After her blast was turned away by the Providence goalkeeper, Amy Kee turned and raced downfield.

Though she had played the entire 66-plus minutes to that point and Syracuse led Providence 8-0, Kee took off from the middle of the shooting circle to chase down the Friars’ counterattack. She sprinted past players from both teams toward the SU net and recovered in time to prevent the Friars from getting a shot off.

 ‘She prides herself on defense,’ SU head coach Ange Bradley said. ‘She’s the leader of our defense and she wanted to make sure that we had a shutout today.’

Kee’s relentless attitude has set the tone for the Syracuse defense. She will be anchoring the Orange defense again on Sunday when the Orange (10-2, 3-0 Big East) take on Columbia (4-5, 2-1 Ivy League) at J.S. Coyne Stadium. Though she will be lining up inside SU’s 25-yard line on defense at the start of the game, Kee will be all over the field once play begins. Besides forcing turnovers by pressing opposing forwards from her position on defense, Kee is also an offensive threat. She is an effective passer and has arguably the strongest shot on the team.

Her versatility making plays on both ends of the field has been crucial to Syracuse’s success this season.

In that game against Providence, Kee got the ball rolling on more than one of SU’s goals.  Kee said she reads the defense in each game and takes what it gives her.

And Kee did that against the Friars, setting up the SU offense with passes to the forwards upfield. Again and again, Kee put the Orange in position to score by bypassing the midfield level and catching the Friars defense out of position.

She delivered these sweeping, grounded passes with pace and accuracy.

‘That’s always something you look for when you’re coming out of the back,’ Kee said. ‘You look for, if you’ve got a first-level pass, if that’s not on, then you can look to hit behind the play.’

But as on-point as her passes are, it is her powerful stroke that stands out in games. Opposing forwards regularly turn their backs to protect themselves when they see Kee winding up to send the ball to the offense.

And that power is on display when she gets involved on offense, too.

In live-game action, opportunities for Kee to utilize her strength are few and far between. She just doesn’t have the time to set up for shots. But on penalty corners, the Orange often targets Kee, whether it be with a direct pass by the inbounder or off a touch from a teammate.

Holding a 1-0 advantage over a slower, less-skilled Massachusetts team last Sunday, Kee had an opportunity to extend team’s lead after the Orange earned a corner in the 56th minute.

Kelsey Millman flung the ball into play to midfielder Liz McInerney at the top of the shooting circle. McInerney possessed the ball with her first touch, and laid it off to the left with her second. The pass appeared to be intended for Heather Susek, who was already winding up, but Kee waited behind the forward ready to shoot as well.

Susek intentionally missed the slow-roller, leaving it for Kee. She then finished the play, precisely sending the ball into the bottom-left corner, past the outstretched glove of the diving UMass goalkeeper.

‘Amy was on in warm-ups today,’ Bradley said. ‘She was really striking the ball well, so we went with that.’

Kee even does the small things well, such as throwing aerials, a type of lofted clearance used by backs, Bradley said.

As diverse as Kee’s talents are, her most beneficial attribute may be her ability to make the players around her better. Her influence as a leader has been unmistakable in games this season.

Bradley called Kee the team’s ‘speaking captain’ after SU’s season-opening win against Monmouth. And throughout the season, she has lived up to that name.

She regularly directs her fellow defenders to keep formation and press-up against opposing forwards.

‘Amy’s a huge talker,’ Nicole Nelson said after the UMass game. ‘She’s really good at organizing and getting people into positions when they need to be ready for the counter-attack and stuff like that.’

Kee does it all for the Orange. She is a leader on defense and a scoring threat on offense. For Bradley, that versatility and leadership makes her a one-of-a-kind player.

‘She’s just one of the top players in the country,’ Bradley said after the UMass game. ‘… She is an all-around complete player. She is a good one.’

sebail01@syr.edu

Published on October 5, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Stephen: sebail01@syr.edu | @Stephen_Bailey1