Really competitive.
If it was a game, the sophomore midfielder said she wanted to win it. If someone told her she couldn’t do something, she’d aim to prove them wrong.
In elementary school, she was sitting around the pool with her grandfather at a family condo in Florida.
Her grandfather told the young Ellis that she couldn’t stand on an inflatable raft in the middle of the pool for 10 seconds.
“It would be too hard,” he told his granddaughter.
Challenge accepted.
“I stood there from probably 11 o’clock in the morning until 4:30 p.m. when everyone had left the pool until I got it,” Ellis said. “I guess I’ve always been that way.”
In 27 games, Ellis has become a consistent rotational player for an IU team that advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season thanks to a game-winning goal off Ellis’ foot against DePaul.
With the Big Ten season starting this weekend and competition ramping up, Ellis is going to be once again called upon by IU Coach Amy Berbary throughout the season for clutch goals like the one against DePaul.
“She’s just very outgoing and always wants to be around the team,” sophomore defender and friend Ari Kowalski said. “She’s very determined in everything that she does and doesn’t give in.”
***
Ellis — more affectionately called “Vee” by friends — is a self-described perfectionist.
Growing up, she said she didn’t just want to be good at things. She wanted to be the best.
As a kid, Ellis played on a park district team that her friend’s father coached. Her friend — who had been working with her dad — was better at dribbling than the other kids on the youth league team.
Ellis wouldn’t have that.
“Mom, teach me to dribble,” she almost instantly told her mother.
“It’s just sort of a ridiculous thing,” Ellis said, laughing at her 7-year-old self. “I don’t know why. I just always wanted to be better.”
Ellis’ drive to be perfect helped her quickly climb through the ranks of youth soccer leagues.
In high school in Naperville, Ill., Ellis was a soccer standout. She quickly caught the attention of IU’s coaches at a recruiting camp in Bloomington during her sophomore year of high school.
She said that camp put her on the IU radar.
Big Ten soccer was a dream league. Indiana was the dream location.
But Ellis had a setback.
She tore her ACL in July before her junior year.
“That was one of my toughest times,” Ellis said. “I knew then that not everything was going to be perfect.”
“To be honest with you, I thought I was done,” Ellis said.
Ellis tore her ACL playing in an Olympic Development Program match in July 2011.
She was sandwiched ?between two opposing players. There was hardly any contact. Ellis said she didn’t even feel much pain.
Kowalski was there. The incident wasn’t violent, just a soccer play that would have happened hundreds of times on the field that day.
“Everyone was like, ‘come on, get up,’” she said. “We didn’t even think she was hurt.”
But Ellis had heard the pop as she went down to the ground. She said she knew something was wrong.
First, medical trainers said nothing was wrong with her.
Then it was sprained.
Then it was partially torn.
“It just kind of kept spiraling until finally, it was a full tear,” Ellis said.
The tear came at one of the worst possible times for Ellis, who was in the midst of a heavy recruiting period.
She thought the injury would turn prospective coaching staffs away.
An ACL injury for a midfielder is a significant red flag. Ellis wasn’t even sure she’d be able to make a full recovery.
“I told my mom I didn’t think I had a shot anymore.” she said.
After a month of physical therapy to reduce swelling enough to operate, Ellis had surgery Aug. 4, 2011.
Her patellar tendon was used to repair her ACL, and she immediately began recovering in physical therapy.
She trained alongside a 30-year-old patient who was also recovering from an ACL injury.
Ellis, still competitive as always, would test herself against her new friend. The two would push each other to do more in the workout ?facilities.
Throughout the entire recovery process, IU stayed behind Ellis. On Dec. 7, just five months after tearing her ACL, Ellis was medically cleared to play again.
And just as she was cleared, Ellis committed to IU.
***
As a reserve, Ellis doesn’t get the chance to score many goals.
But when she does, she has a knack for scoring them when the stakes are high.
Ellis has four goals in 28 appearances as a Hoosier. All four have been game winners.
“Vee’s a winner,” Berbary said. “She’s very competitive, and when she gets her chances, she makes the most of them.”
Berbary said Ellis has one of the toughest roles on the team.
As a reserve, Ellis’ time is never set in stone. When Berbary needs to make a lineup change, she goes to Ellis.
“It’s one of the hardest things as a collegiate athlete to be able to capitalize as a substitute,” Berbary said. “But nine times out of ten, Vee is going to go in and do that for us.”
***
Ellis admits her confidence wasn’t quite where it needed to be in the early stages of the season.
“This year, I was kind of unsure of how I was playing ... unsure how I was doing,” Ellis said. “But I know I’ve got to take any chance I can get. You’ve got to step up if you’re called upon.”
With the Big Ten season set to begin against Ohio State at 7 p.m. Friday at Armstrong Stadium, Ellis could once again be called on with the game on the line.
She’ll warm up the way she always does, waiting for Berbary to call her number.
It’s an imperfect formula for a player who calls herself a perfectionist.
The competitive midfielder who can’t stand losing needs to wait for her chance to help her team win.
Right before Ellis takes the field, Berbary will give her a quick instruction. Never long. It’s usually only a short phrase like “go hard,” or “win the next ball.”
“She’s got a ton of potential,” Berbary said. “She’s got all the leadership qualities, an infectious personality. People look up to her, and we look to her for big plays.
“She’s very humble. She works tirelessly to get that playing time and never expects anything to be given to her. When she gets into the game, she makes the most ?of it.”
