Brown ready for a final run with Liberty Ranch soccer
GALT — McKenna Brown started playing soccer from a man who knows her very well.
Now the Liberty Ranch High girls soccer player, a senior forward/midfielder, can continue to get her kicks with the next four years after she graduates from high school next spring. Last September, Brown made a verbal commitment to attend and play soccer at Chico State University. She’s planning to officially sign her scholarship this fall.
“Once I made the decision, it was like a weight lifted off my back,” Brown said. “I can focus more on high school now, enjoy my last year. Better myself as much as I can. Not stress about college.”
Brown looked at nearly a half-dozen colleges, predominately in California.
“I was looking at a few colleges down south,” Brown said. “I really liked a lot of the campuses like San Diego State and Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo). San Francisco State showed interests in me as well. (But) none of those colleges suited me. When I went to Chico, it was a like a whole different vibe.”
What sold Brown on the Wildcats was the camaraderie among Chico State women’s soccer players and coaches.
“It just felt right for me when I went on the campus,” Brown said. “When I went there for my unofficial visit, I had a meeting with the coaches, where they told me more about the program. I got to spend the whole day with the players, hang out with them, talk to them.”
Brown is considering majoring in nutrition science or nursing once she’s attending Chico State.
“I want to do something that involves caring for people,” Brown said. “I’m going to explore some different things, try to find a (career)
that works best for me.”
After the high school soccer season ended last March with Center of Antelope defeating Liberty Ranch 4-2 in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV title game at Elk Grove High, Brown has continued to sharpen her skills on the field. She plays competitively for the Central Valley Surf Soccer Club, an 18-and-under team that draws players from Elk Grove to Merced.
“I think that played a big part of it,” said Brown of playing competitive soccer. “Anybody can play recreational soccer; you can’t really better yourself as much as you can. I really think competitive soccer has really bettered me.”
Brown, who has been playing on competitive soccer teams since 2010, has working hard toward improving some of her skills in playing for Central Valley that hopes to pay off this winter at Liberty Ranch.
“My confidence with the ball, as well as in front of the goal,” Brown said. “Being that I sometimes panic and lose the ball when I could just be more calm and collected and score, pass.”
Last season, Brown helped the Hawks post an 18-2-3 overall record that included winning the Sierra Valley Conference title with a 9-0-1 record. It was the second consecutive year the Hawks advanced to the section title game.
“Obviously, it was very disappointing that we didn’t win the section title — again,” said Brown, who was also referring to Woodland beating Liberty Ranch in penalty kicks of the section’s D-IV title game last year. “I was disappointed about it at first. The team, in general, had grown so much as a team. We’ve improved a lot and worked so hard.”
Brown was second on the team in scoring with 44 goals; teammate in now junior midfielder Sydney Klink had 45. Liberty Ranch averaged 5.4 goals per game. Liberty Ranch also averaged 4.8 assists per game last winter. The Hawks had a remarkable 383 shots on goal; Brown had 142 of those chances. Klink, who has also started since she was a freshman, had 93 shots on goal.
Here’s another one for local high school soccer fans. She was one of only three Liberty Ranch players who played in all of the team’s 23 games last winter; recent graduate in forward/midfielder Yessi Muniz and freshman striker Marissa Regla are the other two.
During the 2016-17 season, which all divisions of high school boys and girls soccer teams played in the winter time since the 1980s, Brown, as a sophomore, helped the Hawks to an SVC title and 20-1-3 record. The Hawks’ only loss was in the section D-IV title game against Woodland; the game ended in a 1-1 tie but the Wolves won 2-0 on penalty kicks. Brown had 19 goals, which led the Hawks, out of 85 attempts. Clearly, Brown has become one of the Hawks’ scoring machines on the field.
Soccer is a part of the Brown family. At age 4, Brown started playing soccer, learning the basics from her father, Kevin Brown, who is the Liberty Ranch frosh-soph girls soccer coach. He has led the last two squads to back-to-back SVC titles, and has been coaching in the program since Galt’s second high school opened its doors in 2009.
Kevin Brown, 46, was the Galt High varsity boys and girls soccer coach throughout most of the 2000s. Prior to Galt, Brown also coached soccer at Lodi High. He also played at Sacramento State. Kevin has also been coaching competitive soccer for the last 30 years.
“He was my coach,” said McKenna of her early years of playing for her father. “He was the one who put me in it. I definitely fell in love with it (soccer). We played a lot (of soccer).”
Now Brown and a mixture of returning players, plus those moving up from Kevin Brown’s frosh-soph squad last winter, are looking to return to the section title game early next year. McKenna Brown said most of the returning and incoming varsity players, who have been playing competitive soccer since the Hawks’ loss in the section title game five months ago, are ready to work hard during the potential cold and rainy winter months. This being her final run in playing high school soccer.
“Hopefully more success this upcoming year,” Brown said. “The core of the girls are going to be seniors ... we’re still going to have that chemistry going. They (incoming sophomores from last year’s frosh-soph team) will be great additions to the team as well. I’d say this year’s team could be even better.”