When Kayla Flanders ’23 arrived on campus in August 2019 for the St. Joe’s women’s soccer team preseason, the recruited walk-on felt the pressure to prove herself on the soccer field.
Flanders grew up as a ball girl for the St. Joe’s team. Her dream to play for the team one day was closer to reality as she warmed up on Sweeney Field.
“The first day of practice was our run test, and I was hyper focused on giving my best effort and trying to make a strong impression on the coaches and my teammates, who I just only met a day before,” Flanders said. “How you come into preseason says a lot about your commitment to the team.”
Flanders said she remembered being exhausted that week and having to take lots of ice baths to soothe her muscles.
Ultimately, the chemical biology major from Hainesport, New Jersey did make the team, but she didn’t play at all the first season, something not uncommon for a first-year walk-on. But, she kept working on her skills as a defender.
Flanders, who credited American soccer player Megan Rapinoe as one of her professional role models, worked 40 hours a week, getting extra touches on the ball but without seeing immediate results. She took to heart her coaches’ constructive criticism, which advised her to utilize her speed to get out of tricky situations and hold her own against bigger opponents. At first, she said it was hard not to let doubt creep in.
“Should I be here?” Flanders would ask herself. “Should I keep trying to invest all this time and effort into something that, maybe, I’m not good enough?”
During her sophomore year, she was given a shot to play in her first game, and she played the entire game.
“I went from only warming up before games to putting away 10 miles in a single game,” Flanders said.
The rest is history. Flanders went on to start in 41 games, tallying a total of 3,761 minutes played in her career. By the time she was a senior, she was named one of the team’s four captains.
Head Coach Jess Mannella praised Flanders focus on academics and athletics. Flanders is a part of the John P. McNulty Program For Leadership in Science and Mathematics, a program that provides full- and partial-tuition scholarships to women in STEM. Flanders is also a member of the Alpha Sigma Nu, Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi honors societies.
“The good thing about coaching [Flanders] is you ask her to do something, she’ll get it done, and she’ll process it and get it done,” Mannella said. “She’s very hardworking, and she’s very task oriented.”
Sophomore defender Amanda Maxson said Flanders is easy to get along with because she’s such a friendly person with so much energy. There were even times when Flanders would help Maxson out with some of her classes.
“She’s obviously such an inspiration because she always strives to do her best in everything,” Maxson said.
Flanders will be hanging up her cleats to attend law school this fall at the Cardozo Law School in Manhattan, New York City.
“I’m studying intellectual property law, so I’m hoping to apply my law degree to the biotech industry since my background is in science,” Flanders said.
Flanders said that despite how challenging college soccer was, she is going to miss all of the good things that have come out of it, and how they have shaped her into the person she is now. “It’s crazy to see something that you’ve been doing for so many years that you spend so much time on, kind of come to an end,” Flanders said. “It made me realize how important all of those skills and memories and the pain of waking up at 6 a.m. for spring practices made me into the person I am.”
