Palmer Having an Impact

By: D. Scott Fritchen

She has three goals, and two of those goals count as game-winners, and she has four assists, and she has one school record. In seven games, she has darned near established statistical career-highs across the board. She's Hannah Palmer, who ranks eighth in the Big 12 with 1.43 points per game, who scored a goal in three straight games — a game-winner against Portland State, a game-winner against South Dakota, and a goal against UMass Lowell — and is already vaulting up the charts in Kansas State women's soccer.

By season's end, Palmer could be the most accomplished sophomore in program history.

But she has other kinds of goals, those goals inside her mind, that roll off the tongue on the other end of the phone, and you know she's smiling. She's smiling all right, because things are moving, the gears are in motion, and when you watch her on the pitch, man, she absolutely doesn't like to stand still. Wouldn't you smile, too, if you went from being a slight contributor on a moribund squad one year to being a headliner on a K-State team that is a blazing 5-1-1 and is off to its best start in program history?

"It's all really exciting, but more than anything I'm still unsatisfied because we still have so many games left in the season," she says. "It's about continuing to work hard and perform so my team can win. I just want to help my teammates so we can continue to do good.

"In every game, I've been able to have an impact. It's something I've really focused on, showing up every night and always being a spark for my team."

So far, Palmer, a 5-foot-3, forward from Overland Park, Kansas, is tied for eighth in K-State history with three goals this season. She is tied for second in K-State history, and has already set the sophomore record, with two game-winning goals in a season. She is tied for third in K-State history with four assists this season. She is tied for fifth in K-State history with 10 points and is just the fifth player with at least 10 points in a season. And she has tied the K-State record with a point in four-straight games.

Her journey from a year ago is multi-faceted, and her success is partly due to the changing times, as first-year head coach Colleen Corbin and her coaching staff installed a new offense that proved mightily effective in the non-conference season.

But Palmer's confidence began even in the spring, shortly after Corbin's hiring, when the Wildcats, their roster not yet fully intact, played a couple scrimmages. It was during this time that Palmer sensed a new and refreshing attitude among the Wildcats, a mindset that she hadn't felt before in Manhattan.

It was the feeling of not accepting defeat.

"The very first time we started to feel it was in the spring," she says. "We had a game against Creighton, who we knew was a really good team, and we lost, but after the game, it felt different than it had in the past. Everyone wasn't satisfied. In the past, it might've been, 'Well, we held them to one goal.' You could feel that everyone wasn't happy with the loss. We had Missouri State, a quality opponent that always does well, the next week, and beat them 3-0.

"Our bounce back, we could tell among this group of girls who were here already, that the mindset was different."

Meanwhile, Palmer took steps toward improving herself to the type of player we see nightly at Buser Family Park.

"A big part of it was just finding it within myself," Palmer says. "Our first game of the spring, I didn't have my best performance. After watching film of what went well and what didn't go well, I tried some new things and did really well. That was the beginning of how to play in this new style and how I wanted to play. Against quality opponents, I had the ability to compete at a high level. That's where my confidence began to grow. Through little things, and working on my own on the field, shooting, crossing, just continuing to build up what I have so far."

The change in offensive philosophy was a big plus as well.

"I've improved drastically," Palmer says. "Last year, we played a whole different style and formation. I'm more familiar with the style we're playing in now. In the past, we didn't have an identity in how we'd play. We played a 3-5-2 and now we play a 4-3-3. With our new formation, we all know what we're doing offensively, defensively, and in the press.

"Last year, I didn't have the most confidence. Looking back where I was a year ago versus today, I'm way more confident in my ability on and off the ball, and to read the field, and taking chances and trying new things, and not be afraid of failure."

Palmer is playing with the most confidence in her young career as K-State, 5-1-1, begins its ninth season of Big 12 Conference action on Thursday at 8:00 p.m., as the Wildcats make their first trip to Boulder, Colorado, to face Colorado, 6-1-1. Oh, Palmer and the Wildcats will also travel to Lawrence, Orlando, Stillwater, Houston and Lubbock as well during the daunting league season. K-State plays its Big 12 home-opener against TCU next Thursday at Buser Family Park.

K-State finished last in the Big 12 last season. The Wildcats failed to win a single league game. Palmer and her returning teammates remember the feeling all-too well. This year, K-State was picked last in the Big 12 preseason poll. Consider that fuel for this new determined K-State squad out to get wins.

"There's always the idea in the back of your mind that we were the worst team in the Big 12, but our team and our approach is we get to be the underdogs, and people aren't expecting us to win," Palmer says. "You look at the poll and every team picked us as last. We've chosen to look at it as a positive. It's given us motivation and a fire that we have all these people to prove wrong and we have literally nothing to lose. Why not come out and beat some really good teams at the beginning to scare some people?

"People aren't expecting to have a hard game when they play us. With our new team, we have the idea that we have the opportunity to beat everyone. It's ultimately up to us to get results on the field."

It's been quite a story already for Palmer, who hails from an athletic family that features current and former student-athletes from K-State and KU. Her brother, Beau, is a K-State linebacker. Her sister, Hailey, plays soccer at Missouri State. Her cousin, Casey, competes on the Princton track and field team. Her uncle, Adam, played quarterback at K-State in 1998 and 1999. Her grandfather, JD, played football at Kansas.

"My mom's side is definitely more KU because her dad played at KU for football," Palmer says. "My dad's side is more K-State. It's kind of a split in different ways. We were more like KU basketball fans and K-State football fans. I'd say we're more of a K-State family now, for sure. Now, yeah, we're definitely a K-State family."

Playing with the ultra-competitive Kansas Athletics ECNL, Palmer led her team in scoring for six straight seasons. At Blue Valley Southwest High School, she was an All-American who set school records with 25 goals in a season and 56 goals in a career. Multiple Power 4 schools reached out to Palmer, but following her official visits, she stayed close to home.

"This was the place I loved," she says.

And that love only continues to grow.

Which is why she stayed at K-State while some of her teammates left.

"We're in a place where we can have so much success," she says. "I felt there was so much more in me. I didn't get a ton of opportunities last year and knew that I could do great if given a chance. That's why I stayed, because I thought I'd get a chance, and given the chance I could help this team win.

"And that's what we need. We need to win."

Palmer and the Wildcats will get their next chance on Thursday night.

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Hannah Palmer

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