Crown Point senior forward Addy Sabau’s turnaround this season wasn’t a matter of talent.
A sentence in the first chapter of W. Timothy Gallwey’s “The Inner Game of Tennis” summed up Sabau’s junior season.
“I’m my own worst enemy; I usually beat myself.”
Crown Point coach Dave Bock even benched her at times.
“I was kind of a head case,” Sabau said. “I was not tough mentally. When I would make a mistake, I would get down on myself, and then Dave would pull me out because I wasn’t performing to expectations.
“That was definitely something I had to overcome — the mental part of the game.”
So Bock gave her Gallwey’s book during the offseason.
“This summer, he said, ‘Look, you’ve got to step it up. You’re possibly going to be a captain,’” Sabau said. “He even gave me this book to read about mental health and overcoming obstacles in sports, and it definitely helped me.
“It honestly wasn’t my physical capabilities in soccer. It was purely the mental part. I just needed to get in the right headspace. So I locked in over the summer, got mentally tough, became captain, and then, I don’t know, the season just happened, and I was good.”
“Good” might be underselling it. Sabau, the 2025 Post-Tribune Girls Soccer Player of the Year, racked up 21 goals and 11 assists, both team highs, in her senior season to lead the Bulldogs (18-3, 7-0) to the Duneland Athletic Conference title and a Class 3A regional championship.
Sabau even capped her high school career with a goal in her final game, Crown Point’s 5-1 loss to Hamilton Southeastern in the semistate final.
“It really feels like a completed journey for her to end it the way she did,” Bock said. “It was perfect, even in the loss, that she was able to score in the last game of her high school career after the impact she had her senior year in the regular season and especially in the postseason.”
Sabau scored six goals in five postseason games, including a hat trick against Lake Central in the sectional final, which Bock called the highlight of a season full of them. She was named the conference MVP, was selected to the all-district first team and became Crown Point’s first all-state first-team pick since 2012.
Crown Point senior forward Hannah Pesich said Sabau, who had just seven goals and six assists as a junior, took her game to another level.
“Oh my gosh, she was like a completely new player,” Pesich said. “Freshman and sophomore year, she was so confident and fully believed in herself. She had so much fun playing. Then in junior year, she struggled — I think because we had so many great attackers and it was hard to find a spot for her.
“But coming into summer, she was ready, her confidence was back and she just played insane. I’m just happy for her and how she played this season. She deserves all of it and more.”
Pesich, an Indiana University Northwest commit, has played soccer with Sabau since they were 11 years old. She said the dynamic duo that opponents were tasked with stopping this season was the product of that experience.
“She’s one of my best friends,” Pesich said. “Playing with her since we were little really helped us grow together and build our connection on and off the field. She’s just such a fun person to talk to and be around. Who wouldn’t want to be friends with Addy, honestly?”
Sabau said she’ll likely join a club team in college and is “excited for a new chapter of life.”
“She has so many things to look forward to in her life that I know she’s excited about, and I’m excited for her,” Bock said.
Sabau looks back fondly too.
“I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Sabau said. “This season was obviously the best of the four. But at the end of the day, it was all great, and it’s definitely going to be a highlight of my life, being on this team with these players and these coaches.”
Noah Poser is a freelance reporter.
