Shaker Heights High School’s Noa Hollander was already due to take on an important leadership role as she entered her senior season as a member of the girls’ soccer team, but that duty only intensified when several of her senior teammates went down with injury.

“There’s been a few times that I’m the only senior left, and that definitely pushed me into a position where people look up to me,” Hollander told the Cleveland Jewish News. “I help get them organized before the coach talks and make sure they are not doing anything silly to get injured. I make sure they’re on time to practice. I’ll send reminder texts to each player or our group chat – and respect the coach, telling them it’s time to be quiet when he is talking.”

And Hollander isn’t just a strong leader, she’s a force to be reckoned with on the field as well.

Through 17 games, she has scored seven goals and added eight assists, bringing her point total to 22.

For her stellar performance, Hollander is the Cleveland Jewish News-Les Levine High School Player of the Week.

Coming off a steady junior campaign, Hollander focused on little aspects of the game that sometimes go unforgotten – such as hydration – to help improve herself.

“I drink so much water, and I make sure that the team is hydrated because that’s an area where we needed to work on from last year,” she said. “For me, having a routine on game day of drinking a lot of water helped me. I make sure to really remember our plays and passing patterns we walk through in practice to translate them into games. Doing those on repeat has really helped ingrain them in my brain, so I know what to do with the ball.”

The senior noted that repetition at practice has helped Shaker Heights be cohesive as a whole, and the Red Raiders got to work on improving as a squad well before the season started.

“This summer we had morning practices, which is different from last year, and it helped us a lot because we got straight to work in the morning with no distractions before soccer,” she said. “It also wasn’t super hot out. And that schedule brought us closer as a team because after practice we could go get brunch or Starbucks. It was a difficult change from having off days last year in the summer, but it worked us really hard and made us a lot more conditioned than before.”

The attacking midfielder credited her teammates’ great passing abilities with allowing her to score goals, and she said she tries to return the favor.

“I’ve had a lot more space and time on the ball, so it’s made me more comfortable on the field and helped me know when to pass and when to shoot,” Hollander said. “I try to be as selfless as I can and not shoot as much, but my teammates have helped me score a lot because of their great assists. We’re more creative as a team this year, and we have more options with each player gelling together nicely.”

The Red Raiders finished the regular season 6-10-1 and were set to face Wooster (7-10) on Oct. 22 in the opening round of the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division II sectional tournament.

“After each game, our coach says, ‘Any thoughts?’ and allows us to speak, and a lot of times we have players saying that we never give up,” Hollander said. “Each person recognizes that Shaker Heights doesn’t give up, and we don’t let teams walk all over us. We have three practices before our playoff game, and we’re going to watch film and study. Hopefully, all of our hard work pays off and gets us into the next round.”

Upon graduation from high school, Hollander said she is undecided on a college but would love to keep playing soccer, but won’t let it dictate where she goes.

“I would love to continue, though, possibly with a club,” she said.