SE: NWSL-Bound Entz Focused on K-State Soccer’s Future
May 19, 2021 | Soccer, Sports Extra
By: Austin Siegel
The texts started during the College Cup Final on Monday night, as Marshall played No. 3 Indiana for the NCAA Men's Soccer National Championship.
Brookelynn Entz was watching. So was her head coach.
When the Thundering Herd scored a game-winner in the dying minutes of overtime, a team that won just a single conference game in 2016 was suddenly celebrating a national title.
"Well," Entz texted K-State head coach Mike Dibbini, "let's be Marshall."
Entz is already the program leader in every meaningful offensive category - the K-State Soccer media guide credits her with 28 different school records - including goals, assists and points. She also, finally, has time on her side.
And to borrow a phrase from the columnist Rory Smith, it is remarkable, really, what you can fit into that time in soccer when there is time for one last chance.
"There's a reason that I chose to come back for another year. I think I saw where this program can go, just based on what we did last season," Entz said. "I think we can do something special."
2020 was a strange and compressed season, not an ideal way for the most accomplished soccer player in K-State history to say goodbye.
Even with COVID-19 protocol impacting every game and without any non-conference matches, Entz and her senior class still managed to write a perfect ending.
The Wildcats rallied for three wins in their final five games, including a brace from Entz to beat Iowa State and a win over Texas Tech on Senior Night.
Returning to Manhattan, Entz had nothing to prove. But there was still the kind of pressure that arrives during every senior year.
"When I first decided to come back to K-State, I was like, 'OK, I need to have a good year, my best year yet,'" she said. "'I need to get drafted. I need to find a job just like everybody else.'"
The goal for Entz was to become a draft pick in the National Women's Soccer League.
No matter what your sport, getting drafted is never easy. In the NWSL, where each of the 10 clubs only have four picks, it means you're one of the best players in America.
Entz wasn't necessarily expecting to hear her name called, before the league's newest team, the still-to-be named Kansas City NWSL, made her one of the first draft picks in club history.
In that moment, Brookelynn Entz the soccer player finally knew where her professional career would begin.
But Brookelynn Entz the college student could also cross something off the postgrad check list.
"It's a huge weight [lifted]," she said. "Now that I have my job lined up, in a way, it takes the pressure off. But in another way, I still have that pressure to perform to a certain standard because I've been drafted, and eyes are on me."
Her relationship with Kansas City this season is a unique one. Entz plans to join the club in 2022, after playing her final season with K-State Soccer this fall, but helping build a women's soccer team in Kansas from scratch is basically her double major at this point.
"It's kind of like watching K-State Soccer at a higher level," she said. "There are similarities with how Coach Huw [Williams] is trying to build his team and how Dibbini is building his team here. Obviously, it goes quite a bit quicker in a professional league. I think they're doing a great job getting the fanbase behind them and creating their own style of play."
It's a little less clear how to be a fan of a team you're going to play for in about 10 months. Entz attended her first Kansas City match with Dibbini last month.
She said it still didn't feel real - not with one more year in Manhattan as a K-State soccer player.
That's all the time Entz has left in college, but she's already putting in the work to make her final season with the Wildcats count.
This summer, Entz is playing with FC Wichita, a team in her hometown. With several K-State teammates on the roster, she's training three times a week with games on the weekends.
When she returns to Manhattan for preseason camp, Entz will have 16 new faces on the roster, including one of the largest groups of transfer student-athletes in K-State Soccer history. Her role then is about making sure that the goals this program had at the end of last season don't change.
"We talk a lot about moving forward and not looking back," she said. "We don't want our goal to be the Big 12 Tournament anymore. Let's make it to the NCAA Tournament, let's win 10 games. We're kind of over the 'we're a new program, we're a new team' mindset."
With Entz back in the midfield, everything is on the table at Buser Family Park this season. Last week, she became the first Senior CLASS Award All-American in program history.
So, when she texts her head coach about emulating a soccer team that just did something nobody thought was possible, his response makes perfect sense.
"He was like, 'Don't talk about it,'" Entz said. "'Go do something about it.'"
The texts started during the College Cup Final on Monday night, as Marshall played No. 3 Indiana for the NCAA Men's Soccer National Championship.
Brookelynn Entz was watching. So was her head coach.
When the Thundering Herd scored a game-winner in the dying minutes of overtime, a team that won just a single conference game in 2016 was suddenly celebrating a national title.
"Well," Entz texted K-State head coach Mike Dibbini, "let's be Marshall."
Entz is already the program leader in every meaningful offensive category - the K-State Soccer media guide credits her with 28 different school records - including goals, assists and points. She also, finally, has time on her side.
And to borrow a phrase from the columnist Rory Smith, it is remarkable, really, what you can fit into that time in soccer when there is time for one last chance.
"There's a reason that I chose to come back for another year. I think I saw where this program can go, just based on what we did last season," Entz said. "I think we can do something special."
2020 was a strange and compressed season, not an ideal way for the most accomplished soccer player in K-State history to say goodbye.
Even with COVID-19 protocol impacting every game and without any non-conference matches, Entz and her senior class still managed to write a perfect ending.
The Wildcats rallied for three wins in their final five games, including a brace from Entz to beat Iowa State and a win over Texas Tech on Senior Night.
Returning to Manhattan, Entz had nothing to prove. But there was still the kind of pressure that arrives during every senior year.
"When I first decided to come back to K-State, I was like, 'OK, I need to have a good year, my best year yet,'" she said. "'I need to get drafted. I need to find a job just like everybody else.'"
The goal for Entz was to become a draft pick in the National Women's Soccer League.
No matter what your sport, getting drafted is never easy. In the NWSL, where each of the 10 clubs only have four picks, it means you're one of the best players in America.
Entz wasn't necessarily expecting to hear her name called, before the league's newest team, the still-to-be named Kansas City NWSL, made her one of the first draft picks in club history.
In that moment, Brookelynn Entz the soccer player finally knew where her professional career would begin.
But Brookelynn Entz the college student could also cross something off the postgrad check list.
"It's a huge weight [lifted]," she said. "Now that I have my job lined up, in a way, it takes the pressure off. But in another way, I still have that pressure to perform to a certain standard because I've been drafted, and eyes are on me."
Her relationship with Kansas City this season is a unique one. Entz plans to join the club in 2022, after playing her final season with K-State Soccer this fall, but helping build a women's soccer team in Kansas from scratch is basically her double major at this point.
"It's kind of like watching K-State Soccer at a higher level," she said. "There are similarities with how Coach Huw [Williams] is trying to build his team and how Dibbini is building his team here. Obviously, it goes quite a bit quicker in a professional league. I think they're doing a great job getting the fanbase behind them and creating their own style of play."
It's a little less clear how to be a fan of a team you're going to play for in about 10 months. Entz attended her first Kansas City match with Dibbini last month.
She said it still didn't feel real - not with one more year in Manhattan as a K-State soccer player.
That's all the time Entz has left in college, but she's already putting in the work to make her final season with the Wildcats count.
This summer, Entz is playing with FC Wichita, a team in her hometown. With several K-State teammates on the roster, she's training three times a week with games on the weekends.
When she returns to Manhattan for preseason camp, Entz will have 16 new faces on the roster, including one of the largest groups of transfer student-athletes in K-State Soccer history. Her role then is about making sure that the goals this program had at the end of last season don't change.
"We talk a lot about moving forward and not looking back," she said. "We don't want our goal to be the Big 12 Tournament anymore. Let's make it to the NCAA Tournament, let's win 10 games. We're kind of over the 'we're a new program, we're a new team' mindset."
With Entz back in the midfield, everything is on the table at Buser Family Park this season. Last week, she became the first Senior CLASS Award All-American in program history.
So, when she texts her head coach about emulating a soccer team that just did something nobody thought was possible, his response makes perfect sense.
"He was like, 'Don't talk about it,'" Entz said. "'Go do something about it.'"
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