Akron men's soccer team knows Perry Kitchen is part of recipe for success

Kitchen is what coach Caleb Porter calls "the joystick" to his defense.

AKRON, Ohio — When the home state university comes calling in a sport where it ranks among the nation's best, one might think it would be hard to say no.

But for Indiana native Perry Kitchen, saying "no" to playing soccer for the Indiana Hoosiers was "not as tough as you think," he said.

"Coach [Caleb] Porter has done a great job at Akron," Kitchen said. "And the guys are awesome, too. That helps. I felt like this was the best fit for me."

The No. 3 Zips (20-1-1) can move closer to their national championship goal today with a Sweet 16 victory over No. 6 California (14-2-3) at Lee Jackson Field.

For that to happen, the freshman midfielder Kitchen will have to be on his game as one of the leaders of Akron's defense.

"I think I bring something to the team: a hard-nosed defender, which I think is good for us," Kitchen said. "It's just in my nature. It's what I do; tackle people and win the ball. Use your body, win the ball off of them. If you commit a foul, it's obviously not good defending, so you have to do it without committing a foul."

Yet, Kitchen is more than a tackler. He is what Porter calls "the joystick" to his defense.

"On defense, I make sure they're in the right spots to make sure we win the ball, dictating what we do on defense," Kitchen said.

"Our style is high pressure. All the guys have bought into us pressing wherever we are on the field and trying to win the ball right back so we can get on it."

All of this is what Porter expected from Kitchen after seeing him play at a Hoosiers soccer camp years ago when Porter was an IU assistant coach.

"He came to camp when he was 11 or 12 years old," Porter recalled. "I ended up coaching his team at camp, and at the end of the week he was named MVP. I remember saying, 'That kid would be a professional player one day.'

"You could just tell in his presence, his drive, his competitiveness, just the way he kind of ran the midfield. He just had this swagger about him."

As often happens with young players in camps, Porter lost track of Kitchen after that first encounter and forgot about the young soccer player for a while.

"I can't remember when I started talking to him again, maybe my sophomore year," Kitchen said. "He would come to watch, so I knew he had some interest. So I just started looking into the program. Then a bunch of guys -- highly recruited players -- started rolling in. So I knew a good amount of the guys before I actually got here."

Porter said those early camp contacts paid off in the recruiting process, because just as he remembered Kitchen, the soccer player also remembered him.

"That certainly helped," Akron's fifth-year coach said. "Before I left IU, I coached a club team. He came and trained with our team, so I got to know him pretty well through that. I tell you, he's one of the most competitive, driven, tenacious kids I've ever coached.

"He's the type of kid who will just rip the heart out of his opponent. . . . '"""'He'd rather break his leg than lose."

Kitchen has been named a first-team All-Mid-American Conference honoree, and was named to Top Drawer Soccer's All-Freshman First Team -- which essentially is the Freshman All-American Team.

And it all started with a summer camp visit years ago.

"When I came here, I knew I would recruit him," Porter said. "Obviously, IU wanted him, but we got him, and here he is."

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: ealexander@plaind.com, 216-999-4253