Gramke plays with confidence, comes through with clutch goal in QND’s title pursuit

NAPERVILLE, Ill. — Sophie Gramke never figured out why.

So she concentrated on the how.

How does she get better? How does she regain her knack for scoring? How does she find the spark that seemed to be missing?

The rest of the Quincy Notre Dame girls soccer players showed her how Friday night.

“Coming in, working off of a bad season, I still had my teammates there,” Gramke said. “All of my teammates were making me excited on the bench and hyping me up. Having them believing in me was a big factor. When I came in, I was confident.”

Confidence is the key to success.

A little more than 13 minutes into the Class 1A state semifinal matchup with Normal U-High at North Central College’s Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium, Gramke collected a ball on the left wing, drove at the near post and used her left foot to place a shot in the upper left corner of the net.

That goal was the only one the Raiders could muster, but it was enough for a 1-0 victory and a spot in the state championship game against Richmond-Burton at 5 p.m. Saturday.

“Amazing,” Gramke said. “It’s a great feeling, for sure.”

So is contributing.

A season ago, as a sophomore forward on a team that finished fourth at the state tournament, Gramke was third on the team with 14 goals. This season, she had one goal and two assists prior to Friday.

“I definitely lost myself and lost how I play,” Gramke said. “Last year, I had an amazing season. This year, I came in and I was playing awful. I didn’t know what was up.”

She admitted it was mentally taxing, but she put the past behind her during the run to the state tournament.

“I was more mentally focused for this game and I wanted it more than usual,” Gramke said. “I was going to work as hard as I possibly could.”

It resulted in a goal and a moment she will never forget.

“That felt great,” Gramke said.