St. Charles East junior Elle McCaslin has experienced an eventful last nine months.
She arrived in St. Charles as a transfer student from Canton, Michigan as a standout two-sport athlete.
Then McCaslin had to deal with the challenge of coming back from a torn left ACL suffered while playing basketball.
The injury was fully diagnosed in June and she underwent surgery in August. Her narrative took another unpredictable turn with an accelerated recovery that allowed her to join the Saints basketball team in February.
"It was faster than anybody said, and I just worked on it," McCaslin said.
The forward has made an imoressive and seamless transition to soccer, utilizing her 6-foot height to become a prominent offensive target for St. Charles East (12-3).
She scored two goals in the Saints' 3-0 victory over Hinsdale Central in group play of the Naperville Invitational on Saturday at Naperville North.
McCaslin has scored a team-best 19 goals and fueled a potent attack that has scored 64 goals in 15 games.
"I give it all to my team," she said. "They all believe in me and ability to score and they give me great balls to finish. I think as a player, my best qualities are patience and knowing when the right to do something is."
With her basketball background and exceptional size, McCaslin has an intuitive sense of how to use her length and athleticism in order to optimize her scoring chances.
"She uses her size for separation when having the ball and when not in possession," St. Charles East coach Vince DiNuzzo said.
"She uses her size to hold players off. She is a physical presence, and we try to pressure in the opponent's half and she also works defensively when we need her there."
In the age of specialization, McCaslin has discovered ways to make the two sports combine and play off each other and have the best of both.
"In basketball, I am mainly a defensive specialist, shot blocker and rebounder and that has definitely helped me a lot with my quickness, endurance and conditioning," McCaslin said.
"I use my size well to play against shorter defenders and win the ball on corners and free kicks."
Basketball was also crucial because it began the process of bonding with her new teammates and community. Moving in the middle of high school is daunting. The two sports eased the process.
"I knew a couple of the girls on the soccer team from basketball," she said. "I have moved a couple of times, just figuring out how to talk to people and getting to know them, I have just found bonding and hanging out with each other is the best way."
Patrick Z. McGavin is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
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