The game of soccer has already taken Jack Illig across the world and back again on two occasions, yet none of it was quite as meaningful as coming back home to play for Phoenixville.
Due to other opportunities on the pitch, the Phantoms’ superstar scoring machine only played two seasons of high school soccer, though they were particularly impactful in his development as a player, teammate and leader.
After two full seasons away following a dynamite freshman campaign, Illig returned for his senior season last fall to score 30 goals and dish out 12 assists, in the process leading Phoenixville to an 18-4 record and its first PAC championship since 2017. He even scored the only goal in the league title game against top-seeded Owen J. Roberts on the Wildcats’ home field in a full-circle moment that afforded the rare instance of a PAC Frontier program claiming a league crown.
The cherry on top for Illig was getting to share the field with his younger brother, Andrew, who enjoyed an 11-goal, 9-assist freshman season. Jack Illig, who will continue his soccer career in the fall at the United States Naval Academy, was the overwhelming choice for the Mercury’s Boys Soccer Player of the Year.
“Me coming back to be able to play with my brother was kind of a no-brainer, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me,” Jack said. “Doing it at the high school where I started as a freshman before coming back a few years later was really cool to be part of. Going into the season with the group of guys who all shared the same goal, we put our heads together and every player on the team helped get us to where we went. My role in that was to come back and just be the best leader I could on and off the field.”
Illig was born in East Pikeland Township and spent the first several years of his life in the area before his mother’s career took the family to Bern, Switzerland midway through Jack’s first-grade year. He attended a Swiss international school and really began learning the game of soccer – er, football – while living in Europe for several years before the family returned to the Phoenixville area while Jack was in middle school.
“It was amazing for my brother and I to grow up there – all the friends we got to meet and getting to experience Swiss culture,” Jack said. “I learned German words and phrases, soccer words that I had to pick up on my own. I was loving playing soccer and thought I was doing well for an American kid. It was very good competition.”
Even so, Illig was excited to return home after four or five years to be around the family and friends he left behind. He enrolled at Phoenixville Middle School and played club soccer at West-Mont leading up to his high school years. Illig came off the bench to begin his freshman season with the Phantoms, but it was quickly clear he was not your typical ninth-grader. He scored 17 goals during the 2022 season and was accepted with open arms by the program’s 17 seniors, carving out a major role for a Phoenixville team that advanced to the district championship as well as the state semifinals.
Jack Illig scored 47 goals in his two seasons playing for Phoenixville High School, including 17 as a freshman. (Photo by Joe Evans/JoeEvansPictures.com)
Illig had arrived, although as Phantoms head coach Mike Cesarski quipped, “I knew I had something, but I had the sneaking suspicion that I wouldn’t for very long.” That’s because others took notice of Illig’s scoring prowess at such a young age, and in Aug. 2023 he again headed to play overseas, this time without his family for a semester with Hertha Berlin, a German club that plays in the second tier of the Bundesliga.
“I wanted to go see what I could do,” Illig said. “Knowing I had lived overseas before, it made me a lot more comfortable. German soccer is very physical and fast, and with more practice and games, I knew I could do it. There wasn’t a game where I felt I couldn’t make an impact or that I shouldn’t be there. It was hard being away from my family and I struggled with homesickness, but I wouldn’t have traded the experience. It was going to help me for my future.”
When Illig returned to the U.S. for the second time, his next opportunity came with the Philadelphia Union Academy, where he still plays to this day. The Union Academy encompasses the U13 to U18 age groups – Illig started with the U16 club – and offers professional and collegiate pathways for players looking to take the next step in their soccer development.
According to the academy’s website, 50 Union Academy players have signed professional contracts, with about a quarter of its attendees matriculating to play at “highly selective universities.” The academy has also produced U.S. Olympians and players with the United States Men’s National Team. It’s a prestigious academy, one of the finest of its kind in the nation – the type of place that only accepts serious soccer players who have a clear future in the sport.
Even so, after missing his sophomore and junior seasons at Phoenixville, Illig was itching for one last run as a senior. Thankfully, the Union Academy allowed him the opportunity to play for his high school with his younger brother and best friends, resulting in a storybook season for the program that came to an end in the second round of districts against the same OJR squad that the Phantoms had knocked off in the PAC championship.
Illig took everything he had learned in Switzerland, Germany and at the Union Academy to make him the 30-goal player he became this past season. Cesarski is still blown away by Illig’s ability to anticipate on the field, stating that his soccer IQ is like “a Harvard PhD.”
“He’s the most talented player I’ve ever coached,” Cesarski said. “I see him scanning the field and I can tell the calculus he’s doing in his head – ‘This is the next touch I’m going to make. This is the next pass I’m going to make. This is where the next three defenders are coming at me from, so now I have to dribble these three ways.’
“I don’t even know if he realizes he’s doing it in the moment, but that level of player is such a rare thing. He knows when the ball hits his foot the touches he needs to make, the passes he needs to make and the spaces he needs to exploit. It’s a hard thing to develop and he has it in spades. And he’s such a great person to be around. It’s easier to coach when your best players are also your best people.”
Jack Illig has played soccer in Switzerland and Germany as well as for the Philadelphia Union Academy and will continue his career in the fall at the United States Naval Academy. (Photo by Joe Evans/JoeEvansPictures.com)
“A lot of it is instinctual,” Illig added. “Learning to play in Switzerland and Germany, those experiences shaped me into the player I am. Making the decisions of when to be adaptive, when to go, when to stay, what pass to make – the mental side of the game is not necessarily about the next pass I’m going to make, but more what the other person is going to do next.”
As for the decision to attend Navy, Illig said he was drawn to the idea of a program that offers a service element that is about something more than just soccer or himself. On his official visit, he stayed with Phoenixville soccer alum Nate Stewart, who was a senior when Illig was a freshman.
“The place is so prestigious that it was kind of a no-brainer,” Illig said. “I’m honored to have the opportunity to go to Navy where I can be myself for the next four years. If the opportunity comes to play professional soccer then that would be my goal, but if it doesn’t I can go into the service and feel good about myself being a part of something amazing and bigger than soccer.”
Until then, Illig will continue playing with the Union Academy every morning, with games on the weekend. He’s getting high-level training while mentally preparing himself for the Naval Academy. It’s clear that soccer is not finished taking Illig to fascinating places near and far, but he would not have traded the two seasons he got to play at Phoenixville for anything.
“Coming back to be that leader and mentor was an amazing opportunity, and playing with my brother is a memory I’ll cherish forever,” he said. “My family got to watch us play on the same field together, and I’m leaving on a high note. We’ll always have that trophy and banner in the school as well as the memories of always being able to feel accomplished about that season.”
2025 MERCURY ALL-AREA BOYS SOCCER TEAMS
FIRST TEAM
Brayden D’Aiello, Boyertown; James Orcutt, Methacton; Steve Ruiz, Norristown; Alexis Zurita, Norristown; Ishmael Kromah, Norristown; Grayson Allen, Owen J. Roberts; Jimmy Faust, Owen J. Roberts; Michael McCormick, Owen J. Roberts; Oliver Purtle, Owen J. Roberts; Owen Baker, Perkiomen Valley; Jacob Geddes, Perkiomen Valley; Jackson Armstrong, Phoenixville; Andrew Illig, Phoenixville; Jack Illig, Phoenixville (Player of the Year); Chris Harth, Phoenixville; Simon Lange, Phoenixville; Ryan O’Neil, Phoenixville; Ben Resnick, Spring-Ford
SECOND TEAM
Mason Cavalaro, Boyertown; Carter Friend, Boyertown; Joey Goddard, Boyertown; Pat Callahan, Methacton; Cole Webb, Methacton; Angel Robles, Norristown; Luis Zavala, Norristown; Ryan D’Angelo, Owen J. Roberts; Pat Pomager, Owen J. Roberts; Zach Przemieniecki, Owen J. Roberts; James Pudleiner, Owen J. Roberts; Luke Whipple, Perkiomen Valley; Ryan Jacobson, Phoenixville; Gordon Dicandilo, Phoenixville; Jack Nixon, Phoenixville; Cole Jordan, Pope John Paul II; Cooper Love, Pope John Paul II; Miles Cap, Spring-Ford; Lucas Morris, Spring-Ford; Tanner Heckman, Upper Perkiomen; River Lahr, Upper Perkiomen; Anthony Macedo, Upper Perkiomen
HONORABLE MENTION
Paul Okolie, Boyertown; Brayden Vogels, Boyertown; Jack Willson, Boyertown; Sean Harris, Methacton; Lucas Rundle, Methacton; Nolan Keeley, Perkiomen Valley; Jay Koch, Perkiomen Valley; Christian Rodriguez, Pope John Paul II; Myron Shaffer, Pope John Paul II; Zach Waters, Pottstown; Logan Henzes, Pottsgrove; Nico Boyer, Pottsgrove; Cole Englerman, Pottsgrove; Sinaly Sidibe, Pottsgrove; Kieran Lamey, Upper Merion; Jared Pio, Upper Merion; Sean Rogers, Upper Merion; Samuel Wilson, Upper Merion; Parker Marino, Upper Perkiomen