By Matt Browning

Kaitlyn Gobel, a Valley Center girls soccer player, received plenty of accolades last season, as she was an honorable mention all-league and all-state performer.

But Gobel has the desires to breeze past those honors in 2024.

“I want to make all-league, all-state and all-metro honors,” Gobel said. “As a team we want to win our tournament and have a good record to set us up to win a regional championship and hopefully to go state.”

Being a better player on offense is a specific area Gobel worked on throughout the offseason.

“The area I want to improve most about my game is getting more involved offensively,” Gobel said. “To work on that during the offseason I would take the ball up the field more creating open spaces for my teammates.”

Gobel has spent the better part of the offseason on the pitch, with her teammates not participating in a winter sport joining in.

“I played two leagues of indoor soccer during the winter and for the last month and a half all the girls who don’t play winter sports have been going to the field every day to get some practice in,” Gobel said.   

Next year, Gobel is going to play soccer at Butler Community College and study pre-med.