Isabel Brennan knows she is a rare breed and she’s OK with that.
Brennan is the only senior starter on the Fenwick girls soccer team, which has a bright future after winning the first Class 3A regional championship in program history last spring.
Brennan, a forward, is one of only three seniors on the roster. The others are backup goalkeepers Caroline Fahey and Kelly Carpenter.
“Being the only senior is fine,” Brennan said. “I definitely have to take a leadership role but I like it. We all get along really well.
“We have four captains and we all take different roles. I’m definitely more of the serious one. I’m quite off the field but you will definitely hear me on the field.
“Our other captains are more vocal, but we unite really well.”
The Friars may be young but they don’t lack talent. The other co-captains are forward Lauren Stibich and midfielders Kaylie Fredian and Lauren Miller, all of whom are returning starters.
“We are a young team,” Brennan said. “We do have a lot of juniors and sophomores that is like the core of our team.
“They’re really good, so I think by the time they’re seniors we’ll be even more solid than we are right now. It’s nice because they develop really good team chemistry with each other and they’re growing up together.”
The Friars are off to a 3-3 start against a typically tough schedule. They knocked off Mother McAuley 3-0 on Saturday in their GCAC Red opener before losing to St. Francis 4-1 in Wheaton on Monday night.
The Spartans (2-0-1, 1-0) went to the Class 2A state semifinals last year and feature two future Big Ten strikers in Illinois-bound junior Kendra Pasquale and sophomore Hannah Rittenhouse, who just committed to Iowa.
Pasquale scored twice and Rittenhouse and Erin Peck each had one against Fenwick. They blew the game open by scoring three highlight-reel goals on three consecutive shots in the first half.
“First half after a couple of their goals we definitely got down on ourselves, so I think at halftime we regrouped,” Fenwick junior Morgan Hosty said. “The captains told us some things to look out for and I think we came back in the second half with our heads high and we really wanted to get some work done.”
Hosty did just that, averting a shutout by bagging her fourth goal of the season with 10:40 remaining off a throw-in from Fredian and an assist by Miller.
