Girls Soccer: Lockport’s Elkei named Coach of the Year

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Herald-News 2011 Girls Soccer Coach of the Year Todd Elkei, of Lockport. | Matthew Grotto~Sun-Times Media

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Updated: October 29, 2011 12:39AM

You won’t find any history of the Lockport girls soccer program anywhere.

That’s because there hasn’t been much to write about.

That will change if Herald-News 2011 Girls Soccer Coach of the Year Todd Elkei has his way.

“We don’t want to be a good program, we want to be the best,” Elkei said after his first year with the Porters. “We’re going to keep working hard to get there. It’s not a one-year fix. It takes a long time to establish that.”

“Established” is a good adjective to describe Elkei.

“Experienced” and “winner” also come to mind.

He has coached more than 550 boys and girls high school soccer games in Illinois. He coached at Crete-Monee and Homewood-Flossmoor before coming to Lockport.

“Coming over from Homewood-Flossmoor, I knew Lockport had the talent,” said Elkei, who has a career boys and girls coaching record of 343-202-9. “It’s about getting everybody pointed in the right direction and on the same page. We’re getting there. We’re really excited about the future at Lockport.”

It started with a respectable 13-6 season this year, which has created a buzz throughout the community. Lockport went 12-11 in 2010 and 7-10-3 in ’09.

“We want to create an excitement and love for soccer in our community,” Elkei said. “We want younger kids to get excited so they can’t wait to play high school soccer. If you create that atmosphere, that’s huge.”

Among the signature victories during the 2011 season were a 2-1 win over regional champion Naperville Central and a 2-0 shutout of sectional finalist Lincoln-Way Central. Lockport was outscored 10-0 in 2010 contests against those two.

“When we were playing Naperville Central, we were down 1-0,” Elkei said. “In the past, they would lose 8-0. But we kept battling and working hard and we ended up beating them 2-1. Those are little strides the kids made and they were very excited about what they did. That generates excitement and that resonates throughout the program.”

Lockport last brought home a regional championship in 2000. And Elkei was the third coach in four years heading into the 2011 campaign.

“Any time there is change, it’s hard at first,” Elkei said. “We put in a different system and that’s been an adjustment. We’re consistent with what we do and what we expect from the kids. They are hard-working kids who are smart players. They listen and they are committed to winning. They are going to keep working hard in the weight room and in the offseason.”

Although it was his first season, Elkei established some expectations of the Porters right from the start.

“One of the main things was establishing high expectations and a high commitment level,” Elkei said. “Instead of trying to be a good team in the conference, we want to contend for the conference championship every year. We want to be one of the top teams in the state. We had to change that mentality.”

If that was going to change, it had to start with each individual.

Among them was junior Lexi Cozzi, a Herald-News All-Area player.

“She’s a perfect example of what we’re talking about,” Elkei said. “When I first started talking to her, she thought she was a Division III player who might want to play in college. We started calling some Division I coaches and now she’s getting some looks from those programs. Going from thinking you can play at that level to knowing you can is a change in mentality.”

Cozzi had 14 goals and seven assists this year to earn a spot on the Illinois High School Soccer Coaches Association All-State team.

“We’re excited about the future here,” Elkei said. “The commitment level of the kids has been great and they really bought into what we’re trying to do.”