Yahoo Sports ‘Her potential is to the moon and back.’ Ardrey Kell freshman soccer star turning heads
One year after coaching the best girls’ soccer player from Mecklenburg County, Ardrey Kell soccer coach Kim Montgomery thinks she might have another serious talent.
Knights freshman Makayla Rodriguez is the leading scorer on a team ranked among the nation’s 100 best by MaxPreps. Heading into a big home match with Myers Park Thursday, Rodriguez has 13 goals and five assists.
“She’s going to be a special player,” said Montgomery, whose team (14-5, 5-1) is tied for second place with Myers Park (6-5-1, 5-1) in the SoMECK conference behind first place South Meck (10-2-3, 7-1). “Her potential is to the moon and back.”
Montgomery is a former U.S. Women’s National Team player. She believes that Rodriguez, just 14 and with a mouth full of braces, can follow a similar track to former Knights’ star Taylor Suarez, a two-time Charlotte Observer and Gatorade N.C. player of the year.
Suarez was a two-time high school All-American who would’ve been on this year’s Knights’ team, but graduated early, enrolled at Florida State and recently signed an NIL deal with Nike.
“They have the same drive,” Montgomery said of Suarez and Rodriguez. “There’s a certain level of quickness and speed that I’m not certain I’m every going to see again that we saw in Taylor Suarez. But Makayla’s ability to be the one who finishes plays is special, too. When she leaves here in three years, she might definitely be a legend out of this program.”
Starting over after the title
Montgomery acknowledges she’s had to coach extra hard this season, even with a wunderkind talent like Rodriguez.
A year ago, Ardrey Kell won the school’s first 4A state championship, reaching the championship round for the second straight season. Five seniors, including Texas freshman Carly Montgomery, the coach’s daughter, graduated. Suarez left early.
Then, returning starter Taylor Kleinschmidt tore her ACL during club ball. She’s out for the season and Montgomery had to rebuild her defense in front of returning All-Observer goalie Caroline McSweeney, a senior.
In order to test her team early, and show her the areas it needed to work on, Montgomery scheduled back-to-back games against Charlotte Latin and Providence Day — then the two top ranked teams in the nation. Latin shut out the Knights 2-0 and Providence Day won 3-1.
So Ardrey Kell started the season 1-2 before improving to 3-3. But since then, the Knights are 11-2 and had won eight straight games before losing 3-2 at Hough Tuesday.
“The seniors last year held their hands and told (the team) what to do and how to do it,” Montgomery said. “So now these girls are here going, ‘Now, I’ve got to be the one.’ I think they’re getting closer and they’re working on it.”
In recent games, the Knights have beaten state powers Weddington, Cuthbertson, Providence and Asheville.
“The girls are starting to figure it out,” Montgomery said. “I may have had monster leaders and big, physical, dynamic talent (in 2023) but this team, in terms of how we play and organize, they are more organized. They can’t depend on one or two people to save the day.”
A brighter tomorrow
That “save the day” part might be changing soon — as Rodriguez continues to develop into a major college talent.
Right now, though, Rodriguez is quick with a smile but pretty shy.
“She doesn’t say much,” Montgomery said.
Rodriguez has been invited to a U.S. Soccer Federation regional camp in Dacula Ga., later this month and is starting to crack the national radar in her age group.
“I want to go D1 and play pro,” she said. “I want to go to Duke. That’s my big goal. I’ve always looked up to Duke.”
Rodriguez led her middle school team, Community House, to a conference championship last year and watched as Montgomery’s team made its playoff run to a state title.
Now she wants one for this year’s team.
“I think it’s pretty cool to have that experience,” she said. “It’s a new team now. I’ve never done it so it’s new for me, too. It can be harder sometimes (than middle school) trying to adapt to the environment.”
Despite their tough start, Rodriguez and Ardrey Kell are in position to win a league championship and earn a good playoff seed. Mecklenburg County has never produced a back-to-back 4A state champion in girls’ soccer.
Rodriguez said she and her young teammates wouldn’t mind a run toward history next month.
“We have what it takes to make the run,” she said. “We have the players, the team environment it takes.”
