By FRED KRONER
Fifty-five years ago, the leading receiver on the Southeast Missouri football team was Chuck Koerner.
His 699 receiving yards that season (1966) was the second-best total at the university between 1962 and 1987.
Koerner played his home games for the Redhawks at Houck Stadium, an 11,015-seat facility that was built in 1930.
In 2022, the Koerner connection at SEMO will be continued.
Mahomet-Seymour junior soccer player Cayla Koerner – Chuck Koerner’s granddaughter – has committed to playing at the Cape Girardeau, Mo., school.
The women’s soccer team plays its home matches at Houck Stadium.
“This is a huge opportunity,” Cayla Koerner said, “and an honor to play at the same school and in the same stadium.”
Cayla Koerner committed to SEMO prior to playing a match for M-S in her junior year, which started last week with two matches.
“With my (scholarship) offer, I didn’t know how long it would be there,” Cayla Koerner said. “I bonded well when I was at camp and the coach (Heather Nelson) has established a strong culture.”
Nelson is SEMO’s only women’s soccer head coach, starting the program in 1999. Five times (including 2019), she was the Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year.
Her current SEMO team – playing this spring – has a 7-5 record. The second win of the season was her 200th at the school, where the associate head coach is her husband, Paul.
Mahomet-Seymour’s soccer program was shut down last spring by COVID-19. Koerner’s scholarship offer came after just one season of varsity soccer.
M-S girls’ soccer head coach Jeremy Davis wasn’t surprised.
“I think it is a sign of her tenacity,” Davis said. “Her and her family were pretty committed to getting looked at in college showcases.
“That combined with playing on an elite girls’ team out of Bloomington definitely helped.”
The 5-foot-5 Koerner is a striker who has been involved with three of the four goals scored by M-S in its first two matches. She has two goals and one assist.
Early in the recruiting process, Koerner and her father put a plan in place. Some universities were immediately ruled out.
“I was looking in a 4-hour radius (of Mahomet),” Cayla Koerner said. “Ultimately, SEMO stood out.”
Koerner was also a starter on the Mahomet-Seymour girls’ basketball team. It was in that endeavor that Bulldog girls’ basketball coach Garret Risley learned of the magnitude of Koerner’s interest in and commitment to soccer.
“Even in basketball, she has a knack for squeezing some soccer into our practice,” Risley said. “I’d often find her juggling the basketball during water breaks or I personally played the victim to one of the new soccer moves she’d been working on that week.”
Cayla Koerner’s soccer career started in first grade. By third grade, she was playing on a travel team.
Three years later, she was setting goals for beyond high school.
“In sixth grade, I started working hard and with a personal trainer, who was encouraging to me,” Cayla Koerner said.
She made an immediate impact as a freshman with the Bulldogs in the spring of 2019.
Davis said Koerner exhibits the traits that generally lead to success.
“Even as a freshman, she was able to start and score an incredible amount of goals at the varsity level due to her ability to create on the dribble and to finish changes with both feet,” Davis said. “I anticipate her being quite difficult to defend for most teams we play this year and continuing to consistently find the back of the net.
“I definitely think she will find success at SEMO over her four years as her work ethic and drive will ensure that she continuously grows.”
Koerner burst onto the high school scene in impressive fashion as a ninth-grader. She led a 24-2 M-S team in scoring with 28 goals and wound up third on the team in assists with 19.
Koerner said her preference for soccer over basketball is based on the numbers.
“The team chemistry,” she said. “In basketball, there’s only five to work with. In soccer, there’s 11 to distribute the ball.”
Koerner has paid her dues along the way to be a player in demand by college coaches.
“The first word that comes to my mind is ‘competitor,’” Davis said. “She loves to compete and push herself.
“She is so driven. On the field she has such a strong motor. Her ability to play at such a high speed both off and on the ball has allowed her to stand out throughout her career.”
While she has gotten recognition for the goals scored, Koerner said the credit goes beyond what she has done individually.
“I’ve never scored a goal that wasn’t passed to me first,” she said. “My teammates and coaches are the ones that have gotten me where I am now.
“I am very thankful for my teammates and coaches.”
Risley said he believes the reason Koerner was able to play at a high level in basketball are the same ones that make her valuable on the soccer pitch.
“After having coached Cayla this past year in basketball, I can see why she’d be such a talent on the soccer field as well,” Risley said. “Although I know little about soccer, I’m sure the speed that led her to be our steals leader in basketball and a force in transition also translates well into her soccer game.
“On top of all the attributes that a spectator can see, such as her strength, athleticism, and aggressive play, I know her coaches at SEMO will appreciate the selfless leader they’re getting.
“Cayla constantly builds her teammates up and holds herself to a high standard on and off the court or field.”
Koerner said there is no off-season for her in soccer. Even during the high school basketball season, which ran from Feb. 1 to March 13, she was actively involved with her club soccer team in Bloomington, which she joined at the outset of her eighth-grade year.
“I’m always involved with soccer,” she said, “no matter what day it is.”
Risley sees the intangibles in Koerner that help separate her from others.
“A lot of high school athletes want to play at the next level, but don’t have the maturity to work on a consistent basis to reach that level,” Riley said. “That’s not the case for Cayla.
“She has a strong understanding of the amount of work it takes to perform at a high level and fully commits and enjoys that work.
“For all these reasons, I’m confident that she’ll have a positive collegiate experience at SEMO.”
Risley has found Koerner to be receptive to coaching.
“She’s a thoughtful listener and is intentional with her actions regardless of the setting,” Risley said. “She wants to be the best at whatever she’s doing and that competitiveness is contagious to her teammates.
“I’m thankful for the opportunity to coach her and excited to see where her journey in soccer takes her these next couple years and into college.”
Koerner has nearly two full seasons of high school competition before she gets to SEMO. At the moment, she won’t look too far ahead.
“I’ll push SEMO aside,” she said. “The chemistry of the high school team is something I look forward to.”
When she gets to college, Cayla Koerner plans on majoring in elementary education. In that path, she will follow another grandparent.
“My grandmother (Jane Koerner) also attended SEMO,” Cayla Koerner said.
