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One thing keeps Hanover Central senior forward Kiara Desiderio going.
It pulled her through four varsity seasons and will remain the carrot she’s chasing at Valparaiso University next year.
“I just want to see how much I can score,” she said.
Desiderio, the 2024 Post-Tribune Girls Soccer Player of the Year, scored a lot during her final season for the Wildcats, tying a state record with 83 goals. But numbers like that are only one part of the legacy she’s leaving behind at Hanover Central.
The goals were Desiderio’s most obvious contribution, of course, due to the sheer volume of the total. She scored 241, the second-best career mark in state history, according to the Indiana Soccer Coaches Association’s record book.
Desiderio’s favorite goal was the last one, which sent the Class 2A semistate championship game against Mishawaka Marian into overtime. The Wildcats lost in penalty kicks.
“I was just so happy that we were able to tie that game,” she said.
But focusing too much on the goals ignores the extent of Desiderio’s impact on a program that had just one sectional title before she arrived and has five as she leaves. Hanover Central coach Jim Pattison said there’s a different atmosphere around the program, largely because of Desiderio.
“She was one of several players who changed the culture of how we approach day-to-day practices,” Pattison said. “They approach it with a lot more effort. Even as good as she was, she never took a drill off, and that culture she instilled in the younger players is going to carry on for a long time.”
Desiderio’s teammates also noted her work ethic.
“Seeing her work really hard drove everyone else to work hard and not slack off,” senior defensive midfielder Sarah Pena said. “She easily could’ve said, ‘Oh, I’m the best player. I don’t have to do that drill.’ But she drove the younger girls to try their best.”
That extra intensity at practice was intentional. Desiderio said she started focusing more on practice drills once she noticed how much that extra attention was improving her game, turning her into a goal-scoring machine.
“I just developed it over time,” she said. “I wanted to do my best in everything. At practice, you can always be better, and from all the effort you put in at practices, then you show that off in games.”
Senior defender Shea Garringer said Desiderio’s competitive spirit influenced the team, too, with younger players willing to go one on one against her in drills or scrimmages to prove themselves against their talented teammate.
“They wanted to impress her,” Garringer said. “And she wasn’t doing it just because she was really good. She wanted to be here.”
Pena said Desiderio also had a knack for encouraging teammates. After reviewing game film, Desiderio would return to practice and dish out compliments.
“She’d have a really good game where she’d score, like, 10 goals, but she was still pointing out the good thing you did to contribute to the team,” Pena said. “She’d go back and watch our games and then tell everyone what they were good at.”
Desiderio said she wanted her teammates to experience what she did.
“I just wanted to uplift the others so they’d become better players,” she said. “They’d been trying their best at practice, so it was really good seeing them do that in games.”
Perhaps Desiderio was simply returning the favor. She was quick to point out that the goals she scored — including 52 as a freshman, 61 as a sophomore and 45 as a junior — were so often the result of a group effort, whether a pass sprang a breakaway or kind words from a teammate boosted her confidence.
“It’s just been amazing, all the support I’ve received, with all of the people who believed in me and the positives we had throughout this entire year,” she said. “This senior class, we’ve always had the same mindset. We just tried to set a better standard for the younger girls.”
Dave Melton is a freelance reporter.
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