Mother McAuley soccer star Calli Edwards plans to major in early childhood education and become a special education teacher.
“My mom does it,” Edwards said. “So I’m kind of stepping into her shoes.”
Edwards also will follow in her mother Michelle’s footsteps in becoming a collegiate athlete, though not in the same sport. The elder Edwards played volleyball at Benedictine, but soccer is the daughter’s milieu.
The Carthage-bound Edwards began playing soccer at age 4.
“I played every sport growing up,” Edwards said. “My mom definitely wanted (me to choose) volleyball. But I hated standing still, so soccer was definitely the one.
“Into high school I played basketball and soccer and then end of sophomore year I knew soccer was what I wanted to do. That’s why I stuck with it.”
The Mighty Macs are glad she did. Edwards, a senior forward, will graduate as the school’s career scoring leader, likely with more than 100 goals.
It’s a plateau that isn’t often reached, especially in recent years as the quality of the game increases at the high-school level.
“When you’re a freshman, you’ve just got to go out there and play,” Edwards said. “I think I had 25 my freshman year and I was like, ‘This is doable.’
“Going into senior year I was up to 79 and I was like, ‘Pretty big gap.’ But when it’s coming closer and I’ve got all my teammates hyping me up, they have the count going too now. It’s exciting.”
Indeed, the countdown — or in this case the count up — reached two when Edwards scored on a beautifully placed 18-yard free kick with 6:10 remaining in Mother McAuley’s 5-1 GCAC Red loss to St. Francis in Wheaton on April 28.
It was Edwards’ 19th goal of the season and 98th of her career. Only two great saves by St. Francis goalkeeper Pyper Schweiner prevented Edwards from reaching the century mark in that game. The Mighty Macs (8-6-2, 1-3-2 through last week) were without five injured players, including senior Quinn Arundel.
“The score may say 5-1, but we battled and it’s fueling the fire for our next game,” Edwards said. “We’re ready to go. The score doesn’t always mean everything. It’s how you perform.”
Mother McAuley coach Megan McCauley said Edwards has been a top performer throughout her career despite battling some injuries.
“What stands out to me most about Calli is her quiet leadership,” McCauley said. “She literally makes everybody around her better and she just knows how to change the momentum of a game. And she does it so humbly.”
That makes Edwards’ production even more impressive.
“One hundred goals is crazy, but she’s just an outstanding human,” McCauley said. “I think that goes beyond the stat board. She’s grown so much as an athlete and a leader.”
Edwards is one of four McAuley seniors who will continue their soccer careers in college, joining midfielder Emily Kovar (Calvin), defender Valerie Hernandez (Augustana) and goalkeeper Lucy Gray (Illinois Wesleyan).
“I’ve been playing with Emily Kovar and Lucy Gray for forever, since we’ve been little, so I think it’s just awesome that we’ve gotten to play together for so long,” Edwards said. “It’s been a blast.”