26 September, 2019

Soccer ace Kelli hopes to continue goal-fest party

Top football player Kelli Brown scored 11 goals in one match for New Zealand last month, but it was not her greatest achievement in the white shirt.

Brown (18), who joined the Forrest Hill Milford club this year, followed up the 11 goals in the 30-0 win against Samoa in the Oceania under-19 women’s championships with a hattrick in the team’s 5-0 win against Tahiti.

However, she still recalls a 30m strike against Finland in the Fifa World under-17 tournament in 2018 as her best moment on the world stage so far. It was nominated for goal of the tournament, in which New Zealand won bronze.

“Its probably the best goal I’ve ever scored – it was pretty surreal to see it on TV,” says Brown.

It was in sharp contrast to her goal fest against Samoa, which Brown described as “strange”.

“I was coming off a season where we were playing in a boys league (a Football Ferns team played in an Auckland under-17 Metro league) and we were getting beaten week in week out.

“So it was pretty cool to be scoring a few goals again.”

Brown, a winger, is hoping the goal-scoring form will continue for her Northern side in the seven-team National Women’s League which kicked off last Sunday. The finals are on 15 December.

A strong showing by Brown in the league could see her come into contention for the New Zealand squad for the 2020 Olympics in Japan.

“It would be awesome to be part of (the Olympics)… I just have to keep pushing myself and training hard and treating every game like a trial situation.”

Motivation is not a problem for Brown. “I just ask myself why – why am I doing this… you can’t slack off.”

Also looming is qualifying for the under-20 women’s World Cup in Nigeria. No dates have been set but is likely to be after the Olympics.

Brown hails from a lifestyle block outside Hamilton and began playing football aged four in a team coached by her aunt.

She joined Forrest Hill Milford this year, after enrolling for a three-year degree in sport and exercise science at AUT.

“Ideally I’d like to be a strength and conditioning coach to help out athletes.”

At the moment she is working on herself.

This article originally appeared in the September 27 edition of the Rangitoto Observer.