{"id":34434,"date":"2026-03-18T12:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T12:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/34434\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T12:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T12:44:10","slug":"creighton-recruit-reilly-novak-leads-lake-zurich","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/34434\/","title":{"rendered":"Creighton recruit Reilly Novak leads Lake Zurich"},"content":{"rendered":"

The seemingly endless road to Reilly Novak\u2019s first high school soccer game didn\u2019t give her confidence it would be an auspicious debut.<\/p>\n

A freshman at the time, Novak tried to focus as she sat with her new Lake Zurich teammates during the bus ride to Zion-Benton.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really nerve-wracking,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a long way there to Zion, so I had to lock in. It was very stressful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Novak had already impressed Lake Zurich\u2019s coaches enough to make the varsity team, but it was time to deliver.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy staff and I definitely noticed her at camp and thought, \u2018Wow, she can do some really good things,\u2019\u201d Lake Zurich coach Mike Castronova said. \u201cHer skills with the ball and going to goal stood out right away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Novak came off the bench in that season opener against the Zee-Bees. When Castronova called her name, she trotted onto the field, hoping to make an impact. It took her just five minutes.<\/p>\n

\"LakeLakes’ Leah Rojas, left, challenges Lake Zurich’s Reilly Novak for control of the ball during a nonconference game in Lake Zurich on Saturday, April 6, 2024. (Rob Dicker \/ News-Sun)<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when Novak scored her first varsity goal. A few minutes later, she scored another. By the end of the Bears\u2019 7-0 win, Novak had a hat trick.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the best moment of my life,\u201d she said. \u201cEveryone was happy and celebrating a lot. It was amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Novak was just getting started. The 5-foot-9 forward begins her junior season with 32 career goals and 19 career assists for Lake Zurich (17-3-2), which has lost to Barrington in three straight Class 3A sectional championship games.<\/p>\n

Novak assumes the role of veteran leader for the Bears, who hope to advance further this season. They haven\u2019t reached the state semifinals since 2004.<\/p>\n

\u201cReilly keeps everybody level and keeps everybody working hard,\u201d Castronova said. \u201cWe want to have fun and enjoy the season, but we want to go out there and win. So during practice and during games, we want to stay focused and be ready for the big moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Novak, a Creighton recruit, loves those big moments.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast season, we had OBB, which was Operation Beat Barrington,\u201d she said. \u201cBut this year, we\u2019re going down to 2A, so it\u2019s going to be OBL, Operation Beat Libertyville. They\u2019re our biggest rivals this season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Novak, who moved to Lake Zurich from Seattle a few years ago, remains loyal to Seattle Sounders FC, the MLS team. Her family calls her \u201cHoney Badger,\u201d an homage to former Sounders star Osvaldo Alonso, who was given that nickname for his fearless style of play. Novak also wears Alonso\u2019s No. 6 in his honor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I have the ball, I just have to be a honey badger and be fierce,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"LakeLake Zurich\u2019s Reilly Novak passes the ball during a practice on campus on Monday, March 16, 2026. (Brian O\u2019Mahoney \/ News-Sun)<\/p>\n

Novak has played with that mentality for a long time, according to her mother, Christine.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe played on boys teams for a few years,\u201d Christine Novak said. \u201cWe used to joke a lot about there being no crying in soccer, and looking back, there were some boys\u2019 parents who were complaining that Reilly was either too hard or too aggressive, and one of the boys on the field was crying. At the end of the game, Reilly was like, \u2018Mom, I told him there was no crying in soccer.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Reilly Novak has no intention of letting up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still have to put in all the work,\u201d she said. \u201cI can\u2019t just stop and lay back. I need to keep going and never give up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sam Brief is a freelance reporter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The seemingly endless road to Reilly Novak\u2019s first high school soccer game didn\u2019t give her confidence it would…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34435,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[6610,8504,8505,8506,8507,4573,899,51],"class_list":{"0":"post-34434","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-zurich","8":"tag-high-school-sports","9":"tag-illinois","10":"tag-lake-county","11":"tag-lake-county-news-sun","12":"tag-lake-county-news-sun-sports","13":"tag-lake-zurich","14":"tag-local-news","15":"tag-zurich"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116250244787108186","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}