May 2, 2007 -- Sarah Anane's wait is over.

For three years, the senior was a role player on the Springfield High School girls soccer team. Now she is a go-to player.

"When you're playing with Haley Partridge, Caitlin Barrett and Teresa McDonell (all current Division I players) your time is going to come a little later," Springfield coach Bob Wharton said.

Now that Anane has been given the opportunity to take center stage, the 5-foot-4 midfielder is making the most of it. She has saved her best for her last year of high school, leading the Senators in scoring with 15 goals and five assists in 11 games.

In previous years, Anane scored between seven and nine goals all season.

"It's a testament to a kid that's having their best year their senior year," Wharton said. "I've always had a lot of respect for kids that do that. She's being a leader."

Anane is enjoying every minute of it.

"It's my last year, so I have to appreciate it," she said.

This spring is Anane's final go-round in soccer because she will attend Illinois after graduation and will not play soccer. It will be the first time since she was 4 that she hasn't played a sport.

In middle school, she competed in soccer, basketball, volleyball and track. When she entered high school, she chose to give up the other sports and specialize in soccer.

Soccer is the sport in Sarah's family.

Her father, Mohamed Anane, played professional soccer in his native Algeria, a North African country and former French colony that borders the Mediterranean Sea between Morocco and Tunisia. Her brother, Jason, also played at Springfield.

When Sarah was 10 years old, her family traveled to the 1998 World Cup in France. They're huge fans of Les Bleus, as the French national soccer team is known.

The Ananes stayed with relatives and attended a couple of games. They even had tickets to the championship match during which France won its first World Cup with a 3-0 upset of Brazil, but they didn't use them because Sarah's grandfather died and they flew to Algeria. One of the trip's highlights was getting to see her favorite player, former French captain and the 2006 World Cup's top player, Zinedine Zidane, who also is of Algerian descent.

"The streets were crowded with people," she said. "It was crazy the whole week."

Anane had her own highlight-reel moment in a 4-1 victory over Jacksonville in a Central State Eight Conference game on April 2. She bent a tricky left-footed shot from 20 yards out into the right corner of the Crimsons' net. The goal broke a 1-all tie with less than 14 minutes to go in the second half.

That reminded Wharton of Anane's goal in last season's 2-1 win over Glenview Glenbrook South.

"That game is where Sarah came to the next level," he said. "That was huge against a team like that."

Whether it's playing at the forward or midfield positions or playing with her left foot or right foot, Anane can do a little bit of everything for the Senators who, in a rebuilding year, had a 9-2 overall record through Monday. She is one of five seniors who are four-year varsity players.

She has taken sophomore midfielder Sarah Russell and junior forward Andrea Kroenlein under her wing.

"I want to lead the younger players and show them how they need to work," Anane said. "Andrea asks me for help sometimes. I help her because sometimes she plays my position. I don't think Andrea played soccer before high school, but she has really grown."

Her efforts aren't lost on the team or Wharton.

"Sarah is a good one-on-one player, and she discovered the defensive end of the field this year," he said. "Her work rate has just been unbelievable. In games she just hustles and hustles. It looks like she's exhausted and she just keeps going.

"Andrea reminds me a lot of Sarah. She plays hard every second she's out there. I think Sarah taught her that."