Ardrey Kell soccer team is No. 1 in NC, and a dose of modesty has team ready for playoff run
The Ardrey Kell girls’ soccer team is ranked No. 1 in the state. The team has strong defense, excellent goalkeeping, an efficient offense, and some of the best coaching you’ll find in the sport.
And the Knights also have the Karma Clap.
It’s a mix of superstition and humility, and it might explain a lot about why Ardrey Kell (20-1-1) is among top contenders for this year’s 4A girls’ soccer state championship.
Playoffs began Monday evening, with the No. 2 seed Knights beating Porter Ridge 6-0. Ardrey Kell will host rival South Mecklenbug in a second round game Thursday at 7 p.m.
“Watch what happens when I say this,” head coach Kim Montgomery told a visitor during a recent afternoon practice.
Montgomery turned to her players, standing about 25 feet away, and yelled, “You look like you’re going to win.”
Almost in unison, Knights’ players raised their arms over their heads and did a single clap.
“That’s the Karma Clap,” explained junior defender Carly Montgomery, a Florida commit and one of the head coach’s two daughters on the team.
Players said it originated a year ago, when now-graduated team captain Anna Marie Switzer brought it back from a camp she attended.
The idea is that if anyone says anything particularly positive about the team, players do a single clap — to remind themselves to stay grounded.
“It helps remind us that we have to work hard and work together,” added junior defender Kayley Newman.
The Knights have expanded on the concept, adding Karma Clap rules and regulations. But they said humility is a big part of who they are.
So is togetherness.
Like many highly successful teams, the 2022 Ardrey Kell girls’ soccer squad has been a long time in the making.
Many of the players became friends playing together as young children.
“We’ve played together since we were 8 years old,” Newman says. “We know how each other plays. We know each other’s next moves.”
Kim Montgomery, a former standout player at N.C. State and later in professional soccer, has known many of her players for a long time, too.
“My daughters grew up playing with a lot of these girls,” she says. “There has been a base of friendship.”
The Knights have lost once this season — 1-0 on April 19 at South Mecklenburg. Kim Montgomery said that setback was a valuable step in her team’s progress.
Sophomore forward Taylor Suarez, who leads the team in goals with 13, spent three weeks this spring playing with the U.S. National Under-17 team, at a tournament in the Dominican Republic. The South Mecklenburg match was the first of six she missed while in the Caribbean.
“Our players had some trouble, adjusting without her,” Kim Montgomery says. “It was our first match after spring break, and we really hadn’t prepared for being without Taylor.”
“It was tough,” Carly Montgomery says. “But we learned, and I think we got better as a result.”
Late in the South Mecklenburg match, the Knights created several scoring opportunities, although they couldn’t cash in.
“I knew, that with all the scoring chances we created, that we would be OK,” Newman says.
Ardrey Kell won its next three matches by 9-0 scores, and by the time Suarez returned about 10 days ago, the Knights were a different team.
“It made it easier for me to step back in,” Suarez said.
Ardrey Kell didn’t dodge tough competition either. The Knights finished their regular season with a trip to the Asheville area, beating mountain powers A.C. Reynolds and T.C. Roberson in back-to-back matches — and surviving without water the first night they spent at the mountain home the team rented.
“That was no fun,” Carly Montgomery recalled. “But it was a good bonding experience.”
This is a young team, with eight freshmen and sophomores on the roster. One of those freshmen, Ellie Riechman, leads the team in assists.
“All the older players were great in working with us,” Riechman says. “They’ve made it a lot of fun.”
Suarez added, “We all have the same goal. We all have that same mindset.”
And they have the Karma Clap.
“That’s one reason why coming to practice is the highlight of my day,” Kim Montgomery said. “Being around this team is a lot of fun.”
Steve Lyttle on Twitter: @slyttle
This story was originally published May 16, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
