Women's Soccer

After missing the 2018 season with injury, Kailee Coonan leads the Orange

Elizabeth Billman | Asst. Photo Editor

Nine months removed from a foot injury that cost her an entire season, Kailee Coonan said it was like she forgot how to play soccer.

It wasn’t long before Coonan worked her way back to become an anchor of Syracuse’s (2-4-2, 0-0-1 Atlantic Coast) midfield. Coonan, now a redshirt sophomore after taking a medical year, has become a leader of the Orange off the field, a role that only strengthened with her time out. She’s started all eight games in 2019 and played every minute of SU’s past five contests. While the Orange deal with numerous injuries throughout the squad, Coonan is one of just seven to have started each game.

During Nicky Adams’ first practice as head coach at SU, Coonan’s skillset jumped out at her.

“I noticed how technical she was on the ball,” Adams said. “Taking the little looks, setting [herself] up where the hips are always facing the proper way to go forward. Playing quick.”

While Coonan hasn’t registered any goals or assists from her deep-lying midfield position, she’s helped support a defense that has improved its numbers across the board this season, allowing seven goals in eight games.



The West Chester, Pennsylvania native played for the Elite Clubs National League Player Development Program. She committed to SU in 2015 and had started 17 of 18 games as a freshman. Adams didn’t know during the first practice that Coonan was coming back from a major injury. The first-year head coach was important in helping her regain her athleticism and get back to the player she was during her freshman season, Coonan said.

Instilling confidence was the first step. To do this, Adams had her play out wide on the wing during spring practices and scrimmages, a position she had never played before. Coonan adjusted, becoming one of the team’s leading scorers in scrimmages during that time.

Instead of being cautious in the center of midfield where she usually plays, she made runs, took on defenders and scored goals. All more explosive plays to push her out of her comfort zone.

“[Adams was] encouraging me … to not be afraid to play a dangerous ball that I might play something safe instead,” Coonan said. “That helped me come back.”

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Eva Suppa | Digital Design Editor

As the team racked up losses last season, Coonan said she felt helpless and struggled with not being a part of away trips. But she found a way to cope.

Coonan is always checking in with her teammates, becoming a go-to person on the deal for another dealing with personal struggles. She’s always the first person to ask how everyone is and picks someone up if they’re stressed or feeling down, said midfielder Georgia Allen. Even when Coonan was the one injured, she was the one reaching out.

“She focused on everyone else,” Allen said. “I don’t think she got swamped in her own head thinking about her own injury and her own woes. She focused on the team and how she can help the team and that was vital.”

Now that she’s healthy, Coonan knows how to help teammates missing games with injuries like she did. When a player has a medical scan, she is the first to reach out and talk things over. Coonan draws from her recent rehab experience for how to best support them and help keep their spirits high.

“Just taking it day-by-day and celebrating the little things like when you do get to run again, when you first practice,” Coonan said. “Just being appreciative of every moment that you get because you never know when it can be taken from you.”

Assistant copy editor Arabdho Majumder and staff writer Tim Nolan contributed reporting for this story.





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