Girls soccer preview: Teammates continue to motivate Highland's Grace Shondel

Soccer has always been about more than just the game for Highland senior standout Grace Shondel. The game is great, but her teammates are what drive her to improve so the Hornets can continue to celebrate milestones and moments of victory. Winning is something Shondel and her senior teammates have done throughout their careers at Highland, going 52-7-4 over the last three seasons, including 39-3-3 the last two under coach Bill Zufall. In a consistent climb, the Hornets reached their highest high yet last year, making the Division III state final before losing to Bay 1-0 in a last-second heartbreaker. This season, the All-Gazette pick wants to do everything she can to help the Hornets get another chance to win a state title. "I love the game 100%, but I probably love the people I meet playing more," she said. "The people I play with are the reason I play. The dynamic of playing with a team and being able to celebrate with a team is what I really love about it." She knows that in order to get there it's going to take everyone working as one, including reigning Gazette MVP Vanessa Zufall, Bowling Green commit Hailey Trzaska in goal and honorable mention All-Gazette defender Jessica Sherman. "Playing together as one is definitely something that is huge," Shondel said. "Having the bond that we do off the field really helps us connect even more on the field. I think that's super important." Those aren't just hollow words coming from Shondel. It's something those around her see every day on the practice field. "She wants her teammates to be around," Bill Zufall said. "She wants to be involved even more this year. I'm really excited from what I've seen from her this preseason." Shondel was fourth in Medina County in goals (16) and assists (11) last season and was part of a three-pronged attack with Vanessa Zufall (19, 20) and 2025 graduate Grace Madison (19. 6) that helped Highland score 109 goals. "One of her biggest attributes is that she is a game-changer," Bill Zufall said. "She is very difficult to defend. She's also a very good defender. It's her grit, her attitude on the field. "She has always been one of the elite, in my opinion, players collecting the ball out of the air and being able to finish. She has a knack for being in the right place at the right time." The Hornets coach also pointed to her maturity level and I.Q. for the game, which will allow her to take on more responsibilities as Highland tries to be as versatile as possible and put players in different positions to exploit matchups. This year, Shondel knows her responsibilities go well beyond the numbers. She is focused on bringing energy and leadership as Highland aims for lofty goals again. "Going into this season as a senior, I just want to be able to help lead my younger teammates to help us achieve our team goals," she said. "I want to do the best I can as a senior to help us do that." Fueling Shondel and the Hornets is a desire to overcome the sting of a loss in the state final in which they played the Rockets evenly until Tessa Knapp found Maya Holmes with 12 seconds left. "We didn't end last season how we wanted, losing the state championship in the last 12 seconds," she said. "I think that also built a lot of motivation to be more prepared for this season. We all know how that loss felt last season and I think we are going to use that throughout the season to help us do better." The loss was even more bitter for Shondel, who was forced to watch much of the second half from the sideline with a broken nose. "Anyone will tell you being an athlete, when you're injured all you want to do is get back out there," she said. "I'm really grateful to be healthy this year to do what I love with the people that I love." Soccer isn't the only sport that Shondel excels at. She's also an All-Gazette point guard on the basketball team, averaging 8.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.9 steals and 0.7 blocks last season. The skills of a point guard help her on the pitch. "Obviously they are two very different sports, which I love about both of them," Shondel said. "In basketball, one of the main things is vision and awareness. You have to be seeing things at all times, especially as a point guard. I think that helps me on the soccer field, even though it's a much bigger field than the court. I see things quicker." Those physical tools, along with a veteran mindset, should go a long way toward helping the Hornets get where they want to go this season. "She has been blessed to be an elite high school athlete," Bill Zufall said. "She's one of the most consistent players I've seen year after year. What I've already seen in the preseason is she has this calmness that comes from experience. That's really going to help us out this year." Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com.