By MARK MOSCHETTI
Seattle Pacific Sports Information
 
SEATTLE – A ball in front of her. 
 
A pass to a teammate. 
 
A shot at the net. 
 
For now, something as simple as that is all Sophia Chilczuk wants. 
 
It means she is finally back on the soccer field. 
 
 

"I was thinking about this the other day while I was in the car," the 21-year-old Seattle Pacific senior star forward said. "I so badly want to feel the ball on my foot – I miss the feeling of soccer. I'm very excited to get back to it." 
 
Earlier this week, Chilczuk did indeed "get back to it" with her Falcon teammates. It was merely a workout session, and a scaled-down one at that, with pods of just five players on Wallace Field. 
 
But the air was clean instead of rancid, now that the smoke is gone. The balls were on the turf. 
 
And, for a little while at least, the coronavirus pandemic, which has halted competition and practice for Chilczuk and all other SPU athletes since this past March, wasn't at the forefront of everyone's mind. 
 
Even without any games on the horizon until perhaps next spring. 
 
"I think this will be a good time for all of us to just practice and focus on soccer without having games," said Chilczuk (pronounced CHILL-zick; the name is of her grandparents' Ukranian heritage, although her father is from Argentina and her mother from Brazil). "Then next year, we can just be a stronger team. 
 
"I kind of look at it with optimism and try to do things that I normally wouldn't be able to do," she added. "I've had so much time to think about life and things that it has actually been beneficial to me." 
 
SUDDENLY SIDELINED 
Lots of time to think about things. That's not an unfamiliar concept to Chilczuk. 
 
Flash back to a couple autumns ago, October 2018. 
 
 

Heading into the regular-season finale on the road at 16^th-ranked Concordia-Portland, Chilczuk had a team-leading eight goals – five of them game-winners. The Falcons were flying high at 12-4-1, already having clinched a spot in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament and well positioned to make the NCAA Tournament. 
 
With Seattle Pacific down 1-0 late in the match, Chilczuk took a low shot from 18 yards in front of the left post that was knocked away by Cavaliers goalkeeper Rose Hauser. But the ball stayed in the penalty area, and moments later, Julia DeVere floated the equalizer into the upper left corner. 
 
Barely two minutes after that, the ball was back in the Concordia box. Chilczuk and Hauser both went after it. 
 
"I thought I could beat her to it, and we were going full speed toward each other," Chilczuk recalled. "We collided, and my leg got stuck underneath her. 
 
"It was very traumatic – I felt like I blacked out for a minute," she said. "I just had pain in my leg. Not my knee, not my ankle, so it was somewhere between that." 
 
Even today, SPU coach Arby Busey calls it "a scary moment to reflect back on." 
 
The result was two broken bones in Chilczuk's lower right leg. Surgeons inserted a rod, with screws toward her knee and in her ankle. (Those parts are still in place, and Chilczuk said she probably will leave them there.) 
 
That game ultimately ended in a 1-1 tie, but Chilczuk's season was done. No GNAC or NCAA tourney action for her. Just a long road of recovering and rehabilitation with the idea of returning in time for her junior year in 2019. 
 
"When I had my injury, it was like, 'Wow, OK, I need to slow down and I need to do all the steps in order to become successful and just focus," Chilczuk said. "It made me stronger mentally." 
 
WORK ETHIC IN HER DNA 
Actually, putting in the work and doing all the steps has always been part of Chilczuk's game plan. 
 
"I would hope, and I think, that the other girls look up to me for how hard-working I am," she said. "I want to be successful myself, but I also want the team and the other girls to be successful, and I want to bring them up." 
 
Madison Ibale certainly sees it – and has for a long time. She and Chilczuk have played together since they were 10 – at the club level, at Kentridge High School some 25 miles southeast of the SPU campus, and now for the Falcons. 
 
"Her tenacity and determination on the field – when she gets in that mindset, she's kind of unstoppable," Ibale said. "It was really important to the team to have her back up top with the leadership personality she has. It was a good indicator to this team that you can come back from an injury and be just as good or even better." 
 
Busey saw that work ethic in Chilczuk long before she became a Falcon. 
 
His first encounter with her wasn't even planned. Former Seattle Pacific assistant coach Sean Connors was coaching a club team at the time and was trying out a new system of play. He invited Busey to a tournament to take a look at it. 
 
The game was against Chilczuk's Kent United team,  
 
"Sean came up after the game and said, 'We were trying to do some of these things. What did you think?'" Busey recalled. "I said, 'Gee, I'm sorry – I got distracted. There were a couple kids on the other team that were really good.'" 
 
Chilczuk eventually switched clubs, and Busey saw her again a couple years later in another tournament. 
 
"She has always had special qualities for me, from the first time I saw her without even knowing who she was or thinking that I was going to see anything from her and her teammates in that game," he said. "She's got a presence about her, for sure. There's physical qualities that draw you to her: Obviously, her (5-foot-11) height is something. 
 
"But I think there's almost an elegance about the way she plays. She gives an appearance where it just seems easier for her to do things than other players. But she has worked really hard to make it that way." 
 
That's on display for her teammates every day. 
 
"She has this sort of composure about her. She doesn't looked fazed by it all," Ibale said. "She'll be out-running someone or shooting on goal and keep this composed look on her face the whole time." 
 
SMALL SIZE, PERFECT FIT 
Move-in day. For so many college freshmen, it's the ultimate out-of-the-comfort-zone experience. 
 
New digs. New roommates. Often a huge school and campus with which they're totally unfamiliar, not only unsure of which way is up, but even of which way is north or south. 
 
Chilczuk had similar unease in August of 2017 when she arrived at Seattle Pacific. But in her case, the out-of-the-comfort zone feel wasn't because the school is big. 
 
"I was a little worried because it's a small school, and I wasn't used to that," she said. "All of my sisters went to the University of Washington and rowed, so I'm used to hearing about their experiences (at a much bigger school). 
 
"When I came here, I was kind of shocked a little bit." 
 
That feeling wore off in a hurry. An applied human biology major, she quickly came to love her smaller class sizes where the professors knew her name. She started building a record of success that now finds her with a 3.89 grade-point average and winner of several conference academic awards. 
 
On the field, Chilczuk also found herself fitting in right away. She played 16 of SPU's 17 games, with 15 starts, racked up four goals and three assists, and was named GNAC Freshman of the Year. Of those four goals, two were game-winners. 
 
"From the first day, she has really been effective In those attacking areas, whether setting somebody else up or setting herself up to score goals," Busey said.. 
 
The autumn of 2018 was even better. Her eight goals included five game-winners.
 
Then came the injury. While there's never a good time for such a thing, hers, happening as it did near the end of October, left her nine-plus months to get back to full strength for the start of training camp in August 2019. 
 
"I tried to stay in shape as much as I could," she said. "Then it was just like I needed to learn how to be physical again and get over it – I can use my leg, it's stable, it's going to be OK. It was just getting over that hump." 
 
LOOKING BACK TO MOVE FORWARD 
Chilczuk got over the hump. She was on the field for the opening whistle in all 20 games last fall. She wound up with eight goals and three assists as the Falcons advanced all the way to the GNAC Tournament championship game before their season ended with a 2-1 loss to Western Washington. 
 
As always, Chilczuk endured her share of physical play. 
 
But her leg – and her psyche – held up just fine. 
 
"Before games, I would think back to the prior season, because that was one of the best seasons I've had," she said. "I would just play back memories of goals I scored or moments where I felt really strong. That helped me get into the right mentality before the game, and it just helped build my confidence. 
 
MAKING THE MOST OF COVID CHALLENGES 
Chilczuk was hungry for more. But with spring training camp on the horizon this past March, the coronavirus slammed head-on into everyone's lives, both in and out of the athletic world. 
 
Camp and the spring games were canceled. Classes shifted online (and she's still taking all of hers remotely again this fall).. Any semblance of a social life ground to a halt. 
 
"It has been crazy. It's tough for everyone, and it has been tough for me," Chilczuk said. "But I'm pretty fortunate that nothing has happened with my family and friends. They're all safe and healthy." 
 
Chilczuk ran between two and four miles every day, worked out on her mom's Peloton stationary bike, and lifted weights. She binged on Disney movies and "The Vampire Diaries." A hiking enthusiast, she went on several of those. 
 
But no soccer. Then on July 17, the GNAC announced the cancellation of all fall sports, though leaving the door open for a possible limited season in the spring of 2021. 
 
"I was kind of expecting it, so I wasn't that surprised," Chilczuk said. "Of course, it's unfortunate because I'm a senior, and my parents and all of my sisters would come to the games. Just playing under the lights, and it's starting to get cold (in the evening) – I'm going to miss all of that." 
 
There is some good news for Chilczuk, however. Even if there is a spring schedule and she plays in every game, it won't cost her a season. Thanks to a decision by the NCAA, Chilczuk and all other fall sports athletes will retain this year of eligibility and can use it in the fall of 2021. 
 
"I still need to talk about it with (SPU athletics personnel), but I'm planning to take that year as of right now," she said. 
 
Until then, she'll try to enjoy life's meaningful moments. 
 
"Don't get mad at the little things. Let things go. Be happy and tell people you love them," she said. 
 
She'll also settle for the feeling of a ball on her foot. Passing it to a teammate. Shooting it at the net. 
 
That's all Sophia Chilczuk wants. 
 
Because it means she's back on the soccer field.