Waterloo junior Kaira English continues to dominate on the soccer field, having already scored 100 goals in her career just two games into her junior season.
Tom Nader/Portage Sports

By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

The Kaira English that walks the hallways of Waterloo High School is quiet and reserved, but always full of gentle smiles.

On the soccer field, English transforms.

“It is like it comes out of nowhere,” Kaira’s mother Nichole English said.

English is lightning quick, powerful shot, graceful with the ball.

She is aggressive and physical, but respectful.

And still full of smiles.

How could she not be?

As a freshman, English burst onto the scene as a phenom scored 39 goals.

As a sophomore, she remarkably outdid herself and scored 54 goals.

Just two games into her junior season, the milestones are already happening as she scored her 100th career goal on Monday in a commanding victory over Columbiana. She scored three goals in the team’s opener against Newton Falls and four more against the Clippers.

English becomes at least the fourth Portage County girls soccer player to top 100 goals for a career, joining Streetsboro’s Emma Flick (143), Garfield’s Olivia Dressler (137) and Garfield’s Katie Etling (102).

Flick’s total ranks fifth all-time in Ohio high school history.

In a game that is designed for scoring to be difficult, English’s prowess naturally brings the spotlight. It brings attention and notoriety, but English just wants to play soccer.

“I just try to help my team win games,” English said. “I feel like the goals I have scored have helped us win games and that is all we want to do.”

In fact, the Vikings have set lofty goals to win a lot this year, setting goals that teams in recent history would not have been able to attack.

“Our big goal this year is that we want to win the league,” said English, who also said she is excited to play with her younger sister, freshman Bayley, this year.

Kaira English spent the spring recovering from ankle surgery to repair torn ligaments — an injury from the end of basketball season when she landed on someone’s foot.
Tom Nader/Portage Sports

And the program has a trajectory that proves they are ready to make that jump. It has been a steady climb from 2-12-0 in 2018 to 4-10-0 in 2019 to 6-10-1 in 2020 and then the Vikings turned the corner in 2021 and went 9-5-1.

Waterloo was not far removed from challenging for the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference title last year, with New Middletown Springfield and Crestview being the Vikings’ top competitors again this year.

Pushing for a league title brings pressure-packed games, but English has never gotten caught up in what that means.

She simply plays.

“She has always been very calm and someone that does not let the pressure get to her,” Nichole English said. “She is a good teammate. She is not out there playing for the spotlight. She is out there to play the game because she loves it and she loves her team. She has always been modest about everything.”

Like many youth players, English’s career started modestly as part of the Waterloo Youth Soccer Association at 4 years old.

By age 7, though, her family could see that maybe there was something a little bit different about English compared to her peers.

And that continues to be the case.

English, though, had to train harder in preparation for her junior season after having surgery on her right ankle to repair torn ligaments dating back to a basketball injury in Waterloo’s last game of the 2021-22 season when she landed on someone’s foot.

The surgery was in March and she was placed in a cast and walking boot. With a recovery time of four months, it cost English her spring soccer season.

“It was really rough to sit and watch the games and not be able to play,” said English, who said once she was cleared to play, it took some time for her foot to adjust to playing again.

With seven goals in two games, consider the adjustment complete.