Kaitlin Knetzke is a freak on the soccer field, and in her senior year, she’s returning to the net after taking three years off.
“Coach told me it would benefit the team most if I played defense, and I was like, okay, I’ll do it,” said Knetzke.
After dabbling in another position, Kaitlin was named an All-State defender the last two years.
“She may be the best athlete we’ve ever had,” said head coach Ben Timson, who’s the first and only coach Catholic has had in 22 years.
“She’s a big impact on our season, without her I don’t know where we would be,” said teammate Kaleia Huttenlocher.
Because even back in her natural role, Kaitlin is still called upon in any position.
“Against Cassville we were struggling to score, so we put her in at forward and she scored the only goal of the game. When she scored we moved her back into the goal,” Timson said.
“I’ve seen coaches go, what are they doing? because you don’t normally see goalies go past half to kick a free kick. That’s not normal,” said Huttenlocher.
She’s got a leg, just like her classmate Logan Brock, soccer player – turned kicker for the Irish football team.
“No we’ve never had a kick off. I was out here practicing one day and she asked to try, and she made a 30-yarder one time,” Brock said.
Which makes you wonder if football coach Steve Hancock ever recruited Kaitlin too.
“I’m in his weights class and he’s mentioned it a couple times.” Seriously? “Yeah, oh yeah,” said Knetzke.
“And then they got Logan and so it was kind of like, whatever. He took my spot.”
Did you know about that? “I did not know about that and I’m kind of glad she didn’t because she might have taken my spot,” Brock said.
