Chloe Lang - Issaquah High School
Photo Credit: Curt Fuehr |
It is common among sports teams to rally behind a phrase or mantra throughout the season. Something identifiable, if not catchy, that serves as a way to regain focus or pick up the intensity in times of need.
While the Issaquah soccer team is like most teams in that sense, they have more than a mantra to provide inspiration during another deep playoff run. The Eagles will be rallying around former teammate Claudia Longo, who now paces the sideline as an assistant coach in 2018.
Longo was a member of the storied Issaquah soccer program and played a key role in the team’s fifth State Championship last year during her senior season. The two-year Issaquah Captain received a scholarship to continue her career as a member of the University of Washington women’s soccer team. Longo, however, announced last spring that she had been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), an unpredictable and often disabling disease of the central nervous system.
The soccer standout long provided inspiration for the Issaquah soccer program with her leadership and play on the field. Not much has changed since she’s taken up her post on the sideline.
“Last year Claudia was a huge leader,” said Issaquah goalkeeper Chloe Lang. “She always brought positive energy. When the team was down Claudia was always that person to challenge us to keep pushing. She’s one of those people who never gives up and she pushed us to never give up as well.”
Lang, one of a handful of returning players from a senior-loaded team in 2017, was moved to show her support for her teammate and all those who suffer from MS. With some help from her mother, Rena, Issaquah Athletic Director Luke Ande, and many others in the Issaquah community, Lang set out to organize a charity fundraiser to raise money and bring awareness to the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation.
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“(Claudia) has been a huge part of my life and a huge inspiration to me and to the Issaquah soccer community as well,” Lang said.
Don Borin/Stop Action Photography |
While balancing her time on the field, where she has started in goal during the team’s postseason run, with her time in the classroom, where she holds a 3.95 GPA, Lang spearheaded the fundraiser which culminated in a tribute match during the District semifinals.
The plan required a lot of teamwork and organizing considering the span from inception to execution was less than two weeks long. Not to mention remaining compliant with fundraising in the high school setting raises its own challenges. But Chloe and the Issaquah HS staff were ready for the challenge.
“When I first heard about Claudia and trying to help out - it was an instant yes – we need to make this happen,” Ande said.
Throughout the week, the team sold merchandise donated by community members and the MS Foundation. On the night of the match, the Eagles took to the field clad in orange socks and armbands to signify their support for MS awareness. At halftime, members of the UW soccer team helped collect donations in the stands during a “Miracle Minute.” All-in-all, the Issaquah community showed their support for Longo and a worthy cause to the tune of raising more than $8,600 in the short timespan.
Don Borin/Stop Action Photography |
“Ultimately, they put in so much work and there were so many hoops to jump through,” said Ande. “But at the end of the day everyone was on the same page that this is in honor of Claudia and for such a great cause that we have to make this a great event.”
“It was very cool to see the community come around and support Claudia in any way that they could,” said Lang.
Now Issaquah will turn its focus to the defense of a State Title with a semifinal match and potential Championship match at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup, Wash. Lang, who plans to attend George Fox University to play soccer next year, will look to anchor an Eagles defense that has given up only one goal in the last six matches and six goals all season. Regardless of the outcome she says playing on this team during her senior season has been a great experience.
“I think the energy of this team is amazing,” she said. “Every year in high school soccer you become a family but I think this team is really special.”