Dinges shines for unbeaten Crusaders

Playing alongside Megan Pawloski and her 124 career goals, it’s easy for the other girls on the Althoff soccer team to get overlooked.

But Kelsey Dinges has earned her time in the spotlight.

Dinges, a 5-foot-6 junior, forms a lethal one-two punch with Pawloski, a senior and a University of Illinois recruit. Her 59 points (19 goals, 21 assists) lead the team while Pawloski has 51 points on 23 goals and five assists.

As a sophomore, Dinges had 70 points on 21 goals and 28 assists and was third on the team behind Megan Jaskowiak (30 goals, 13 assists, 73 points) and Pawloski (43 goals, 19 assists, 105 points). As a freshman in 2008, Dinges had 22 goals and 19 assists for 63 points to place third behind Pawloski and Jaskowiak as Althoff placed second in the Class AA state tournament.

“Megan Pawloski is a goal scorer and she just gets it done, but Kelsey Dinges is a great complement to Megan because she can pass the ball and find the open space,” said Crusaders coach Juergen Huettner, whose team takes a 14-0 record into Monday’s home game against Carbondale. “She has great vision for the field. Those two could find each other blindfolded.”

Dinges’ on-field chemistry with Pawloski is the product of extra effort on the part of both girls.

“Megan always makes a great run and I see what she’s doing and we talk to each other a lot,” Dinges said. “During practice we always make sure that we work with each other. We know what each other is going to do next.”

Just as goal scoring requires specific skills, being an exceptional passer also requires particular abilities.

“A lot of people on our team have it,” Dinges said. “Goal scoring is great and it’s awesome, but you can’t get a goal unless you have that assist. (Sophomore) Kelly Minor had a great assist last night (in a 4-0 win over Columbia on Thursday).

“Megan and I don’t have to do it alone because we have a lot of help. Kayla Panzau and Alexis Jones do a great job up top, our defense makes great balls and our outside midfielders have been stepping up.

“I think our team chemistry is a lot better this year. We had some trouble last year, but we fixed it. I think we’re stronger overall.”

Last year, Althoff was expected to contend for a state title in the first year of the IHSA’s three-class format for girls soccer. But the Crusaders’ season ended with a 4-3 loss to Chatham Glenwood in the Class 2A Springfield Super-Sectional.

“We don’t want that to happen again,” Dinges said. “We want to push ourselves as hard as possible and we’re not going to give up. We’ll fight until the last minute.”

Dinges started playing at age 6 for BFC Soccer Club.

“My dad (Steve, an assistant coach at Althoff) was my coach and I’ve known Juergen since I was that little,” said Dinges, who also played club volleyball through eighth grade and prep volleyball through her sophomore year. “I played with the Nesbit twins (Madeline and Maureen) and the Panzaus (sisters Kayla and Kelsey) and Trisha Quinn and some other girls who are on our team.

“I played for a long time for BFC, then I changed to Scott Gallagher and now I play for them on the Missouri side. Francis Howell has some players on my club team and so does Notre Dame.

“It helps playing with girls from Missouri because you know teams better and it creates a lot of competition between Illinois and Missouri. It makes you work harder.”

In January, Dinges verbally committed to Miami University of Ohio.

“I wanted to commit early and get that decision out of the way,” Dinges said. “I went to visit Miami and it’s beautiful there – I love it. The coaches are great and it’s a great program.

“Academically, it’s going to be a challenge, but I’m looking forward to it. I’m going to major in education and I want to teach little kids. I really like kids – they’re fun to be around.”

SOCCER NOTES: Althoff, which has outscored its opponents 76-6, will play Friday and Saturday in the Brine Tournament of Champions in Burlington, Iowa. The 32-team event features schools from Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Wisconsin. After several lopsided wins this season, Huettner is anxious to see how his team fares against top-notch competition.

“We started off the season pretty strong, then we had a little slump after we played some (South Seven) conference games,” Huettner said. “Those games were pretty easy and we had to follow up with the Edwardsville game (a 3-2 win on April 14) and you could tell we struggled a bit. It didn’t get a whole lot better against Francis Howell (a 3-2 win on April 16) and Notre Dame (a 2-0 win on April 17).

“Against Mehlville (a 6-0 win on April 20) it was a little easier game and we started getting more of a flow going. We beat a good Columbia team on Thursday and played ourselves out of a slump. We dominated almost from the get-go.”