'Beyond excited': How family and friends brought this elite Peoria athlete back to soccer
PEORIA — Mya Wardle is enjoying a comeback season with Notre Dame High School's soccer team.
Literally, the 5-foot-7 junior forward has come back to the game after a year away focusing on basketball.
She's here now because her younger sister, Emery, is going to be when she arrives at the high school level next season.
And she's here now because a beloved friend, former Dunlap soccer player Tessa Sutton, can't be.
"Emery is pretty good at soccer — better than me growing up — so we're going to be able to play together next year," Wardle said. "I'm beyond excited for that. I'm playing basketball in the winter with her, too."
Sutton died from cancer on March 24, leaving an impact on teammates and opponents who played with and against her, but always rooted for her in her life battle.
Wardle was among those who knew Tessa well.
More: 'Our beautiful girl': Beloved Dunlap teen soccer player loses battle to cancer
"I was very close to Tessa, she was one of my first friends in Peoria," Mya Wardle said. "When she got diagnosed, our basketball and soccer travel teams surrounded her.
She loved soccer, and after seeing her and visiting with her I wanted to play soccer this season for her. When she passed, it made me grateful to be healthy and be able to play. So we're all playing for her. Knowing she can't be there anymore, I'm honored to be on that field in her place, and it makes me determined to make the most of this opportunity and play for her."
A path back to soccer
Mya Wardle is among the elite basketball players in the Peoria area, a terrific point guard at Notre Dame who has college offers in hand (Bradley, Eastern Illinois, Indiana State, SIU-Edwardsville and, just a few days ago, Gardner-Webb) and an NCAA Division I future.
"But I actually played soccer longer than I played basketball," Wardle said. "I think a huge part of (coming back) was I missed it."
Wardle stayed out of soccer last season to focus on developing as a basketball player. She played AAU basketball and went to camps and had a great junior season with the Irish. She'll play AAU basketball with Heart of Illinois this summer and get ready for her final prep basketball season next winter.
But a combination of things — a chance to play soccer with her sister, a desire to honor Sutton, and an inner drive to conquer challenges — have put her back on the pitch with Notre Dame this spring.
"I definitely was rusty coming back," Wardle said. "Hadn't touched a ball in a year. All my teammates and coaches were very patient with me."
That patience has paid off. Wardle has seven goals and five assists at forward and Notre Dame has rolled to 10-1-1 after a 5-0 win over Champaign Central on Tuesday night.
An NCAA family tree
The terrific athlete flies around the pitch with the same speed and abandon that has made her a prospect on the basketball court. In fact, the elite hoops player might end up with the same kind of prospect status in soccer.
"I think she's a college soccer player. I've had area colleges start calling about her," Notre Dame coach Ben Ralph said. "And I think she could be a Division I player.
"Anybody with her athleticism and speed is going to be a real threat. Every match we play, she is the fastest player on the field. She's a great soccer player, knows where to be, makes good runs, good reads, and she has a competitiveness you can't teach."
Competitiveness and D-I talent is part of the Wardle family tree.
More: A Division I prospect. A well-known father. Mya Wardle is writing her own story in Peoria
Her father, Brian Wardle, played basketball at Marquette and is the head coach of a Bradley basketball team that won its first Missouri Valley Conference regular-season championship in 27 years this season and went to the NIT.
Coach Wardle's wife, the former Lecia Schuetz, was a soccer forward at Marquette and has passed on some talent to their daughter, too.
"My mom competed at a very high level, she was very good," Mya Wardle said. "She was a forward in college, so she can give me pointers on what I can do. It's fun.
"And my dad loves watching me play soccer, he was excited I came back to the sport."
A soccer point guard?
The Irish lead the Big 12 and have won nine straight matches. All nine are shutouts, by a combined score of 34-0. That includes shutout wins over powerful area teams Richwoods, Dunlap and Washington and a 2-2 tie with Morton.
"When I was a freshman I had 21 assists," Mya Wardle said. "I like scoring, but passing the ball fits my instinct.
"We have a chance to go pretty far. Coming back to Notre Dame girls soccer, it's a competitive culture and that's what I like. Every day, we compete.
"It's what drives me, makes me who I am."
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Peoria Notre Dame's Mya Wardle elite prospect in basketball and soccer
