Building A Legacy with Kennedy Kieneker
10/31/2016 | Soccer
Tucson, Ariz. – Kennedy Kieneker is a sophomore midfielder out of Redmond, Washington. She joined the team last season and played in every match for the Wildcats, scoring one goal and earning an assist on the season.
This year, Kieneker's role in the midfield has changed. She's spending a lot more time creating plays for the Wildcats than she has previously.
"My role on the team is to keep possession," said Kieneker. "If we lose the ball, I'll try to win it back and then connect to people so that they can play forward. I love the way that we play and I love assisting people."
Arizona is coming off a big win over the weekend after they upset No. 18 California at Mulcahy Stadium. Cali Crisler scored the winning goal in double-overtime in the 109th minute.
"It was so nice to get the win," said Kieneker. "We dogpiled on Cali [Crisler] right after she scored and that was pretty fun. After a few close losses this season, it was really nice to finally get the win."
Kieneker is right though. Arizona has played in six games where the margin of difference between them and their opponents has been a single tally. But Arizona as a team has gained so much this season.
"I think we're learning to play more as a team this year," says Kieneker. "We have had a lot of freshman this year that have made a really good impact. So learning how they play and what their strengths are has been a big building block this year."
Head coach Tony Amato and his team plan to keep building off that process still too.
"Just keep doing what we're doing," said Kieneker. "We have to keep grinding and pushing forward, we have to make sure we build off previous seasons and just work through each game."
Kieneker says the Wildcats are going to take that mentality and move into Friday's game against the Arizona State Sun Devils.
"We're all pretty confident going into Friday," said Kieneker. "ASU is always a really fun game because it's a rivalry game, so everyone gets really pumped for that. After coming off a big win like [Sunday], it's going to be very fun. Especially for our seniors, it's their last game so everyone will be ready to play."
A big part of the Wildcats' success this season has been the atmosphere at home games. The Arizona Soccer team believes that their crowd has an effect on the team's performance. Kieneker's take?
"The feeling of Thursday night games under the lights," said Kieneker. "It's awesome. Those 7 o'clock games at Mulcahy are great, everyone gets so pumped up. I don't really know how to describe it, but it's awesome."
Now it's your turn to Experience It Yourself at Arizona's home matches this season. You can pick up tickets at ArizonaWildcats.com or purchase tickets at the door.
The Arizona Wildcats continue their regular season this weekend in Tempe, Ariz. when they play Arizona State on Friday at 3 p.m. MST.
FOLLOW SOCCER ON SOCIAL MEDIA!
Fans can keep up with the latest in Arizona women's soccer by following us on Facebook (Facebook.com/ArizonaWSocccer), Twitter (@ArizonaWSoccer), Instagram (arizonasoccer), Youtube (Youtube.com/arizonawildcatsoccer) and Vine (Arizona Soccer).
