GRAND ISLAND — Juliet Chadima doesn’t hesitate anymore.
Instead, she receives the pass or fights for a ground ball and keeps her eyes up towards the net. Dodging past a defender leads to open space for Chadima, who fires the ball just underneath the arms of the goalie.
But the confidence, the pace of play, the overall ability to take over a game by scoring in bunches wasn’t always there for the midfielder. When she first joined the Vikings as a freshman three years ago, Chadima was a little scared about playing with her senior teammates, who she looked up to.
In her first three seasons, Chadima had someone to either look up to or work alongside on Grand Island’s offensive attack, including Olivia Fox and the Koslowski sisters, Ella and Lily. Now in her final season, it’s Chadima’s turn to lead the Vikings offensively.
After Grand Island’s first four games this season, Chadima is the team’s offensive catalyst, with her 15 goals and 17 points, both good in the top-five among all Section VI players. Scoring, from her view, is an adrenaline rush, as she has posted 142 goals and 191 points in her four-year career.
“If there’s a space that’s more open, I kind of lean towards that area, and I just go based off what other defenders, and I adapt myself and adjust myself pretty quickly,” Chadima said. “And, I see it even before it happens sometimes. I know where the defender’s going. I know where they’re going to go or where they are. I just really see the field.”
Chadima wasn’t the focal point offensively for Grand Island as an underclassman. After tallying 23 goals and 40 points as a freshman, she increased her totals in both categories by 16 each two years ago for fourth-best on a Vikings team that won their first sectional championship in program history and advanced to the Class C state quarterfinal.
Last season, Chadima’s production soared and finished second on Grand Island with 65 goals and 78 points, including a five-goal performance in its season-ending loss to Lake Shore in the section’s Class C semifinal. But the smaller role didn’t slow Chadima down.
Instead, she found it beneficial, as she absorbed everything her teammates and former head coach Jen Chowske taught her like a sponge. From Chowske, who now coaches on modified after 10 seasons on varsity, Chadima learned how to improve as a midfielder and on the draw by getting the ball on her stick before pushing.
Offensively, Chadima learned how to create her own space to score. With the help of Fox, Ella Koslowski and then goaltender Beth Kulikowski, Chadima learned how to expand her attack from beyond the top of the offensive zone.
“I had trouble, dodging too close to my defender,” Chadima said. “So, I was told (to) dodge a little bit, so, I’m not on top of the defender, and, it kind of helped me get around the defender quicker and easier, so, I have more space.”
With the expansion of her output offensively, from around the perimeter or from the eight-meter line, Grand Island has paid dividends. After only doing so three times as a freshman, Chadima has recorded three or more goals in 23 games over the last three seasons, with the Vikings posting a 22-8 record.
But the individual numbers aren’t what matter most to Chadima. Scoring a goal, winning the draw to set up a teammate helps her contribute towards victories, with a killer instinct.
“You can’t teach that,” Grand Island head coach Colleen DeRonda said. “You can learn it. You can choose to have that tenacity. You can choose to be as driven and you can choose to switch on that killer instinct that she has. You can learn how to do that through experience and through observing and absorbing what other players are doing. But that’s not something that can be coached into you.”
Along with being the No. 1 scoring option for Grand Island, Chadima also finds herself in a different role, too. While she is one of five seniors on the Vikings’ roster, Chadima is the only player with four years of varsity experience with 13 teammates in 10th grade or below.
With 57 varsity games to date under her belt, with numerous scenarios, Chadima correlates her time with former players with why she is taking the reins the next few weeks.
“I think it was pretty easy because I had such great teammates,” Chadima said. “They didn’t only tell me what to do. They led by example. So, I kind of saw what they did and I’ve always looked up to them. …. I want to make them proud on and off the field.”
Grand Island (2-2) continues its season at Williamsville South at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday.