Kelli Hoffman winds up to send the ball during a 7-2 loss at Princeton on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015. (Staff photo by Samantha Sciarrotta.)
When she was about 6, Robbinsville High School junior Kellie Hoffman had the sort of schedule some CEOs keep. She was in dance, did gymnastics, played soccer and, if she could fit it in, she would do lunch with friends.
But those activities slowly whittled away to one.
In dance, Hoffman got stage fright at her first recital and never returned. In gymnastics, she had a male coach, which, for some reason, didn’t sit well with her so she dropped that.
Soccer, however, was a different story. It was a team sport, so it wasn’t her trying to tap dance all by herself in front of a roomful of strangers. Despite having a similar issue as with gymnastics when she first started—she didn’t like playing with the boys as the only girl on a co-ed team—Hoffman learned to love it.
“My size (5-foot-8) obviously helps me, I’m a lot taller than everyone,” she said. “And I like it because not many sports use your feet. I like the way the ball works on technical skills at your feet, and I wasn’t always good with hand eye coordination. I was always better with my feet.”
There was also one specific incident, which she felt was the moment she realized she had a future in soccer.
“I remember when we moved to a mini-field with real goals,” she said. “I was playing defense, and the ball was rolling toward me and I went to take a shot because it was an open net. I was on the other side of the field. It was a relatively small field, so I just shot it, and it went over everyone’s heads and went in the goal. That’s when I realized ‘Wow, I have a strong kick.’ Ever since then I knew can make shots from out far, or I can place them when I’m close.”
She also got used to playing with the boys during those first two years and embarked on what is becoming a darn good career. Hoffman played Robbinsville travel soccer in fourth grade, moved to the Jet program and is currently with the New Jersey Rush, which plays up in age bracket to toughen players up for high school and, hopefully, college.
Now, Hoffman quite possibly the most versatile player Ravens’ veteran coach Karen DeRossett has ever had. And DeRossett has coached state champion teams.
“When I had forwards and I had to put them in the back, they couldn’t do it,” DeRossett said. “I put her back there, and she does a great job. She’s the one who can play anywhere. In my opinion, if you’re a good soccer player you can play anywhere well, and she’s the epitome of that.”
Her resume bears that out. Throughout travel soccer, Hoffman played center-back on defense. When she arrived at Robbinsville as a freshman, DeRossett needed someone to score goals and switched her to forward because of her speed. Not only was she on varsity in ninth grade, she was playing a new position and managed to score six goals.
“It was tough because I was the youngest player on the field,” Hoffman said. “I never really played with them before so it was kind of cool getting the hang of playing with Leanna (Gearhart) and working the ball up the field. By mid-season, they realized they had to trust me because they realized ‘Hey, she can actually play with us even though she’s so young.’”
It helped that her older sister, Rachel, who played field hockey but was friends with the senior soccer players, delivered a message to Kellie that boosted her confidence.
“She’d ask them ‘How’s Kellie doing?’ and they’d say ‘Actually a lot better than we thought, she’s really good,’” Hoffman said. “So she came home and said ‘Kel, they think you’re really good, you can do this.’”
It has progressed from there. Last season, Hoffman exploded for 17 goals, falling just four short of the school’s single-season record. A growing confidence helped her output.
“I was older, I wasn’t the newbie,” she said. “All the younger girls came to me and kind of looked up to me. I thought ‘OK, I need to make an impression and set my pace for this team the next three years.’ I started right off the bat, kept going and kept getting stronger and stronger.’”
Hoffman is back at forward this year and scored the game-winning goal in Robbinsville’s third game of the season, a 2-1 win over Ewing. It was her first goal and the Ravens’ first victory of the season.
“I felt a lot of pressure from not scoring those first two games,” she said. “But I figured it was going to come. I usually start slow.”
Asked if Hoffman puts too much pressure on herself, DeRossett laughed and said “I think we all put it on her. She’s our go-to player, probably one of the best on the team. We do look for her. Unfortunately, it’s a hard burden to carry, but I’m not lying, I do look to her for that.”
And yet, DeRossett looks to Hoffman for so much more. While she has the potential to break scoring records if she plays up front all year, situations will dictate where the coach puts her.
“She’s one of those players, depending on who we play is where she’s going to play,” DeRossett said. “She’s going to play defense when we play against the tougher schools, because we’re going to need her in the back. When it’s a team where we’re going to need scoring opportunities, she’ll be up top. She’s really dynamite wherever she is. She has a great sense of the game.”
Hoffman feels her instincts and knowledge have accumulated just through playing the sport for so long. She also got an F Coaching License and coached 8-year-olds last summer. Kellie felt that experience can also help her as a player because it makes her realize that some things she is teaching, she should also be doing.
But while she doesn’t consider herself a true “student of the game,” her words seem to dispute that as she sounds like someone who studies soccer intently.
For instance, in talking about how to beat the frequent double-teaming she is seeing this year, she said, “It’s a lot more trying to contain the ball, knowing when pressure is going to be on you, so you have to play a lot quicker, keep your head up, know where everyone is.
“You have to know to make those runs sooner,” she continued. “But the pressure is tight and you’re not going to be able to turn with it as much. So you have to get the passes quick, look for give and goes, just to get away from your mark. That can really help.”
She then offered an explanation of how being a defender in travel ball helps her as a forward in high school.
“When I’m going 1v1 on defense, I know what moves get me,” she said. “Normally when I’m on defense I notice what foot is stronger for the attackers. So sometimes if I’m on offense, they think I’m gonna go right, so I’ll go left. Or if they’re typically pushing me toward the outside, maybe I’ll find a cross or weave it through the middle.”
Hoffman is more than just a soccer head, however. She attends student council meetings and is part of Robbinsville’s Project Unicef Club. Outside of school, she enjoys hiking and biking with her family and friends, or she and her mom will take in some antique sales at nearby barns, and perhaps stroll around the farm.
“I like to be outside,” she said. “I like to stay busy.”
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