Geneva graduate Schiemann adjusting to college soccer at Valpo
Nov. 21—If there was one thing Kylie Schiemann learned in her first year of college soccer at Valparaiso University, it's that she's no longer back home.
"It can be very hard for a freshman playing Division I college soccer, especially knowing that you played all your life and you were the star back home," the 2022 Geneva graduate said. "Now, everyone was the star back home. So, it's tough being a freshman and getting those kinds of minutes."
Back home in Geneva, Schiemann most definitely was the star. She had 75 career goals.
Schiemann was named Ashtabula County Player of the year her junior year and Chagrin Valley Conference Most Valuable Player her senior year.
She was a three-time CVC first team
choice as well as three time member of the Greater Cleveland team.
This past fall, though, Schiemann, like many other high school stars playing collegiately, spent her freshman year dealing with the reality of not being the star, but rather what it's like to be on the bench.
Still, it was not all bad.
Scheimann was part of a team that won the regular season championship for the Missouri Valley Conference going 7-1-2 and finished the season 8-7-4 overall.
But she did get a little playing time.
"I actually got in five games," Schiemann said. "They were high intensity games. I kind of got thrown into the game by surprise, but it was really good and helped me a lot with transitioning to the college game."
Growing up in Geneva, soccer became life for Schiemann. She not only played for the Eagles, but year round for a few different travel and club teams, including the Croatia Juniors of the Women's Premier Soccer league (WPSL) where she was exposed to higher levels of competition.
Still, Schiemann knew the jump to college would be unlike anything she experienced.
"I knew it would be a lot harder, a lot faster, you have to really think about what you want to do with the ball before you get it, there's a lot more intensity," she said.
"There are girls in Club that are college level. In high school, though, most high school students are not anywhere close to that, so that was a huge difference for me."
It was a difference
that Valpo coach John Marovich said she not only handled, but confirmed to her coaches the reasons they recruited her.
"She did really well," Marovich said. "What we saw in her was somebody that was quick
and really comfortable being on the ball and going on in an attacking sense.
"Every week, it was just seeing her get a little more comfortable, a little bit more courage on her part to do things."
Schiemann said the first practice was an eye-opener.
"The first few weeks
I wasn't really playing as myself," she said. "Once I got comfortable, and started taking players on, I got back into the groove that I used to be in."
Schiemann credited not only her coaches, but several upperclassmen for helping her
get over the intimidation factor first-year players can experience and
remembering the skill and talent that took her to Valpo in the first place.
"The seniors on
the team were great," she said. "I was able
to get close with a lot
of my teammates as well."
The end of the first year, though, is often considered the beginning for many college players.
Now that she's had
a good look at the
game, the work begins to prepare herself
to be someone spending more time, not on the sidelines, but more like the player she was back home.
"Now is when you want to get things done," said Schiemann, who is studying exercise science at Valparaiso.
"Not only getting
it done, but getting
it done to the point
that you're at the next level and the work you put in from the fall to the spring is what makes that difference."
