North Carolina State University Athletics
Kern's Impact Has Been Felt For Four Seasons
10/6/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Oct. 6, 2011
When the 2011 season is all said and done, senior Kim Kern will finish in the top five in nearly every goalkeeper statistic at NC State. Entering the home stretch of her senior season, she currently ranks fifth in shutouts with 15, fourth in goals against average at 1.32, and fourth in saves with 298.
However, more than any statistic, the one thing that will forever stick in Kern’s mind is scoring her only collegiate goal - an incredibly rare feat for a goalie at any level.
Last season, a few days before the Pack was slated to travel to the University of Virginia for a match, Kern was on the field working on her goal kicks. She had been struggling with that skill in the earlier part of the season, and wanted to master it before the match against the Cavaliers.
Head coach Steve Springthorpe and fellow net minder Victoria Hopkins volunteered to help Kern. After she had a hard time kicking from the traditional goal line, Springthorpe decided to move the ball up to the midfield stripe. It was then that he noticed something about Kern’s kick.
“He said, ‘that’s a pretty good serve,’” Kern explained. “During the rest of the practice I didn’t do anything else except stand at half field and serve balls to my team.”
Springthorpe told Kern to aim for the goalkeeper when she was kicking, that way she would have to make a play on the ball.
A few days later, during the game against Virginia, a free kick popped up around the midfield line, at almost the exact spot that she had been kicking from during practice. Kern, who normally does not do free kicks at midfield, heard Springthorpe yell to her to run up and take it, in hopes that the extra practice might pay off.
“I ran up there and shot it,” Kern said. “I aimed for the goalkeeper and she came out and misjudged the ball. One of our players jumped in front of her and got in the way of her vision, and she missed the ball. It slipped over her head and into the goal, I couldn’t believe it went in.”
Click here for the video that features the goal 14 seconds into the highlights.
Springthorpe, who has been coaching for over 20 years, including eight years (five at Fresno State and three at NC State) as a head coach, realizes that it's not common for a goalkeeper to score.
“It probably happens maybe once a year or once every two years,” Springthorpe said. “You hear somebody that did it off a set piece or whatever it may be; the goalkeeper takes a long punt and it bounces over someone’s head and goes into the goal.”
Kern came to NC State four years ago, and made an immediate impact during her freshman season. She finished the year second in saves (62), fourth in shutouts (three) and third in goals against average (1.22) in the Wolfpack’s all-time freshman record book.
NC State hired Springthorpe after Kern’s first year on the team. He saw a lot of promise for her to improve on her first season, one that saw her start nine games and action in 11 of the team's 19 games.
“She was pretty technical and had good hands,” Springthorpe said. “Right away, she impressed me. As I looked at both goalkeepers in that short period of two or three weeks, I thought that she would end up being our starting goalkeeper.”
Kern immediately benefited from the hire of Springthorpe. He played as a goalkeeper at Methodist University, and went into coaching upon graduation. Springthorpe worked primarily with goalkeepers until he was hired as a head coach at Fresno State University.
“He’s helped me with my positioning on free balls, breakaways and crosses; thing that used to hold me back,” Kern said. “He’s also helped me to get more focused.”
Under Springthorpe’s tutelage, Kern set personal records with four shutouts, a 1.40 goals against average and a career-low 25 goals given up at the end of her junior year. She was also voted the Wolfpack's Most Valuable Player.
This season she has positioned herself to set even more individual standards, including already posted five shutouts in 2011. Through 14 of the 20 regular-season games, she has given up only 16 goals, earning a goals against average of 1.12. She currently leads the ACC in saves, and is tied for 22nd in the NCAA with 72.
Kern has also taken on more leadership roles on the team, and was named a captain at the beginning of the season.
“When you’re younger, you don’t really understand it,” Kern said. “When you become a captain, you can understand it really does make a difference for the younger girls, to lead them in the right direction.”
For Kern, the decision to come play soccer at NC State was an easy one. The Raleigh native, who attended Leesville Road high school, wanted to stay close to home and to play in the best women's soccer conference in the nation.
Currently the ACC has seven teams ranked inside the top 18, including four in the top 10 in the NSCAA coaches’ poll.
“I wanted to play in the ACC because it’s the most competitive conference to play in, and you get to play against the best players day in and day out,” Kern said. “You get eight chances a year to knock off a top 25 team and five times a year to knock off a top 10. You don’t get that in many other conferences.”
Kern is on track to graduate in May with a degree in sport management. She is planning on attending graduate school, and hopes to coach at a Division I school later in life.
NC State will finish up its four-game road swing with a non-conference game against Longwood University Friday, Oct. 7. The Wolfpack will then return home for a conference match versus Virginia Thursday, Oct. 13.
By Will Toman
