Gazette MVP: Highland's Grace Shondel makes memories, history

Throughout her career, Highland senior Grace Shondel and her teammates were responsible for the greatest moments in program history. Taking on even greater responsibility this season, Shondel helped lead Highland to its third straight district title, this time in Division II — the only such championships in the program's history. The Hornets also won the Suburban League American Conference for the third year in a row. For her impact and role as a leader, Shondel is Gazette MVP for girls soccer. It's the end of a four-year run with her teammates that made lasting memories. "It's meant more than the world to me to be a part of something so amazing with these girls," Shondel said. "Every practice, every single two-a-days, we all came out and wanted to get better for each other. That made a huge difference to play for the people around you." On the heels of a season in which the Hornets were 12 seconds from forcing overtime in the D-III state final against Bay, Shondel scored a career-high 22 goals and added 14 assists to lead Medina County in scoring with 58 points. She did the same her sophomore season when she had 21 goals and 16 assists. For her career, Shondel tallied 64 goals and 46 assists for 174 points. Those accomplishments pale in comparison to the ones Shondel and her teammates achieved together. "I'm most proud of all the girls on the team over the past four years," she said. "A lot of us grew up playing soccer together, so I'm really proud of how far we've come. Not just together on the soccer field, but off it as well. Through Highland soccer, we've formed such amazing bonds, which is why I think we connected so well on the field this year." Shondel is the third Hornet in as many seasons to win the MVP award, following Jillian Miller in 2023 and classmate Vanessa Zufall last season. Already a danger any time she touched the ball, Shondel was even more dangerous this season. Able to use her skill, power, toughness and quickness to take on whatever a defense tried to deploy, she just kept going. "She's a constant threat," Highland coach Bill Zufall said. "She's a force. She'll go through two or three players and has a knack for finishing. She's a difference-maker in games." Her coach for the past three seasons, Zufall has no doubt Shondel's talents will transfer to the next level, when and where she decides to take her next step. "When I talk to college coaches, a lot of them are looking at 22-, 23-year-olds because of the transfer portal," he said. "I tell them, whether she starts or not, if you put her in as a freshman, she will change the dynamics of the game for you every single time." At her most dangerous charging down the wing ready to take on defenders to get into the box and score, Shondel made a conscious effort to be more precise and timely with passes to teammates this season. That led to tallying the second-most assists in her high school career. Her final assist was to junior Katie Wetzel in the regional semifinals against Sunbury Big Walnut that forced overtime. Shondel also had a goal waved off due to a foul that had the potential to change the course of what turned out to be an earlier postseason exit than Highland had envisioned when it lost 3-2 in double overtime. "Something that was a goal for me was to increase my awareness," Shondel said. "I wanted to be able to see more openings for people to place balls for others. My position as a winger, part of my role is to get the ball into the box for other people to finish. I wanted to find my teammates in better positions and be more accurate with positions for them to be able to score." Nearly three weeks prior to the regional semifinal, Shondel netted a hat trick in a 3-0 win over Revere that secured the SL American championship. "Before this year, if you put her out wide and give her space she was a force to handle," Zufall said. "That's really her most dangerous area, but this year, because of how many players we graduated from last year's state final team, we put her at center mid. "We could put her at center mid and it looks like there's two or three players out there, and it's just herself." Shondel began playing soccer because older brother Tommy, now a sophomore tight end on the John Carroll football team, quickly developed a passion that was fostered by teammates: Friends pursuing the common goal of winning. That's something Highland did plenty of with Shondel on the field, going 69-9-6 the past four seasons. "We've always had this connection," Shondel said. "Before every game, we're talking about what we're going to do. At halftime, we're talking about what we need to do better. The way that we connect helps us trust each other and know that we're all going to be there for each other, no matter what." Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com.