Pinckney freshman Kinley Mays debuts with hat trick in soccer win over Fowlerville
FOWLERVILLE — Sean Grace called his shot.
Sort of.
The Pinckney soccer coach didn’t necessarily predict a hat trick for freshman Kinley Mays in her first high school match, but he expected her to make a significant impact in the Pirates’ season opener Monday against Fowlerville.
He said as much to senior goalie Peyton Delongchamp before the game.
“I actually told Peyton, not this exact thing, but that the story was going to be about (Mays) in this game,” Grace said.
That was a bold prediction, considering Pinckney returns key players from a team that reached the regional championship round last season. Any one of them could have stolen the headlines, and several will as the season unfolds.
But, as her coach anticipated, this was Mays’ night to announce her presence on the high school scene by scoring three goals in a 5-0 victory over Fowlerville.
“It was a lot of fun,” Mays said. “I felt really confident playing. All the girls were really nice to me. It was nice to be able to play on a high school team.”
Oddly enough, Mays isn’t accustomed to filling the net.
She is a central defender on her club team after a brief — and unspectacular — stint playing forward for her previous club team.
“I only scored a couple goals,” she said. “I went back to center back.”
When Pinckney’s preseason practices began, it didn’t take long for Grace to realize he wanted Mays playing much closer to the opposing net as a forward.
“She’s got one of the smoothest shots I’ve seen, and I’m going to take advantage of that all season,” he said. “We graduated some shooters. In practice, when I saw how smooth she hits the ball with her right foot or left foot, I have to try to utilize that. Obviously, it paid off today.”
So, Mays was not only adjusting to playing high school varsity soccer, but also to a new position. She is joining a program that has won four straight league championships and went 72-17-5 in the past five seasons.
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The Pirates are led by two second-team all-staters in Delongchamp and midfielder Zaryah Griffin.
“At first, it was kind of intimidating,” Mays said. “Now that I’ve met all the girls and I’ve practiced with them for a little bit, they’re all just so nice and they were very welcoming to me.”
Mays opened the scoring with 11:04 left in the first half off a touch in the box from Alexis Altizer. Valerie Graves made it 2-0 off a corner kick with 2:17 left in the first half.
Pinckney broke it open on goals by Mays and Griffin in the first three minutes, 33 seconds, of the second half. Mays completed her hat trick on a rebound with 15:13 left in the game.
“Being a freshman, she wants to pass the ball first, which is always great,” Grace said. “But sometimes being up top you’ve got to look to shoot the ball, which she did today pretty well.”
It was the third match of the season for Fowlerville, which opened with a 4-0 victory over Corunna before losing 5-0 to Eaton Rapids.
“My team could have played better,” Fowlerville coach Heather Hartke said. “We have some things to work out with the players and me, being the new coach. They are confused about some things and not stepping up to the ball and being a little timid, so we’re going to try to knock that out of them.”
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Pinckney soccer freshman Kinley Mays scores hat trick in debut
