropped to Pleasant Plains 1-0 in the Class 1A sectional finals last season. Their focus is squarely on the work ahead.

“I think our mindset is just take it one game at a time and do our best,” Perryman said.

Lindsey said the speed has always been there, but he wants the team to possess the ball more.

“We’ve been able to keep the ball at our foot a lot,” Hancock said. “I think coach Lindsey has really been working on us passing around the middle and switching fields and playing closer together instead of playing long ball because I know for high school that’s a lot of what teams do is they play long ball and they have someone fast run. But I think we’re working on condensing it down and playing through the middle more.”

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Facilitating the offense is perhaps their primary responsibility, but those midfielders can also deliver goals like they exhibited against Rochester.

Perryman was IHSSCA all-sectional as a sophomore with 10 goals and 13 assists before Sheehan picked up the same honor the following year with 15 goals and five assists. Both were named all-CS8 last season.

“I think it’s really good,” Sheehan said of the team’s confidence, “especially because we’ve all played for a while now, and we have a lot of seniors and juniors who make up the team, so we’re getting a lot better playing as a team. I think our confidence as a team has grown.”

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: SHG girls soccer boasts deep midfield with Perryman, Sheehan, Hancock