Lillie Wessel grew up playing soccer in Seymour, and when the Owls lost in the sectional last fall, she knew that wasn’t going to be her final match.

Wessel took that next step in her soccer career last week when she signed to play at Anderson University.

“When I went up there on my visit I just loved it,” she said. “I liked everything about it. It seemed like a very cool campus, and it seemed like the student life was good.

“The athletic programs seemed very organized. They don’t have a turf field but their grass field is really nice.”

She was a 4-year varsity starter for the Owls and said, “I really enjoyed playing with all my friends throughout my whole career, and just having (Greg Musser) as a coach. I feel like he has made me become a better player.

“It was just fun to play for my school and represent my community.”

She began playing soccer at age 4. “I started travel ball with the Cyclones. I started out with my actual age group and then I moved up and played with older kids so I could get on a full size field a couple years sooner.”

As she got older she played with the Indy Strikers (five years) and more recently with Alliance out of Greenwood.

Wessel said about playing club ball, “We played in tournaments and you get to play against the best players off high school teams so it’s so much more competitive than high school soccer is.”

Musser said, “She’s always anchored the middle of our field. It’s going to be strange looking out there next year and not seeing No. 11 running the middle of the field for us.

“She was our offensive attacking mid. A lot of our attack went through her. A lot of our outlets to get out of pressure at the defensive end went through her so it’s a big role and she filled it very well for four years. She earned captain and her leadership skills were great. She led by example.”

Musser said her responsibilities were to possess the ball and calm the game down a little bit.

“If you want to relate it to football, she was our quarterback,” he said. “You put it on her feet and let her make the decisions and drive our attack. It was an important role we asked of her for four years.”

Last fall she scored a team-high 11 goals, and had five assists. She scored 38 goals for her career.

Wessel was named co-most valuable player of the Owls last fall. She was Hoosier Hills all-Conference first team her junior and senior years, and all-HHC honorable mention as a freshman. She was also academic all-state last fall.

Musser said the Owls have strengthened their schedule in recent seasons and “eleven goals is a good mark for our schedule.”

He said he believes she can be a big contributor at Anderson.

“I’ve watched her and been around coaching her since she was 9 or 10. Just watching what she does on and off the field is how she is going to contribute,” he said. “She is always going to be one of the first ones there and last ones to leave. She is going to put in the extra time.

“I think when she gets around that team, they are going to learn a lot from her dedication. Her skill level is great, her vision is great so I think she is going to be able to do great things for a college program like Anderson.”

Wessel said she is looking forward to getting on the field with her Raven teammates. The coach there said the team is very young and that Wessel has a good chance to play a lot this fall.

“I’m hoping to just step in and make a difference as soon as possible,” she said.

Anderson is a member of the Heartland Collegiate Conference. Hanover College is also a member of the Heartland, and Aidan Heister, a former teammate of Wessel’s at Seymour, is a member of the Hanover team. Wessel said she is looking forward to that match.

Wessel said she plans to major in biology and go into dentistry.