The season ended for the Winona High
School girls soccer team with a 1-0 loss to Kasson-Mantorville on Oct. 14 in
the Class 2A Section 1 semifinals. It was a very good season, too; the Winhawks
finished with a record of 12-4-2.
There were lots of highlights, with one of
them coming when four members of the same family were in the starting lineup
for a home game against Faribault in early October.
Grace Quinn is a senior, Faith is a sophomore
(who was named All-State this fall), Hope is in ninth grade and Reagan is a
seventh-grader. The youngest kids are Ireland (fourth grade) and Lincoln (second
grade). Their dad, Jason, is an assistant coach on the Winhawks soccer team,
working with head coach Katie Pearce.
“I was super pumped, I was really excited,”
Grace said about the one-time sisters-in-the-starting-lineup game when I sat
down with the Quinns earlier this week.
The four sisters were announced in birth order,
youngest to oldest. Reagan was the first of them announced to the crowd, and
she wasn’t quite sure what to do.
“I was excited but when I ran onto the
field I didn’t know where to stand,” Reagan said. “I went up to Hope and said, ‘What
do we do?’ ”
That night was lots of fun, and the soccer
season as a whole has been a blessing for the Quinn kids and Jason. Their
mother/wife, Dr. Laurel Quinn, was 44
when she passed away on July 14.
Laurel, a St. Cloud Tech graduate who was
an ophthalmologist, had fought acute myeloid
leukemia for years. The disease was diagnosed when she was
pregnant with Lincoln. She had several rounds of chemotherapy, underwent a
stem-cell transplant and other therapies. There was a period of two years when
she was in good health, but the disease returned.
“I think it was great to get back to normal
after everything,” Grace said of the soccer season. “It was my sixth year in high
school soccer, dad’s been coaching for five years. It is kind of normal, along
with school starting. Mom loved soccer, she was always there to watch.”
Faith said, “I thought the season was a
lot of fun. We’ve been a young team and this year really reflected how far
we’ve grown and improved and how much we want for next year.”
Laurel was a high-level athlete in her own
right, competing in swimming, gymnastics and track and field in high school. While
attending the University of Minnesota – where she earned undergraduate and medical
degrees – she used her gymnastics skills to become a member of the Gophers
cheer team for football and basketball, as well was a cheer team member with
the Timberwolves.
Jason and Laurel knew each other in high
school at Tech. He attended St. Cloud State and played soccer for the Huskies.
The Quinn kids stay busy with school,
band, soccer, basketball and other activities. They compete in triathlons in
the summer.
Grace hasn’t made a college decision but
is thinking about taking biology or a similar pre-med track and becoming a
surgeon. The University of Minnesota is on her list, “just like mom,” she said.
“I think that would be cool to follow in her footsteps.”
The Quinns have received support from
their family and friends, along with teammates and patients who were treated by
Laurel.
“A bunch of basketball teammates came to
the wake, a bunch of teachers, too,” said Grace. “And a lot of people I didn’t
recognize. They said, ‘Your mom operated on me.’ ”
“There were a lot of hugs,” said Faith. “We
didn’t know all of those people but they still came.”
Captain’s practices took place in July and
summer soccer camp was held later that month. The Quinns and some of their
friends participated in or watched games at the USA Cup in Blaine that same month.
“At one game, it seemed like mom’s whole side
of the family was there,” Reagan said.
“We decided we didn’t want to sit home and
cry,” said Hope. “We wanted to get back into things.”
“Mom would have wanted us to play soccer,”
Grace said.
--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of
Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn
and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts.
Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org
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