Freshman Sarah Warren is not just a defender who has recently become a starter on the backline for the Illinois soccer team. She is an accomplished speed skater who has lived a life of being a multisport athlete.

Growing up in Willowbrook, Ill., Warren’s first passion was ice hockey. She always wanted to play with the boys. When the boys began hitting, around 7 or 8 years old, Warren and her parents decided playing hockey was not in her future.

After a year away from the sport, she went to her brother’s hockey game and saw something she had never seen before: speedskating.

“I fell in love,” Warren said. “I tried it the next week, and it was one of those things you are so happy when you do it.”

Along with speed skating, Warren was successful in other sports at Hinsdale South High School. She set the track record for the fastest time in the 400 meters and was the team captain of her club soccer team, Academy United SC, which won the Illinois state championship in 2013.

Warren’s most notable success as a speedskater was at the Olympic trials in 2012, where she placed ninth in the 1,000 meters and eighth in the 500 meters at the age of 17. She fell just short of one of the eight spots to join Team USA in the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

After missing out on the 2014 team, Warren planned to improve herself to make the 2018 Olympic squad and go to college on a soccer scholarship.

“I really thought I was going to go D-III and do something not as serious,” Warren said. 

It wasn’t until Illinois associate head coach Jeff Freeman saw Warren play that he offered her a Division I scholarship. Warren knew she wanted to take on the challenge of playing a Division I sport while also trying to be an Olympic athlete.

Head coach Janet Rayfield knew Warren would bring a certain psychological attribute from her speedskating experience that would separate her from her teammates. Warren is used to operating on a congested rink, something that can carry over onto the soccer field. 

“You’re speed skating on a track with ice with people all around you,” Rayfield said about her aggressive play. “She’s not afraid to get around you. She’s not afraid to get in and get close contact.” 

Now in her freshman season, Warren finds herself in a starting spot on the back line after an injury to freshman Kara Marbury forced the team to move the lineup around. Rayfield felt Warren’s experience on the ice would help her fill a spot for the Illini’s tough back line. Warren has looked good for Illinois, mirroring her older counterparts like sophomore Hope D’Addario and junior Amy Feher with her strength and skill on possession.

With greater involvement on the Illinois soccer team, Warren has recently stopped skating in her free time.

“If I do play, I’m not going to be speedskating as much because I have a team relying on me,” Warren said.

Now having an emerging role for the Illini and a chance to make Team USA for speedskating at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, there is the question of which sport Warren will choose going forward.

“They are both equal in my head,” she said. “I am going to do both until I can’t do both — that has always been my answer. If there ever comes a time that I can’t skate because it’s hurting soccer, then a decision has to be made, but right now, they’re both working out. It’s like choosing between two children, you can’t do it.”

Masaki Sugimoto can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @MasakiSugimoto.