SE: Adrenaline Helps Thornhill End Rainy Night in Lawrence

By: D. Scott Fritchen

Don't ask Caylee Thornhill how it happened. A year ago, she was recovering from surgery to her anterior-cruciate ligament. Then late last Thursday, she experienced one of the greatest moments of her entire life. Against Kansas, during a perfectly otherwise horrible night — two rain delays with one power outage — Thornhill delivered one of the most beautiful and memorable goals in the six-year history of the Kansas State women's soccer program.

Thornhill used her deadly left foot to lift the rain-soaked Wildcats to a 2-1 victory at Rock Chalk Park. Kansas players fell to the field. Thornhill fell to her knees. Her parents, Mike and Michele, jumped out of their seats. K-State head coach Mike Dibbini got doused with celebratory water — even though he was already wet. It was a crazy night, all right, and the team danced and sang karaoke on the bus all the way home from Lawrence.

But here's how conversations have gone with Thornhill over the past week.

"How'd you decide to take that shot?" they ask.

"I don't know."

That's it. That's Thornhill's answer. She had blacked out. There was simply too much adrenaline. She was in shock. Thornhill has seen the video of her shot. She still can't believe it. Video shows that she made a super-human play at the 98-minute, 21-second mark during the first overtime. Video shows her jumping to her feet and hugging teammates after she recorded the latest goal in K-State history and the first game-winning goal of her career. Finally, video shows Kansas players collapsing on the ground. And, let's face it, in some small way, that's one of the best parts.

"It was great to see the video," she says, "since I can't remember any of it."

Thornhill wears a black t-shirt, black shorts, black Nikes, one ponytail, and she nurses a half-full Aquafina bottle after practice Wednesday morning at Buser Family Park. A loud lawn mower zig-zags across the field. The place smells like fresh grass. And, yes, everything still feels somewhat new about K-State women's soccer. Thornhill says that they're still called the "newbies" as K-State continues to chip away within the league of Big 12 powerhouses. Thornhill, a redshirt sophomore forward, seeks to help lead the charge to change that perception. Her goal opened eyes. She was named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week.

"We can be very special," she says. "We can turn a lot of heads this year."

Across Lawrence, she caused many heads to drop.

With the score tied in the first overtime session, Thornhill collected the ball at midfield. She dribbled twice and found senior Brookelynn Entz near the left corner. Entz danced on her defender at the top corner of the 18-yard box. Suddenly, the ball bounced away. It sailed toward the top of the 18 in the middle of the field. At this point, Thornhill had already decided to charge toward the middle of the field. This part, she remembers.

She also remembers how the scheduled 7 p.m. kickoff was delayed 85 minutes as severe weather rolled through Lawrence. Then she remembers how during the 43^rd minute, the rain returned and power suddenly went out across Rock Chalk Park. She remembers the 25-minute delay before power was restored so they could resume play. She remembers the conversations with coaches and players. During the delays, they kept speaking positive thoughts. They gripped their adrenaline with both hands. They simply refused to let it slip. They had come this far. They couldn't let it go.

"The weather and power outage, they couldn't hold us back," she says. "It motivated us even more. We weren't going to go through these delays and sit through what felt like eight hours, only to go home soaking-wet losers. We were going to win this game."

There really was never a point when Thornhill thought she wouldn't play again. She had torn her left ACL in high school. A native of Lenexa, Kansas, she returned to earn all-state honors at St. James Academy. In the final game of her high school career, she made the game-winning goal with less than a minute left to win the Class 5A State Championship. As a K-State freshman, she tore her right ACL and missed the final 10 matches of the season in 2019. Then she played in just three matches last season. Why?

"After coming back from my ACL injury," she says, "I tore my right meniscus."

She believes it has all played out like a movie, her soccer career to this point. This, of course, features the main character who comes back to deliver the game-winning goal, which she calls one of the top moments of her life, and yet in a stirring plot twist the main character remembers little about the moment.

She believes it was instinct that caused her to dart forward down the middle of the field. She remembers wanting the match to end. She remembers wanting to get on the bus after a four-hour marathon. She remembers thinking, "This weather, the delays, what else could seriously happen?" After Ertz danced and after the ball sailed toward the middle, Thornhill stepped forward. One of her few drawbacks is a tendency to at times touch the ball too many times. One of her biggest strengths is her wickedly strong left foot. This time, she left no doubt. She took a four-step approach and with a mighty strike sent the ball sizzling into the right side of the net.

Ballgame.

"She definitely deserved that," Dibbini says. "That girl has been working really, really hard, and is such a sweet young lady who does everything right. Having her go down due to injuries and setbacks has only made her better. She's shown strong resiliency and we've seen her get better each day.

"That goal? We couldn't have asked for a better person to put that ball away in that key moment. I'm very, very happy for her."

Thornhill played a season-high 66 minutes and recorded three shots with the game-winner while making her first start of the season. She is currently tied for second on the team with two goals and tied for third with four points. She has 13 shots with four on goal while playing in a career-high 12 matches this season. Her comeback continues.

"I'd just been waiting for my positive momentum to return," she says. "I'd start playing and something else would happen. I've been working and working trying to get a starting spot back, but even if I'm coming off the bench, I'm just trying to add anything I can to the team. This is the first shot that I've had where I've felt like I've gotten back into my rhythm. Coming off all of the injuries, it finally felt worth it."

K-State, 6-6-0 overall, including 1-2-0 in the Big 12 Conference, prepares to play back-to-back home matches. It faces No. 9 West Virginia (8-2-1 and 2-0-0) at 7 p.m. Thursday, and No. 23 Baylor (7-2-3 and 3-0-0) at 1 p.m. Sunday. The Mountaineers and Bears are currently the top two teams in the league.

With their next win, the Wildcats will set the school record for victories in a season. They have 16 goals and need three more to set another school record. They haven't yet qualified as one of eight seeds for the Big 12 Tournament. They intend for that to change in 2021. And Thornhill plans to be a part of it.

"I'm really excited to see where I can go now that I have this confidence," she says. "I know I can actually score."

And she has the video to prove it.

Kansas State University Athletics

SE: Adrenaline Helps Thornhill End Rainy Night in Lawrence

Players Mentioned

Brookelynn Entz

Caylee Thornhill

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