Rookie Kornieck embraces key attacking role
Two words are etched on Orlando Pride rookie Taylor Kornieck’s forearm — gioco
intelligente.
It’s Italian for “play smart,” a phrase Kornieck’s grandfather repeated before all of her games while she was growing up.
As she enters her first season of professional soccer, those words are a reminder to Kornieck of how to establish success — use her head, study the game and constantly seek out opportunities to improve.
Before he drafted Kornieck with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2020 NWSL Draft, Pride coach Marc Skinner sat down each prospect for a 45-minute interview.
He wanted to assess whether draftees seemed prepared to transition from college to the pros. There are many adjustments players have to make jumping from the NCAA to NWSL play — notably the physicality needed to transition from unlimited substitutions to standard FIFA rules. But Skinner’s biggest concern came down to psyche.
One part of his interview with Kornieck stuck out — the 21-year-old expressed her desire to be treated as a woman rather than a girl and to compete against more experienced players to forge that growth.
Even as a rookie, Skinner plans to ask a lot of Kornieck. This year, she’ll transition from an attacking midfielder to a target forward. In that position, she’ll be expected to help fill the larger-than-life shoes of Alex Morgan while the star striker is pregnant or absent for national team duties.
Skinner said Kornieck’s focus on studying the game and pushing to improve gives him faith in her ability to answer that call.
“If we were to play tomorrow, I think she would have the psyche to start,” Skinner said. “Once we’ve had her in training for a while and we help her to see her super powers, then I think she’d be ready to go.”
Filling a need
Besides a few matches lining up as a forward during her sophomore year, Kornieck played attacking midfield for most of her four years at Colorado.
Her transition to forward will position Kornieck to factor into the Pride attack immediately and score more frequently. It’s a move designed to help Kornieck’s teammates improve as well.
“I think everyone around Taylor will benefit,” Skinner said. “She’s going to free up every other player in the attack to be a little more creative and a little more comfortable.”
Last season, Sydney Leroux’s pregnancy and Morgan’s absences due to the World Cup and injury severely limited the versatility of the Pride attack.
The Pride are lethal potential when every playmaker is healthy and available — Morgan and Leroux offer pure goal-scoring ability, while wingers Marta and Claire Emslie bring imaginative pace to the flanks.
Morgan and Leroux offer different styles of attacking. Morgan is a target forward who can hold up play, while Leroux fills in as a speedy striker, slipping behind opposing back lines for dangerous, physical runs.
Skinner recruited Emslie in 2019 to “supply ammunition” to Morgan. The Scottish winger is known for her deadly crosses into the box, but a lack of striker targets hampered her ability to make an impact when she joined the team late last season.
Marta led the Pride with six goals last year, a quarter of the team’s total offensive production. But the Brazilian was forced to shoulder the responsibility of goal-scoring, which limited her creativity.
Skinner aims to mold Kornieck into a Morgan-style attacker. In the system, Kornieck will become a target for headers off corners and crosses from Emslie. She’ll be expected to slow down play and possess the ball to time runs for Leroux and to pull defenders with her frame to free up lanes for Marta to move through.
Kornieck should allow Orlando to score in different ways. Focused on redemption this season, Skinner said this newfound versatility will be the greatest change for the team this year.
“Orlando will see a different way of playing this year,” Skinner said. “We’ll have the ability to adapt, which we didn’t have last year. We didn’t have the personnel to have a pinpoint forward, that player who could hold up and join us in. I think we’ll have different ways to score next year, which will be really key for our success.”
Changing her game
Kornieck is tall. Let’s get that out of the way at the start.
Listed at 6-foot-1, the rookie is the tallest field player in the NWSL. It runs in the Kornieck family. Her brother is the tallest of the group at 6-foot-7, and her dad stands at 6-foot-5. Her mother, Kristin, played professional volleyball in Europe.
“I’m definitely a big presence,” Kornieck said. “Obviously, I’m 6-1. So usually, every time the ball gets played in the air, I’m always fighting for it. My target presence is a really big aspect of my whole entire game.”
Although Skinner acknowledged Kornieck’s height is an obvious asset as a target forward, he was more interested in other aspects of her game.
Kornieck is the type of striker Skinner wanted to add to his lineup. He’s focused on trying to hone different aspects of her game — particularly her finishing in the box with her head and her feet and her hold-up on-ball skills.
In the early weeks of the preseason, headers were an emphasis for the rookie. She spent extra time after each session working on finishing with and without a keeper.
Skinner noted he never urged Kornieck to put in extra work. He described the rookie as a sponge — after each session, the rookie chased down Skinner or assistant coach Carl Green with more questions, asking for more drills or a look at film from the day.
Headers are a skill that require repetition to perfect. First, Kornieck is learning how to time her runs in the box both in the pace of play and from a dead ball. Then, she’ll work to build timing between herself and her wingers.
Kornieck already was comfortable scoring with her head in college, and she said she expects that comfort to grow working with a pair of accurate crossers in Emslie and Marta.
After these headers become a staple of the Pride offense, Skinner will also be able to use her as a dummy, forcing defenders to double team her in the air and freeing up other strikers.
Kornieck was comfortable firing on goal throughout her Colorado career. As a sophomore, her 92 shots were the second most in school history and she placed 33 of them on frame.
There’s a reason she was the go-to player to take free kicks and penalty kicks for the Buffs by her senior season. Kornieck scored 39 goals during four seasons at Colorado, finishing with a personalbest 12 goals in her senior year.
In Orlando, Skinner will encourage Kornieck to continue to shoot at will. Her shot placement will be the main difference as she transitions into her new role.
Kornieck is committed to delivering for the Pride after realizing a lifelong dream.
The rookie started playing soccer when she was 4. Ever since, the game is all she’s wanted out of life.
“I want to take this as far as I can,” Kornieck said. “I don’t want to ever have to stop. I want to play as long as I can. This is all I want to do for the rest of my life.”