51黑料

Emily Gaebe, 51黑料 U.鈥檚 confident and dominant soccer star, actually is quite quirky and, per her coach, 鈥渧ery humble鈥� and can 鈥渓augh at herself,鈥� which makes it fitting that Gaebe is the proud owner of ... a pet cow named Winston.

鈥淲e always joke about getting him here for a game as a mascot,鈥� Gaebe said. 鈥淏ut he鈥檚 like 2,500 pounds now.鈥�

And so, Gaebe鈥檚 biggest supporter never has seen her play. He remains on the family鈥檚 land back in Union, 48 miles from Midtown, where the senior Gaebe and SLU (13-1-6) will play Massachusetts (13-4-3) at noon Sunday for the Atlantic 10 Conference women鈥檚 soccer title.

A win and SLU鈥檚 in the NCAA Tournament. The Billikens have won the A-10 tournament in each of the past six seasons 鈥� oh, and haven鈥檛 allowed a goal in the tourney in their past eight games (23-0 aggregate score).

A loss and SLU still might be in 鈥� after all, the Billikens are ranked 26th in the NCAA Division I Ratings Percentage Index (RPI).

And this year鈥檚 club is stacked, as it annually is under coach Katie Shields. For instance, defender Lyndsay Heckel made the all-conference team for a fifth consecutive season (she earned an extra year because of the pandemic). And Gaebe was named conference offensive player of the year, just like she was last season.

An argument can be made that Gaebe is the best SLU women鈥檚 soccer player ever. So far this year, she has scored 14 goals in her 19 games played (the next-closest goal-scorer is actual the defensive player Heckel, with five). Gaebe is SLU鈥檚 career leading scorer, with 45 goals. And she鈥檚 tied for fifth all-time in assists, with 22.

鈥淪he鈥檚 just one of one,鈥� Shields said. 鈥淚鈥檝e never, ever coached a player like her 鈥� and I don鈥檛 know that we ever will again. 鈥� I think Gaebe is maybe the most exciting player to ever play here, because when she gets the ball, it鈥檚 wild. 鈥� She鈥檚 just such a pure goal scorer 鈥� both in mind and body. 鈥�

鈥淎nd from a goal-scoring standpoint, she鈥檚 somebody who can dribble through (a defense). She can go 1 v. 3, 1 v. 4 and somehow find her way to goal. She just has a knack for finishing in a lot of different ways. And she runs about 20 miles per hour when she gets going. She鈥檚 the second-fastest player on the team. So, yeah, she鈥檚 something special to watch.鈥�

Shields explained that Gaebe is extremely well-liked by her teammates 鈥� 鈥渁 special human.鈥� And Shields said she鈥檒l forever remember the first time she saw Gaebe play.

The SLU coach was at the Lou Fusz Athletic Complex in Creve Coeur. A local club director said to check out this one player.

A seventh-grader.

鈥淗e goes, 鈥楾his one is something special. What do you think?鈥欌�� Shields said. 鈥淎nd I sat there, and nothing happened. Nothing happened. And then ...鈥�

Shields snapped her fingers.

鈥淪he scored two goals just like that.鈥�

Once Gaebe became official recruiting age, Shields began the process to nab this elite scorer of what Shields calls 鈥渂uckets of goals.鈥�

鈥淚 always liked soccer because my older sister played soccer,鈥� Gaebe said. 鈥淚 always wanted to be as good as her 鈥� so I always just pushed myself. 鈥� Through and through, I鈥檓 all about scoring goals. I just think it鈥檚 fun. Playing with your teammates, everybody鈥檚 celebrating. 鈥� I would say that our team pours into each other 鈥� everybody does their best to make your teammate look good.鈥�

How much is scoring on Gaebe鈥檚 mind? She literally even dreams about it.

鈥淢e and Julia Simon talk about this all the time,鈥� Gaebe said. 鈥淟ike, we literally have dreams about scoring goals. Like, 鈥業 assisted your goal. It was the coolest goal ever. We鈥檙e going do that tonight (in the game)!鈥� 鈥�

Gaebe is in SLU鈥檚 athletic training program, but she very well could make a roster in the National Women鈥檚 Soccer League. There鈥檚 currently one other Billiken in the league 鈥� Maddie Pokorny of the Louisville club.

In the short term, Gaebe鈥檚 focus is Sunday鈥檚 game and being able to play in front of family, friends and fans once more. The Billiken mascot likely will be there. The same, of course, can鈥檛 be said for Winston.

鈥淚 think I was a freshman in high school,鈥� Gaebe said of how her family acquired a pet cow. 鈥淪o we have a farm, 20 minutes away from my house, and my dad has cattle on it. One of the cows had a baby 鈥� and the mom couldn鈥檛 feed it. I guess sometimes cows can turn away. So my dad had to bring it home. My mom had to bottle-feed it, which led to her getting attached to it. So then he basically turned into, like, a dog for our family.

鈥淗e would just walk outside around our house 鈥� we live on seven acres. And when he was small enough, he would lay on our front porch. He was literally like a dog until he got too big. He would start trying to head-butt people 鈥� he was just playing around, but he was 1,000 pounds. So we had to fence him in, inside our backyard. He鈥檚 huge.鈥�