A Day in the Life: Kylee Beinecke

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When a Miami Soccer student-athlete —who's used to being busy literally all day long with sports and school— suddenly has some unexpected free time on her hands, how in the world will she spend it?

For senior forward Kylee Beinecke, that question will hit home at some point in the next month, whenever the final whistle blows to conclude the last-ever match of her soccer career. After having played the sport she loves for the past decade-and-a-half, Beinecke isn't quite sure what her life will look like when there's no more practice to attend, no 5 a.m. wake-up call for weightlifting or running, and no 'next opponent' on the schedule. Kylee Beinecke

"It's bittersweet," Beinecke said as she thought ahead to the RedHawks' Oct. 18 senior day. "Obviously I'm going to miss this program so much and miss the girls a lot. Soccer has taught me literally every life skill that I'll ever need.

"Being a student-athlete is very challenging, and it's definitely going to prepare me for the workforce and being out in the real world. But on the other side of that, I am excited to start the next chapter of my life.

"I've never known my life without soccer, so I feel like I'm going to have a little bit of an identity crisis at first. I'm literally going to have so much free time, that I won't know what to do!...I'm always going to be an athlete and a competitor, so finding new hobbies and new things that continue to challenge me is going to be interesting. I think I'll definitely train for a half marathon or something like that.

"But I'm excited to push myself in different ways, and excited for the next challenge."

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When a Miami Soccer student-athlete —who's used to being busy literally all day long with sports and school— suddenly has some unexpected free time on her hands, how in the world will she spend it?

Beinecke was faced with that exact same question, albeit on a much smaller scale, last Thursday as she waited for the RedHawks' 7 p.m. match against Akron to kick off. A normal Thursday for the senior Finance major involves a pair of classes after lunch in the Farmer School of Business building. 80 minutes of Portfolio Management followed by 80 minutes of Money and Banking makes the afternoon fly by with talk of asset allocation and stock price models until it's finally time to hustle to the locker room and prep for another game.

But on this particular day in the life of Kylee Beinecke, with one professor out of town and another under the weather, Beinecke found herself with not one, but two canceled classes, accounting for hours of unplanned empty space on her calendar once the RedHawks' morning scout session and walk-through wrapped up.

Kylee Beinecke studying

How would she keep herself occupied all day? Take a nap? Go for a drive? Watch a movie?

None of the above.

Beinecke, a self-proclaimed 'nerd', spent the majority of the day doing homework, because of course she did.

"I don't even know how to explain it," she laughed. "I love reading. I love learning. I genuinely like school."

So for nearly four hours in the middle of her day, the Academic All-MAC and Academic All-District honoree sat at her kitchen table juggling a notebook, a MacBook laptop, an iPad and an Apple Pencil as she tried to get ahead in her classes.

For a while, Beinecke, who is minoring in Emerging Technology in Business and Design, hand-drew potential landing screens on her tablet for a geolocated fitness-based app (part of a class project). She doodled exercise suggestions such as pilates and yoga on the wireframe, outlining various buttons that someone could click through if and when the app ever became reality. A 'Kylee's Recommended Workouts' heading included trips to Anytime Fitness, the park, and seemingly everywhere in between, while offering the ability to connect with other fitness enthusiasts inside a five-mile radius.

After Beinecke had transferred all of her notebook sketches onto the iPad, she transitioned to studying for a Business Law class. Terms like 'agency by estoppel' and 'employer-independent contractor relationship' flew by as Beinecke digested the information on the screen before taking a multiple-choice quiz about what she'd just read.

Beinecke's career path post-Miami is already plotted out, as a financial advising internship with J.P. Morgan this past summer led to a job offer for the Delaware, Ohio native to return home to the Columbus area after graduation and enter the workforce with that same firm. She's excited to be near her parents and longtime boyfriend Camden Rogers, a former Miami linebacker, while also looking forward to joining the finance industry full-time.

Kylee Beinecke with her parents and Camden Rogers — *From L: Rogers, Beinecke, and Beinecke's parents*

"It's such an awesome opportunity," Beinecke said. "If I told my high school self that I'd [end up with J.P. Morgan], I'd be like, 'What? That's SO cool.'

"This school has given me so many opportunities to grow and so many opportunities for my life past the college stage."

Beincke credits her success in the classroom and on the soccer field to the same general principle: Work hard, and the rest will take care of itself.

"My parents have always instilled in me that you don't have to be the smartest or the best at something, but you can always be the hardest worker," said Beinecke. "From a young age, I was always willing to do things that others weren't, such as extra fitness or extra sessions to better myself. I think I apply that with everything.

"In school, I'm not naturally gifted. I'm not a genius. I can't just not study for an exam and get a good grade. But if you put in the work and the hours, you obviously reap the benefits of it and can see that your hard work paid off in the end."

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As Beinecke began to mentally prepare for that evening's crucial conference match against the Zips, the same theme –what hard work can accomplish— echoed in her thoughts. Miami missed out on the MAC Tournament last season on a statistical tie-breaker, only to see the last and final team into the bracket then go on to win the championship the next week. "We had to score one more goal," Beinecke lamented.

"Every single team can win a MAC championship every single year. It's a fight: I love that about our conference. If you put in the work in the offseason, it always comes down to just a few points…

"Sometimes we need a reminder: Our foundation is built on hard work."

Earlier that morning in a second-floor Yager Stadium classroom, the RedHawks' film session had emphasized exactly that. While the video clips included a few of the usual obligatory Akron plays and set pieces, the majority of the highlights were surprisingly of Miami, not the opponent.

Over and over, the footage on the screen showed the RedHawks being scrappy, hustling, colliding, sprinting and tumbling. And after each goal for the Red and White, an alternate angle followed to show the players on the bench jumping and screaming in celebration.

The main emphasis from head coach Courtney Sirmans and her coaching staff was on the RedHawks' identity and what the team needed to do to be successful, regardless of who they were playing.

"This is about us," Sirmans said. "It's a great opportunity for us to be back home, under the lights. Defend your home, represent who we are, and get the first [home] three points of conference play."

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When the match kicked off later that evening, Beinecke would be manning her usual right wing position, marking her 70th career appearance and 59th start for the Red and White.

Kylee Beinecke

In other words, she's come a very long way from the five-year-old girl who refused to even go on the field for her first-ever soccer game.

"I literally was crying, and I made my parents take me home. I didn't even go out on the field that first day," Beinecke remembered. "I was a really shy, introverted kid, so being with new people, I was like, 'Oh, I hate this. I need to go home right now.'"

Fast forward to 2024, and somehow, the shy introvert who initially wanted nothing to do with the sport is a captain for her college soccer team. Go figure.

(That type of spotlight also makes for the occasional surreal moment, such as when Beinecke steps to the counter at the grocery store to pay for a sandwich and tries to ignore her face staring back at her from an oversized schedule poster behind the cash register picturing the team's three captains!)

"She has a very quiet personality, but she's extremely hard-working and that's just instilled from her family values – that you have to earn everything you're given," Sirmans said. "She's probably been our most consistent practice player all four years; she is constantly showing up, constantly working hard, and very, very consistent in training…

"That shows in her leadership qualities as well. People look at Kylee and see the way that she trains and that's why she has so much respect from her teammates…she's not one to say a lot, but when she does, it's very impactful…

"And when you talk about her consistency in training and always showing up, she is someone [on the field] who takes individual battles personally. When you put her in 1-v-1 situations, she's probably going to come out with the ball. Whether she's attacking or defending, she just really takes that responsibility to heart.

"'It's me versus you. And I'm going to beat you.'"

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"THE ONLY GAME THAT MATTERS THIS SEASON IS THIS ONE, AND THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS IS US!"

Miami Soccer starting lineup vs. Akron — *Beinecke (front center) and the rest of the RedHawks' Oct. 10 starting lineup*

Taylor Hamlett's voice echoed loudly through the huddle in the final moments before Miami's battle with Akron, as Beinecke and the other players in the circle nodded emphatically. The RedHawks were wearing their white Myaamia jerseys (highlighting the relationship between Miami University and the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma), as well as bright green ribbons in their hair in honor of World Mental Health Day. Beinecke, Hamlett and Makenna Morrison also sported their traditional red captains' armbands.

As she does before every match, Beinecke took a brief moment during the national anthem to breathe a silent prayer of thanks for being healthy enough to play. Outside of a small scooter mishap that led to a few stitches and caused her to miss two games this August, Beinecke has been a fixture in the Miami lineup since day one her freshman year— something that she doesn't take for granted.

"I think I've played in literally every single game I've been able to," said Beinecke, a 2021 MAC All-Freshman Team selection. "I know not all the girls get that luxury of playing, and I think the fact I've been able to step into this program and do that as a freshman, sophomore, junior and now senior – I'm really lucky to be a part of the program and that they trust me that much to be out on the field all the time."

The next 90 minutes showed why.

Beinecke raced up and down the right wing tirelessly whenever she was on the pitch, continually probing for opportunities to run at defenders so she could attempt to leave them in the dust. Her impact was especially obvious in the second half after Sirmans urged the RedHawks at halftime to 'be more exciting in the attack.'

"We have to get more shots on goal," the seventh-year head coach said, with the intermission scoreboard showing no goals for either side and only three shot attempts for the Red and White through 45 minutes. "We have no idea what [their goalkeeper] is capable of. We haven't challenged her!"

Kylee Beinecke

The final 20 minutes of the match included two dangerous chances that both involved Beinecke with the ball at her feet, right where she always wants it.

A shoulder from Akron's Jordanne Oberhaus near the 75:30 mark sent Beinecke sprawling to the ground in the box, but despite the outcry from Miami fans wanting a penalty kick, the collision was ruled not to be a foul. Mere seconds later, Beinecke recovered to get off a cross that connected with Morrison in the middle, but the ensuing header went low and wide.

And then, with just over seven minutes left, Beinecke fired a long looping shot from the right that seemed destined to sneak inside the left goalpost…

…but Akron's Sara Bower leaped to her right to tip it away and preserve the shutout.

When the clock showed full time, the score remained just as it had an hour and a half earlier.

Miami 0, Akron 0.

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Cup half-full? Or cup half-empty?

Perhaps the biggest compliment to what Sirmans and Miami Soccer have built over the past half-dozen years is how disappointed the RedHawks seemed with the result as they trudged off the field.

"Obviously we got a point from the game, but it's frustrating," goalkeeper Dominique Popa said to her teammates in the postgame huddle. "We can't be happy.

"If we want to make the tournament and hold down the standards of our program, that needs to be a win."

Sirmans agreed with that sentiment, while also trying to highlight some of the positives for her players. The Red and White secured a clean sheet thanks to Popa's three saves, were credited with eight shots of their own in the second half, and remained unbeaten at home since Oct. 5, 2023 (a run of eight straight matches including a draw with nationally-ranked South Carolina earlier this season).

"Five years ago, even three years ago, we would have been satisfied with a tie," Sirmans explained later. "This group knows we're underachieving right now…it's crushing and heartbreaking because we're not where we want to be, but it's just about reminding them that we still CAN be where we want to be."

Beinecke also saw both the positives and negatives associated with the evening's scoreless tie. Kylee Beinecke on sideline at Miami-Akron match

Kylee Beinecke on sideline at Miami-Akron match

"It's good to get a point because every point counts," she sighed. "With teams that make the tournament, it's literally decided by one point…

"But we know that we should have won that game. We played better than they played, we had a lot of chances, and we definitely had them on the back foot in the second half. It's frustrating that we can't put a goal away…

"Yes, we got a point, but we can push harder…our team's been talking about consistency more. We'll have a stretch of two or three really good games, then a bad one. It's about putting it all together and being really consistent."

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What Beinecke's team needs down the stretch —consistency— is exactly what the senior forward is known for, which bodes well for the RedHawks' postseason hopes.

"You have to earn people's trust in order to be a leader…but you also have to show up on the athletic side too," Beinecke said. "My teammates know that I'm someone who shows up every day and works hard, and they can trust that when I get out on the field I'm going to work as hard as I can.

"It's about being able to hold people accountable, but also hold yourself to the highest standard."

"You always know what to expect from her," said junior Rachel Noonan as she sat across from Beinecke at the RedHawks' daily go-to brunch spot, Fridge & Pantry, earlier that morning. "On a friendship level, academic, or athletic: Kylee's just a very consistent person. She honestly cares about what she's doing, and she's a leader in the little things…

"She's not afraid to ask the hard questions…I feel like you have to establish a relationship with people before you can actually lead them, and she's done that really well.

"But friendship-wise, you never know what's going to come out of her mouth," Noonan continued with a laugh. "Half the time I'm prepared for something so serious, and then it's like, 'Look at my breakfast this morning – isn't this fire?!' Thanks, Ky."

All joking aside, with just four regular-season matches remaining over the last half of October, including three at home, everyone associated with Miami Soccer knows it's now or never to start stringing results together, and Beinecke's even-keeled leadership will certainly be a big piece of that puzzle.

"We've talked with this group about how our teams in the past ride this emotional rollercoaster: The high's too high and the low's too low," Sirmans said. "That's what Kylee is really good at. It doesn't matter what happened yesterday because it's over; all I can control is right now. She's someone who's constantly in the present and doesn't dwell on [the past], but just moves on.

"That's going to help us in games, because we could really dwell on the last five or six games in conference and think, 'Oh, this should have happened and we should have done that.' But we can't go backwards…

"We have to keep moving forward, and Kylee's great with that."

Find more Front Row Features at: MiamiRedHawks.com/FrontRowFeatures

Kylee Beinecke and the rest of the RedHawks' seniors will be recognized Friday, Oct. 18 as Miami hosts Ball State at 7 p.m. at Bobby Kramig Field. Admission is free.

Miami Soccer 2024 seniors — *From left: Miami seniors Kaiya Boyd, Jamie Hlebec, Beinecke, Hamlett, Mercedes Schroer, Morrison, Ella Futch*

Players Mentioned

Kylee Beinecke

Taylor Hamlett

Makenna Morrison

Rachel Noonan

Dominique Popa

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