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Sara DiMaria heard the glass shattering.

The mother of four outstanding soccer-playing siblings, two boys and two girls, took an educated guess at the responsible party.

"I figured it was probably Maddie," Sara said.

The 2-on-2 boys vs. girls family match in the upstairs loft at their south Ó£ÌÒÊÓƵ home during the Christmas holiday of 2020 turned a little aggressive.

To this day, Maddie, Ana, Jack and Tommy have all pled not guilty. The secret will stay that way for eternity.

"An accident," Maddie said.

Yet one thing is certain.

Maddie, now 16 years old, has developed into one of the top female high school players to ever lace up the boots in this soccer-crazed community.

DiMaria recently helped Cor Jesu Academy to its second successive state championship with an out-of-this-world performance during the Class 4 tournament June 6-7 at Soccer Park. 

The 5-foot-7-inch forward used her blinding speed to score six times, including four goals in a 7-0 semifinal win over Nixa. The next day, she scored twice in the first 20 minutes to help the Chargers to a 4-0 triumph over St. Dominic — a seven-time state champion.

Her penalty-kick goal just 59 seconds into the championship match set the tone for the entire contest. The high-intensity match was viewed by approximately 2,500 fans, believed to be one of the largest to ever take in the girls final at the Fenton facility.

A good majority of those fans came out to see DiMaria, the All-Metro girls soccer player of the year.

She is that good.

She is that mesmerizing.

Little girls screamed her name every time she touched the ball. Old-time soccer coaches and aficionados shook their heads in the disbelief after she made one scintillating run after another.

That crunch-time performance capped a 45-goal campaign that included 11-game winners.

Last year, DiMaria was the first freshman to be named Gatorade national girls soccer player of the year and the first Ó£ÌÒÊÓƵ area soccer player to earn the national award — girls or boys.

Most importantly, despite her high skill level, DiMaria has made playing high school soccer a priority.

In an age when most wunderkinds eschew high school soccer, DiMaria said she is "almost certain" to return to the Chargers' roster next spring.

"I really want to go 3-for-3 (in state titles)," DiMaria said. "And then 4-for-4."

Those family contests have helped mold Maddie into the type of player she has become. Ana is playing at the University of Missouri after a strong career at Cor Jesu. Jack was a standout at Ó£ÌÒÊÓƵ University High and will join Ó£ÌÒÊÓƵ University in the fall. Tommy will be an incoming freshman at SLUH.

Sara DiMaria, as Sara Wingbermuehle, helped Cor Jesu finish second in the state in 1993 before going on to a successful career at the University of Loyola-Chicago.

Jeff, father of the brood, played professionally for Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer as well as the Ó£ÌÒÊÓƵ Steamers. He attended Ó£ÌÒÊÓƵ University.

Maddie's three other siblings have played a key role in her development.

"We used to have some pretty competitive games," Maddie said. "It was always girls vs. boys with a lot of elbows. But we won our share."

Cor Jesu senior Emma Shields has known Maddie since the two were toddlers. Shields and her brother used to join those family battles, turning them into 3-on-3 affairs.

"As she was growing up, even when she was real little, she was always the hardest worker on the team," Shields said. "That's what set her apart from all the other players."

DiMaria gives credit to her five family members for their unwavering support.

Jeff is big on hands-on instruction and helped Maddie develop into a threat with both feet.

But her main lessons came during those sibling battles, where her older brother and sister toughened her up for the road ahead.

"When I was little I'd get upset because they'd push me around and we never called fouls or anything like that," Maddie said. "But looking back at it, it's those things that they did were to help me become better."

DiMaria turned heads since an early age. She has played soccer in five different countries and was on the United States Under-16 development team during a friendly in Barcelona, Spain, in mid-April.

A straight-A student, DiMaria is well-spoken and takes her responsibility as the face of area soccer seriously.

She stayed for 35 minutes after the state championship match, signing every autograph and posing for each picture until every one of her fans was satisfied.

That mantra was hatched by Sara, who is just as pleased with her daughter's actions off the pitch as she is of her on-field skills.

"A phrase we say in our household all the time is if in the end you're not a good person, then we, as parents, failed," Sara said. "It's important for all of our children to grow up and be good people."

Maddie, who scored 30 goals as a freshman, has her share of hobbies that don't include soccer.

She is a master baker with chocolate chip cookies as her favorite.

"Hers are better than mine," Sara said.

DiMaria is also a neat freak.

"There isn't one thing out of place in her room," Shields said. "So organized, a place for everything."

In fact, DiMaria's life is fully organized. She has a day planner on her phone that reads like that of a company CEO with every hour accounted for in advance.

Sara said DiMaria was relatively calm as a child and had a penchant for doing her own thing. At age 5, Maddie slipped away from the family during a trip to Shell Beach, Florida.

"There was panic," Sara recalled. "Then, we found her down the beach all by herself trying to bury herself in the sand."

DiMaria could not hide now even if she wanted to do so.

She is in demand before and after matches while her on-pitch performances are must-see theatre.

"Maddie has been given a world of talent," Cor Jesu coach Rachel Brcic said. "But she continues to work to get better. That's why there is no ceiling on what she can do or how good she can become."

DiMaria is close to her circle of friends and even plays on the basketball team, averaging 5.9 points and 3.8 rebounds for the squad, which finished fourth in the state this past season. It is that loyalty that keeps her coming back to perform on the high school level in both sports.

"If you can't have fun playing soccer or basketball with your friends, then when can you have fun?" DiMaria said. "We're all serious about our sports, but it's still got to be something you enjoy or it doesn't make sense to keep on doing it."

DiMaria is prepared for the onslaught of colleges that will be clamoring for her services over the next few years.

She is set on going to college rather than jumping right into the professional ranks in the United States or overseas.

"I just enjoying being with my friends and people who like to see me play," DiMaria said. "Providing joy is important to me."