Gulf South Conference

By Maurice Patton

Graduating high school as the eighth all-time leading scorer in the state of Tennessee, Kelsey Wilkes knows how to put the ball in the net.
   
The Union University senior striker continues to display that ability, with a pair of pivotal goals in a couple of Lady Bulldogs contests last week that resulted in her recognition as Gulf South Conference Player of the Week.

Wilkes scored the only goal of the game as Union defeated Alabama Huntsville, 1-0, and added the equalizer in an eventual 2-2 tie with West Alabama.

“It’s something we’ve seen, but everybody’s seeing it now,” coach Isaac Brooks said of Wilkes, who has three goals and three assists as the Lady Bulldogs (4-4-3 overall, 4-2-2 GSC) prepare for road games at Valdosta State and West Georgia this weekend.

“The past couple of years we’ve dealt with injuries and a few other things that have made it difficult. This is the first year we’ve been able to put all the pieces together, and it’s allowed her and the other seniors to go out and play their games. We’ve had to ask them to play a few other roles the last couple of years, but this year it’s been exciting because we’ve recruited girls to come in and do other jobs. We’ve been able to let (the seniors) loose this year and everybody’s seeing the results.”

Wilkes entered the year with 10 career goals, scoring four as a freshman and four last season. In four years at Page High School in Franklin, Tenn., she finished with 154 career goals.

“Since this is my last season, I’m just working as much as I can,” she said. “We’ve had rough starts in past seasons, so this season I wanted to go in strong as a team and individually and just see how far we could go. I put in a little more work, trying to help my team out as much as I can.”

Wilkes and her classmates were freshmen when Brooks made the transition from assistant to head coach, and were also part of Union’s transition from NAIA to NCAA Division II status.

“We knew we needed some good players that would be able to carry us through those years,” Brooks said. “Kelsey started as a freshman. We expected her to be a fairly important piece of the puzzle. I think what we’ve got going on right now is, I’ve been working with this group for four years, the mentality’s there, and the hard work is finally starting to pay off.”

As a senior, Wilkes knew her skills would be even more important this season.

“We lost a couple of key strikers the last couple of years,” she said. “I think I’ve needed to step up a little more in goal-scoring and assisting, which I’m completely fine with, just so we can have more of an offensive attack.”

At the same time, she’s seen her role increase as it relates to team chemistry.

“We came in with a lot of freshmen that have been extremely helpful to our program, and we’ve been really unified,” she said. “We’re all working for each other, throughout practices and in games. It seems more team oriented. These freshmen that have come in have definitely been looking up to the seniors. I felt a responsibility to help lead them by my work and however I can, on the field and off the field.”

Both with her goal-scoring and ball-handling ability, Wilkes figures to impact the Lady Bulldogs’ prospects as the season continues.

“Kelsey’s been putting the ball in the back of the net, but what she does really well is she gets the ball and she’s able to break defenses down with her dribbling ability,” Brooks said. “She’s got a few assists here and there, as things are starting to open up for us.

“She gets the ball in the midfield and takes off on the dribble and the end result is she’s been able to put in a couple of goals for us, but where she’s really dangerous is in the middle of the field, breaking other teams’ defenses down.”