There’s something about having a soccer ball at her feet that gives former Lady Hub standout Abbey Marquez a sense of clarity.

A four-year soccer player at Rochelle Township High School, Marquez had no doubt in her mind she would play the game she loved at the next level. That dream became a reality her senior year, when she received a scholarship offer to attend Lincoln College and compete for its women’s soccer team.

“I fell in love with the campus as soon as I got there,” said Marquez, who has played soccer since she was 10 years old. “Lincoln is a small town like Rochelle so it’s not much different… I was the first to get a soccer scholarship and go away in my family, and my parents are really proud of that.”

Her new environment may have felt like home, but Marquez faced a flurry of challenges during her first season with the Lynx. After playing with many of the same girls for four years at RTHS, Marquez had just a few weeks of practice to learn about her new teammates.

And when she took the field for her first college game, Marquez admitted the atmosphere was much more daunting than she imagined it would be.

“I was so nervous,” she said. “I had complete confidence in myself because I had been playing for so long and I thought I knew what I was doing. As soon as the game started, everything was so different. The game was much more intense and fast-paced… In high school you know how all your teammates play so it’s easier to read them. Going to college… That was very difficult for me, learning how to play with other players and figuring out how they play so I can adjust how I play.”

Marquez managed to shake off the early challenges, and she went on to play two years of soccer for the Lynx as the team’s center back. Leaning on her high school conditioning under former RTHS head coach Keith Lamb, Marquez caught up to the speed of the college game, and her experience improved as she logged more minutes for Lincoln College.

“Coach Lamb kept us in great condition,” she said. “In college you only have two weeks to get that conditioning in, and it wears you down as a player, but it made me realize how much I love playing… We made such an improvement from my first year to my second year, and it was amazing being a part of such a new program and helping it become better.”

Marquez recently earned her associate’s degree from Lincoln College, and she said she is continuing her education at Sauk Valley Community College in Dixon, where she plans to study radiology. Her soccer career may be over, but with two younger siblings involved in the sport including her brother Luis, who she said is joining the men’s soccer program at Rock Valley College, Marquez will no longer be alone as the only family member to excel at the college level.

“It runs in our family,” she said. “Luis started playing before me, and our baby brother [Carlos] plays too… Soccer has been very important to me. It’s been my stress reliever, and if it hadn’t been for soccer, who knows what we would be up to.”