Natalya Main shoots. Photo by Kent Kriegshauser.
The Fighting Scots began conference play with a 3-1 victory over the Beloit Buccaneers last Saturday at Peacock Memorial Park on senior day.
“I think we have a really good outlook for the rest of the season for conference,” senior Natalya Main said. “It’s the teamwork we showed and it helped us produce this game.”
However, this certain game on this special day never would have happened if it was not for recreational soccer.
“My parents definitely helped that love for soccer to start because they put me into different leagues and everything and then I started playing travel at a young age, and that kind of just helped my skills develop,” Main said.
Coached by her father, Main and her brother played together on a team, which eventually transformed her into becoming a high school-level player.
“When I was 13 or 15, I started getting to my position now at wing,” Main said.
Main attended Richwoods High School in Peoria, Illinois, where she played all four years on the varsity team.
“I still have a really strong connection to my high school team and my coach as well,” Main said. “He checks in on me still to this day.”
As time drifts on, another coach saw something special in the now-senior Natalya Main when Richwoods High took on Morton High School in 2022, a team that had a small chance of losing.
“I remember that game of getting the winning assist for my team,” Main said. “Henderson was watching that game too.”
Lucas Henderson, who is the current head coach for Main and the women’s soccer program, was able to speak with Main after the win.
“We kept in contact and fast forward four years later and now here I am.”
Coming from just a short one-hour drive from Peoria, Illinois, it would only be a couple games into the season before Main scored an impressive header into the lower left part of the net.
“I just remember being like shocked that I ever got a touch on that ball,” Main said. “The fact I got contact with the ball and made it into the goal, it took at least 10 seconds for me to realize it happened. My teammates hugged me and cheered me on because it was my first college goal.”
Also in the crowd, Main’s grandma, who was one of her biggest supporters.
“She gave me like 10 or 20 bucks for that goal. It’s one of the fond memories I have of her.”
Now, she walks to midfield with her family surrounding her, as Main holds a basket of gifts her teammates made for her special day being a senior.
“It was kind of like a sad but happy moment,” Main said. “It was a feeling of bliss.”
As Main’s career comes to an end, a message she believes in can help upcoming players have a successful four years.
“Don’t think too much into the little things. Focus on the main big idea pictures, because once you get in your head about certain things, it’s hard to get yourself out of it,” Main said. “Finding those connections through your teammates and your coach is so incredibly important to make a lasting career.”