‘AT ANOTHER LEVEL’
Fort Hays State recruit Grace Grundhofer carves out niche leading Lincoln-Way Central to third place in state in Class 3A
Lincoln-Way Central senior Grace Grundhofer can be hard to keep track of on the soccer field.
She’s constantly on the move, whether it’s sprinting from her defender position to the sideline to take a flip throw-in, pushing up the middle to get involved in the offense or racing back to defend.
She has a seemingly endless amount of energy, but even Grundhofer admitted that’s not the case.
“I definitely do get tired, but I’ve always been told, ‘Don’t show you’re tired,’ ” she said. “I’ve always been told fitness is the most important thing, so I’ve always worked on keeping my fitness up.”
Grundhofer, a Fort Hayes State recruit, would rather run a lot than just hang around the back line anyway.
“I liked having more to do because sometimes center back gets boring,” she said. “I just had to be constantly aware. If I did go up, I had to know I had enough energy to get back.
“I always had to think of what could go wrong and be ready to go back for that.”
Grundhofer, the 2022 Daily Southtown Girls Soccer Player of the Year, was a steady force on both ends of the field all season for the Knights (25-2), who finished third in Class 3A.
While being a huge part of a defense that allowed just eight goals all season, she displayed a knack for setting up her teammates, piling up 23 assists to go with five goals.
It was in the playoffs, though, that Grundhofer really took off. It felt like every goal the Knights scored in their biggest games was set up by the heady defender.
“Grace really, really stepped up in this home stretch,” LincolnWay Central coach Sean Fahey said. “She was very clearly really motivated to help us have a big run in the postseason.
“She was great all season, but what she did in the playoffs for us was at another level. It was really remarkable.”
Between the Knights’ 2-0 sectional championship win over Sandburg and their 2-1 supersectional victory over Glenbard West, Grundhofer assisted on all four goals.
She also had an assist in the 2-1 win over Evanston in the 3A third-place game.
“Coach Fahey mentioned before playoffs started that he wanted us to get more involved in the attack to get more numbers
behind us,” Grundhofer said. “Having the freedom to go up more definitely boosted my confidence.”
Grundhofer is most known for her throw-ins, where she does a flip before tossing the ball with great length and accuracy.
Kicking the ball out of bounds and giving Grundhofer a chance to do her thing became a nightmare scenario for opponents.
“The more I did the throws, the more confident I got,” Grundhofer said. “Even though teams knew I could throw it far, they still kicked the ball out a lot against us, and when they did that, their body language just dropped.
“It made our team more confident to finish those chances.”
Grundhofer also got to share the amazing postseason run with her younger sister Chloe, a junior who also started on the Knights’ back line.
Their older sister, Kyla, ignited the family’s passion for soccer.
“We got very competitive,” Grundhofer said. “There were definitely some fights. We’d push each other very hard, and then afterward, we’d be like, ‘We’re sisters.’ We’d be over it.”
Lincoln-Way Central entered the season with plenty of question marks after graduating a highly decorated senior class and welcoming in a large group of new players.
Grundhofer helped turn it into an unforgettable spring.
“Coming into the season, I honestly didn’t know how we were going to do,” Grundhofer said. “We lost so many good seniors from last year. I didn’t have a lot of confidence. But once we started playing, I saw we could be good.
“Seeing how far we got, it’s amazing to me that it all happened.”