Ex-Titan Kicks Off Gu Career In Style

Most people celebrate their birthdays with cake and gifts.

Gonzaga University soccer player Sara Streufert celebrated her 19th birthday last August by drilling four shots into Whitman’s goal, a performance that put the freshman from University High School well on the way to a school scoring record.

Streufert, last year’s leading scorer at U-Hi, began her soccer career at Gonzaga with a bang. Before attending her first class, the 5-foot-7 forward earned West Coast Conference Player of the Week honors for her performance against Whitman. Her four goals in that game also set a school single-game record.

Less than a month later, Streufert again turned heads with two goals and an assist in the Gonzaga’s 5-2 win over St. Mary’s. The win drew attention because it was Gonzaga’s first WCC victory in five years of league play.

Gonzaga recruited Streufert for her power and speed, which she had used in breaking former Gonzaga player Dottie Winch’s 1993 single-season scoring record of six goals. With two games still to play, Streufert has nine goals, along with two assists.

It’s a good time to be a Gonzaga player. The team is young - 11 of the 17 Zag players are freshmen and sophomores - and things are looking up. Until the win over St. Mary’s, the Zags were 0-27-1 in their five years of West Coast Conference play. Now it looks as though the tide is turning; this season the Zags are 8-10-0 overall and 1-4-0 in conference play.

Streufert is new to the Zags, but not to the game. Her older brothers drew her into soccer, and she’s been playing since she was in second grade. A three-time All-GSL performer, she scored 41 goals in four years for the Titans. This wasn’t the only time that Streufert caught Gonzaga coach Ric Grenell’s eye, however; as a coach for the Olympic Development program, he worked with Streufert during two seasons and liked what he saw.

“She’s a dream - she’s very, very coachable. She listens, she works hard,” Grenell said. “She’s also very unique because she has tremendous athletic talent, but she doesn’t carry that kind of attitude with her, like ‘I’m the best.”’

Streufert isn’t so unassuming during games, however. Grenell described her as a player who makes her presence known.

“She goes to goal aggressively,” he said. “Those types of people are not trained to do that. They’re born to do it.”

The aggressiveness comes out of Streufert’s ability to focus intensely.

“I just concentrate on taking each game as I go … I set goals for each game, things I want to try to do,” she said.

One goal that’s near the top of Streufert’s list during every game is to play with a positive attitude. She’s seen the ripple effect that an upbeat approach can have on other team members.

“The team staying positive is a group effort,” Streufert said.

Clearly, she’s giving the Zags a few reasons to keep their attitudes positive.

“We’re so glad that we were able to keep her here in Spokane,” Grenell said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo