This has been a summer to remember for local soccer stars Gabe Smith and Emerson Burke.
On the field, the childhood friends helped the Naperville-based Galaxy Soccer Club win the Girls Academy U17 national title in Richmond, Virginia, on July 13.
“It’s such a truly amazing experience,” Smith said. “One of the reasons why we’re able to have that success is that we just have that chemistry and trust built from playing with each other for 10 years.”
Off the field, Smith and Burke committed to play at Division I programs. Smith announced she had picked Vanderbilt on July 16, less than two weeks after Burke announced she had chosen Iowa. Both are thrilled for each other.
“It’s super cool,” Burke said. “I’m so proud of her and everything she’s accomplished and being able to go through this journey together.
“We train all the time together, so we kind of feed off each other, and we both get better together.”
For their Galaxy group, the recent national title is the third in four years. The team won U.S. Youth Soccer divisions in 2022 and 2023 with the same roster, which includes mostly Naperville players.
Three of them — Smith, Burke and Jessica Terada, who will be juniors — have played together since they were 6.
Smith is a midfielder who attends Neuqua Valley; Burke is a forward who plays for Naperville Central; and Terada, whose father, Brent, coaches the Galaxy team, is a defender at Metea Valley.
The other local players on the roster included Naperville North’s Claire DeCook, Lily Radek and Addison Sitzman; Naperville Central’s Eleanor Kane and Malia Shen; Neuqua Valley’s Allessandra Russo, Addison Guskey and Quinn Sigal; and Benet’s Ivana Vukas.
Burke was named MVP of the national tournament. She scored two goals on free kicks that Brent Terada called “absolute bangers” during Galaxy’s 4-1 semifinal win over TopHat of Georgia, which had five players from the youth national team and won the 2023 national title.
Vukas scored a goal as Galaxy beat STA of New Jersey 3-2 in overtime in the final.
“They’ve all come together,” Brent Terada said. “It’s fun to see them growing up into young women who are good soccer players.
“This is a group where it wouldn’t be shocking if a number of kids decided to play after college. There could be 17 or 18 DI commits from that team.”
Smith and Burke can often be found together even when they’re not playing for Galaxy.
“We’ve always been super close, and I think it’s exciting for us to see all of the hard work that we’ve put in pay off,” Smith said.
“We’re so happy for each other and proud of each other because we’re each other’s day one. We’ve been with each other since the beginning.”
Smith and Burke were day-one starters as freshmen, when they played against each other twice. That likely won’t happen again during high school because Smith didn’t play for Neuqua Valley last season.
Smith was called up to the U.S. U17 women’s national team camp in January, where she trained with 23 of the other top players in the country. She has also trained against boys at Galaxy.
“They are definitely a lot bigger and faster and stronger than me, so I think that instead of relying on athleticism, you have to rely on technical ability in order to beat people,” Smith said. “Decision-making had to be so much faster, and your touch had to be so much cleaner because they close faster. You have to be thinking one step ahead, and it forces you to have a quicker speed of play.”
Smith has dreamed of playing professionally since she was little.
“The sky is the limit for her,” Burke said. “She works so hard, and technically she’s just so good on the ball. She has such a high IQ. She’s really fun to play with.”
They have fun playing with each other even though they attend different schools.
“We are definitely competitive and always trying to make ourselves perform better, but I think one reason we’re so successful is we’re just there to support each other,” Smith said. “If one person wins in Naperville, we all win. If one person gets a call-up or one person commits, we’re all excited for them.”
The excitement never seems to end for this group.
“Winning is great, but the friendships you make along the way and being able to keep those friendships for a really long time are the best part,” Burke said. “Good players being able to be really good friends with other good players is so helpful in your development and also outside of soccer too.
“The best part about that is there’s no jealousy. Everyone is so happy for each person getting the opportunities.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.
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