Mia Mullenmeister's gift for goals helps lift Kernel soccer to special season

Oct. 4—MITCHELL — It's a scene any former youth soccer player, coach or parent knows well.

Wherever the ball goes, the children go, forming a melee where everyone involved is lucky not to catch a stray elbow and all are guaranteed to have their shin guards get a good stress test from the whirlwind of kicking feet.

But even on an under-8 Mitchell rec league team at the Pepsi Cola Soccer Complex, it was clear that Mia Mullenmeister was different.

"Mia has always had soccer smarts, even at a young age," said Scott Mullenmeister, who doubles as Mia's father and the MHS head coach, who has helped coach Mia at many stops in her youth soccer career. "Sometimes you see kids that just sort of kind of have an innate understanding of the game a little bit, and Mia seemed to be just one of those kids who had things figured out from early on."

While the others were chasing the ball, Mia was elsewhere, understanding the need for spacing and waiting for the ball to slip out of the chaos in her direction. Such game intelligence is uncommon in youth soccer, foreshadowing what has evolved into one of the best careers in the history of high school soccer in South Dakota.

Like the ball on a youth field, Mia Mullenmeister exudes her own gravitational pull. Wherever she goes, defenders are sure to follow, knowing full well that leaving her unmarked is a surefire way to concede a goal.

But over the course of six seasons, since Mullenmeister made her varsity soccer debut as a seventh-grader, she's constantly caused fits for even the best defenders and defenses thrown her way. With a career varsity tally that stands at 124 goals after Tuesday night's first round of the playoffs, Mullenmeister's name has become synonymous with goal-scoring as she's shattered the MHS record books.

"When I have the ball on my feet, the No. 1 thing on my mind is, 'How can we get to goal and how can we score?' Whether that's me passing to someone else who's in a better position or taking the ball further down the field," Mia said. "You kind of have to think that every opportunity could be your last and take advantage of what you have."

Mullenmeister netted 21 goals as a sophomore and again as a junior, leading the state in goals in 2021, but the past two months have eclipsed even Mia and Scott's wildest hopes for the season. With 37 goals (of Mitchell's 62 total) and four assists to her credit in 15 matches, Mullenmeister is once again the top goal-scorer in South Dakota girls soccer. During the regular season, her individual efforts exceeded the total goalscoring production from 12 of the 18 other programs in Class AA and matched a 13th, including a pair of nine-win teams in Rapid City Stevens (30 goals) and O'Gorman (34).

As Scott Mullenmeister tells it, Mia's prolific finishing is the product of several elements coming together, the most important of which is her mentality.

"The big thing when it comes to finishing is how you have to become very calm and collected in the midst of that moment when you have to beat the goalkeeper," Scott explained. "Some players might rush that and end up not finishing quite as cleanly or consistently. So, it's all about picking your spot and then being able to put the ball where you want to."

"I definitely spend a lot of time practicing my shooting, but it also comes down to learning a lot about the game and watching film," Mia added. "It takes knowledge of the game to know to look up and see the field in front of you and then base your movements on that."

When it comes to remaining calm, Mullenmeister is something of a poster child. In between the lines, it's rare to see her show much emotion, even after scoring. Instead, she stays honed in on the task at hand, leaving any reactions for after the final whistle. It carries over to how she approaches leadership, too. Certainly, she leads by example on the pitch, but if mistakes are made, she's not one to raise her voice. Instead, she maintains the same level-headedness in talking through any issues or confusion.

"I've been told many times that it's kind of funny that I don't celebrate," Mia said. "For me, it's just being humble; I don't need to celebrate. There's always more game left to be played, so I try to keep my head in it and not get too excited."

While Mullenmeister has spearheaded the effort, the Kernels' rise to the top of Class AA has been far from a solo venture. Alongside Mullenmeister, several of the mainstays in the MHS starting lineup and regular rotation also got an early start with the varsity program, as it's been a steady crescendo toward a breakout 2023 season.

"This team is a result of development through the high school program over the past four or five years," Scott said. "Not that we didn't have successful and good teams in the past, but there's just something about this team. It's a special group that we just haven't seen before."

"I think it's in how they really came together, how we're playing," he continued. "We're a very well-balanced team. We support each other, we combine, and we do some really good things on the soccer field."

From 7-7-0 and a first-round exit as the No. 9 seed a season ago, Mitchell surged to the top of Class AA this season with a 13-1-0 record, good for the top overall seed in the playoff bracket. It wasn't a jump the Kernels expected to make all at once, forcing them to re-evaluate the goals they'd set for themselves.

The playoff push began Tuesday night at Joe Quintal Field, where the No. 1 Kernels took down 16th-seeded Brookings by a 4-1 score. The win was the first postseason victory in program history, but Mitchell is searching for a prolonged stay in the bracket.

"At the beginning of the season, we were just looking to win as many games as we could and hopefully win a playoff game, and now we're looking at a deeper run into the playoffs," Mia said. "I don't want to jinx anything, but I definitely believe that we have the capabilities to go far."

Whenever this season comes to a close, it won't be long until Mullenmeister's next chapter begins.

Mullenmeister is set to complete her high school studies this semester and

enroll early at Utah State for the spring semeste

r to get a head start with her new team. She'll forego the spring track and field season and several other extracurricular activities and clubs she's involved in before returning to graduate with her MHS classmates next May.

Make no mistake, though, Mullenmeister is committed to her Kernel soccer teammates and remains laser-focused on doing what needs to be done to help MHS finish what is already the best season in school history on a high note.

"I've grown up playing with these girls, so to see us come together and have the success that we're having now is really special," Mia said.

Mullenmeister and the Kernels hope there will be several more moments to share over the next two weeks, but no matter how the story ends, she has a genuine appreciation for this collection of Kernels, where they've come from and where they are together. More than any of the goals or individual accolades, that's what Mullenmeister wants to remember most.

"I just feel gratitude. This season has been incredible," Mia said. "I'm so grateful for not only the success we've had but also the meaningful connections that we've formed and how close his team has gotten. I wouldn't trade it for anything."