Young Nazareth group learns from fourth-place showing at Class 2A state tournament

NAPERVILLE – Nazareth sophomore Samantha Austin plays the same three sports as her older sister, Olivia, who is regarded as one of the greatest female athletes in school history.

Following in such footsteps could be intimidating, but not for Samantha, who is embracing her family legacy.

“She’s a great role model and obviously I’ve learned a lot from her,” Samantha Austin said. “But I think for the sports we play, like soccer and basketball, we have different skill sets.

“I think that is good because I can learn from her in different areas of the game and then I can develop my own skills in other areas of the game. And obviously she’s so athletic and I love watching her play and playing with her.

Olivia Austin, who started as a freshman forward for Dartmouth’s basketball team last winter, starred in volleyball, basketball and soccer at Nazareth. She helped the Roadrunners win their first state championships in the first two sports and was a four-time all-conference forward in soccer, leading the team in scoring and earning all-state honors as a senior.

But Samantha Austin has accomplished something that Olivia Austin did not – winning a state trophy in soccer.

Samantha Austin contributed eight goals and three assists this season, including the game-winning goal in a 2-1 supersectional victory over Belvidere North. That sent the Roadrunners (16-12-1) to the Class 2A state finals for the first time.

Nazareth took home the fourth-place trophy after losing both of its games at state. St. Ignatius scored a goal with 13 seconds remaining to beat the Roadrunners 1-0 in Friday’s semifinals at North Central College, and Springfield defeated them 4-0 in the third-place game Saturday.

“It was amazing,” Samantha Austin said. “With basketball, they’ve been down there before, a very familiar territory, but for soccer it was fun because it was a new experience for everyone and the coaches.

“I think everyone was excited to be here and proud of getting here in the first place, even if we didn’t get the desired result. It was really cool.”

Samantha Austin is part of a deep corps of young players for the Roadrunners. They will graduate only two starters: defenders Izzy Strnic and Annie Trayser.

Strnic played with both of the Austin sisters, teaming with Olivia Austin for two years in club and two at Nazareth. She likes the maturity of Samantha Austin’s game.

“She’s really calm on the ball and is able to distribute really well, and has a great connection with the team,” Strnic said. “So that helps in the game and off the field.”

Nazareth coach Rob Cianci is pleased with Samantha Austin’s contributions, which include some in an unusual position.

“She’s done quite a job,” Cianci said. “She played goalie for us for four games and did a tremendous job. We played goalie by committee for nine games and she was one of them that filled the bill.

“So I’m blessed to have another Austin, and to have her for two more years, we are very fortunate. She’s a great young lady, somebody who gives to the team. I can’t say enough great things about her.”

There are similarities between the sisters. Both play the same sports and positions.

But Samantha Austin, who played on the JV volleyball team the past two seasons, has decided to give up that sport in order to concentrate her energies on playing basketball and soccer.

“I definitely have big goals, but I really want to just dedicate myself to getting better at basketball and soccer a lot more and just seeing how far I can get,” Samantha Austin said. “I want to put work into the process of just doing as much as I can to improve myself so that I can perform as much as possible.”

While she isn’t yet the prolific scorer that her sister was on the soccer field, Samantha Austin has proven to be a strong asset for the Roadrunners. Her game is a little more nuanced than Olivia’s was.

“Olivia is really fast,” Samantha Austin said. “She was known for kind of like getting the ball, turning and shooting, having that power and speed, and really good at going and getting the ball in the back of the net.

“I think that I’m a different skill set. I have (freshman) Dani (Berruti) and (sophomore) Molly (Moore) in the midfield and at forward, and I feel like I can play off with them and pass and like work the ball around a little bit more.”

How good can Samantha Austin be at soccer?

“She’s going D-I,” Strnic said. “Calling it now.”

Strnic might be right about the destination, but wrong about the sport. While Samantha Austin is keeping her options open, she said her best sport in basketball and the one she most wants to play in college. She already is a varsity mainstay on the court.

That’s still two years in the future. In the meantime, Cianci said he aims to turn Nazareth into a perennial power as they are in other sports like football, baseball and girls basketball.

“I got here four years ago and that was my goal,” Cianci said. “We know what (Tim) Racki did with football and we all know what Lee (Milano) did with baseball and now what Eddie (Stritzel) is doing with basketball, so I’m trying to do that with soccer.

“We’re a young team. We’re going to run this back.”