Kaminski Has the Head and Heart of a Soccer Champ

On the soccer field, Emilee Kaminski is as likely to beat you with her head and her heart as she is with her legs and feet.

And you can take that figuratively or literally.

During Saline’s 4-1 district final victory over Bedford Saturday, the team captain scored twice. One with her head. And one with her chest.

But when one says Kaminski beats you with her head and heart, they’re not really talking about the goals she scored Saturday. Kaminski thinks the game better than most. And she refuses to be outworked.

On her first goal Saturday, teammate Mackenzie Schumborg, lifted a long boot toward the goal.

“They were pushing us and playing us really tight. I knew if we could get the ball over top of them, I could outrun the defense,” said Kaminski.

And so she did. She outraced the defender and looked to be going in one-on-one with the Bedford keeper. But the keeper charged out of her net. Kaminski was running out of real estate. The ball took a big hop and she caught up to it as the goalie charged. What Kaminski did next speaks volumes about the way she thinks the game. She used her head and popped the ball way up, maybe 15 feet high, and over the goalie, who was now seven yards in front of Kaminski and way out of her net. The goalie stopped in her tracks. There was nothing she could do. The ball fell back to earth and into the net for a 1-0 lead.

“As soon as she bounced that ball in front of me I saw the goalie come out and just reacted and thought, ‘Let’s try this one with the head,’” said Kaminski.

In the second half, with the score 2-1, she scored the backbreaking goal. From the side, Kayla Kouba spotted Kaminski streaking down the center toward the goal and directed a kick about 10 yards in front of the goal. The Bedford goalie saw what was coming and charged out again. Kaminski got there first. But the ball was too high to kick and too low to head. So, she just used kept running, redirecting the ball with her chest into the net.

Kaminski had two goals, and none of them even scuffed her shoes.

Head coach Dana Restrick has been singing Kaminski’s praises since early in the season, when the young Hornets team was struggling to win games during a difficult portion of the schedule.

"All season long, she's played consistently hard and been consistently strong. I don't think we've played a game where she wasn't our best player," Restrick said. “She’s very good at anticipating balls through and she will challenge anyone or sacrifice anything to get a goal.”

It isn’t just about the goals. On one sprint up the left wing, Kaminski ran past one player. A second came, giving chase. Kaminski came to an abrupt stop and began to cut toward the center, but the Bedford player stayed with her. She bounced back to the outside and the Bedford player followed, getting her foot on the ball. Just when it looked like Kaminski might lose the battle, she won the ball back, leaving the Bedford player sprawling on the grass. The battle led to a a smart centering pass for a scoring chance.

Battling is something Kaminski enjoys.

“I try to give everything I’ve got. When I see a girl in front of me, I just want to get past her with the ball and I will do whatever I can either for a scoring chance or to pass to a teammate,” Kaminski said.

It’s that kind of mentality that wears down opponents. And if it doesn’t wear them out, it ticks them off. Like in the 90-degree heat Saturday, when a Bedford Kicking Mule was yellow-carded for taking a run at Kaminski. 

She shrugged it off.

“I knew she was frustrated and with the score 4-1, you know it might get a little chippy,” said Kaminski. “That’s part of the game.”

It’s a game she loves. Saturday, the four-year varsity player and her teammates won their first soccer district trophy. So instead of hanging up their spikes, they’re preparing for another game against their rivals from Pioneer.

“It means the world to me. I’ve been on the team for four years, and this is the first time we’ve won a trophy. I really love the girls on our team. I get choked up thinking about,” said Kaminski.