Leaving the Known for the Unknown

By: D. Scott Fritchen

Stadium lights beamed across the field at Buser Family Park, illuminating the white jerseys and dignifying the purple numerals, as Kansas State coaches and players huddled up on the manicured green soccer pitch at 8:42 p.m., pulling in tight, hands jetting together high in the pleasant sky, another mission complete, another win with a 3-1 victory over Colorado College that gave the Wildcats their best start in school history.

There are so many stories, so many to tell, about this team, and its coaches and its players, who are off to a 5-1-1 start heading into their first Big 12 Conference season together. K-State's journey begins with a date at Colorado at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, and with that the Wildcats seek their first conference win under first-year head coach Colleen Corbin. K-State did not win a Big 12 game last season.

And from the postgame huddle, sauntering toward the edge of the pitch, away from her coaches and teammates, is junior forward McKinnan Braswell, one of the many newcomers to help fill a roster with talent and experience from previous Power 4 schools.

"Hi, I'm McKinnan," she says, wearing the No. 15 jersey that seemingly covered the field during her 54 minutes of action. One minute an opposing player knocked her to the ground, prompting a penalty kick and subsequent goal for a 1-0 lead, and another moment she attempted a shot with a header that just missed the net, and another moment she recorded an assist for the Wildcats' third and final goal of the night. In between, she frustrated opposing players countless times, as she became a ball magnet, always on the move, never slowing, using brilliant vision, hitting teammates with sharp passes, relentless energy that seemingly intensified as the night wore on.

She grins while recounting the havoc and heroism she displayed to an impressive crowd in Manhattan.

"I'm a pretty dynamic player, pretty good offensively and defensively," she begins. "I see the field well, I like to create, I like to get down and make tackles and cause havoc in the middle and get us going forward. I'm quality with my right and left foot, which is a piece of my game, being able to technically hit the ball with my feet."

K-State has played seven games, and Braswell has started in every one — a realization that gives her joy, because it didn't used to be like this, two years at Mississippi State, so dear to her heart, yet at times excruciatingly painful, the fact that she played only 207 minutes in 13 total matches and recorded one goal and one assist. Greg and Megan Braswell, her parents, attended Mississippi State, and Megan was a member of Mississippi State's first soccer team in 1995. McKinnan was born in Starkville, Mississippi, had it in her blood to be a Bulldog, to breathe familiar air, to compete in the SEC, and to fulfill her soccer dream, which began when she was 3 years old.

"It was a comfortable place for me," she says. "My mom's love for the game sparked my love for the game, and her and my dad's love for Mississippi State was definitely a big reason why I went there.

"But I felt my values were overlooked, and I had talent that wasn't utilized. They want me to love soccer and to see me on the field just as much as I do."

Braswell made the tough decision to leave what she knew. She entered the transfer portal, a precarious world of uncertainty, an opportunity to thrive, which prompted an inquiry from K-State soccer that first day her name hit the transfer portal. She had never been in the Midwest. She had never worn purple. But she found comfort in the new K-State coaching staff, and their vision for the program and for their players, and she knew, just knew, that she had found a new home, far from what she knew, yet instantly attractive.

"I could see myself there," she says. "I wanted to check it out."

And what did she find?

"It's a college town and has a hometown vibe," she says. "Everybody supports K-State. It feels welcoming. The people here are friendly, super loving, and inviting. It's definitely my favorite thing."

And the fans showed up for K-State's final non-conference game against Colorado College. And they stood. And they cheered. And they stayed engaged. They applauded each shot attempt. They applauded each steal. Most of all, they stayed and cheered for the Wildcats as the final seconds ticked off the game clock for another victory by a lightly regarded squad that was picked last in the Big 12 preseason poll, yet appears to possess this magical drive, firepower, and indomitable will to win.

Understand, playing on a winning K-State team is all that many players of this team knows.

"Our culture is exactly what I expected," Braswell says. "The way Colleen and the coaching staff described it is exactly what I wanted in a program. I wanted to be somewhere where there was a belief they were going to win no matter previous records or past history of the program. All that has come to fruition.

"We bring grit and hard work every single day. There's not a day that practice isn't high intensity and everybody is growing together. It's fun. It's light-hearted and we get to enjoy it all together. That's the best part of it."

Now comes the gauntlet of the Big 12 season. It will take Braswell and her teammates to Boulder, Lawrence, Orlando, Stillwater, Houston and Lubbock. It will feature matches against Top 25 teams. It will be a stream of fiery soccer, some of the best soccer in the country, and proving ground nightly for a team nobody is talking about.

Oh, but Braswell and K-State could conquer some territory along this vast landscape of talent, they could open some eyes, and it could be a ride unlike any other in the history of K-State soccer.

And for a team that has been together for less than six months, that's pretty exciting.

"Especially after our non-conference success and with our record, we're at a good spot and we're really confident," Braswell says. "We're not going to back down from a challenge. We're not looking at ourselves like we're out of any game. Everybody looks at us as the underdog, and that's an even greater chance to knock teams off their feet.

"We're here to compete. We're here to win games."

And Braswell is able to contribute.

Which is what she dreamed of all along.

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

McKinnan Braswell

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