Keester Comes Full Circle

Sue and Mike Keester both attended the University of Oklahoma and are the proud parents of three former Oklahoma high school All-State soccer players.

“Should have been four,” Mike insisted, still bothered that his second daughter was not included.

Sue grew up a gymnast. Mike was a wrestler, who unfortunately found himself in the same 134-pound weight class as 1978 national runner-up Frank DeAngelis, which resulted in Mike promptly retiring from the sport and later joining the school's powerlifting club.

At this point in life, Sue and Mike knew absolutely nothing about soccer and had no interest in the sport until their first child, Colleen, began to play. “I was the guinea pig,” Colleen joked.

Two years later came Jessica, and more soccer. Three years after that came Brian, and more soccer. Four years after that came Liz, and astounding quantities of soccer.

Colleen had 30 Division I offers to play college soccer. “She chose OU because we had her brainwashed,” Mike deadpanned. Colleen played for the Sooners (2004-07) and was a three-time, first-team Academic All-Big 12 selection.

Jessica also decided to play for the Sooners, but her career ended as a redshirt freshman when she was unable to recover from a serious injury her senior year in high school.

Brian followed suit and also picked OU, where he earned his undergraduate degree and now attends the University of Arkansas School of Law. His collegiate soccer career was limited to intramurals. “He wanted to play soccer, but for guys there just aren't as many opportunities,” Colleen said.

Then came the youngest, Liz, who halted the family heritage by choosing to play for Texas A&M. “They started calling me the black sheep,” Liz said with a chuckle.

Sooners soccer coach Matt Potter said Liz already had orally committed to the Aggies when he took over at OU in December 2011. “We had the privilege of watching her club play because we had some of her teammates (on the OU roster),” Potter recalled. “When we saw her, we were like, 'Dang, who is that kid?' Obviously she had talent then and she has talent now.”

Her first season at Texas A&M, Liz was named to the 2013 SEC All-Freshman and All-Tournament teams, was chosen as the SEC Tournament Most Valuable Player and made Soccer America's All-Freshman Second Team.

Liz achieved all this despite severe pain in her feet and legs from what later was determined to be compartment syndrome, which causes leg muscles to tighten and build pressure from within.

Her legs constantly ached and she often played until her feet would go numb. “She was so swollen all the time, but she still played,” Colleen said. “She loves playing soccer, it came natural to her. When she wasn't playing soccer, that's when it hurt her the worst because she loved it.”

After suffering an ankle injury her sophomore season, the black sheep would soon head back to Oklahoma.

Liz returned home to Tulsa over Christmas break to have ankle surgery. When she returned to College Station for the spring semester, her friends and teammates knew something had gone haywire. “I just realized I needed to be somewhere where my whole heart was in it,” Liz explained. “After the first couple of practices I was like, 'You know what, I can't do this anymore.'”

The following month, when Liz returned to Tulsa to get her cast removed, she informed her family of her decision to transfer to OU at semester's end.

Liz said she frequently sought advice from Colleen and Jessica while trying to decide whether to transfer from Texas A&M. “My sisters, I can tell them anything,” Liz said. “I really leaned in Colleen knowing the ropes of being a student-athlete, telling her, 'This is how I'm feeling. Is this normal? Is this wrong?' She was a really big help.”

With her delayed arrival, Liz is now a junior forward with the Sooners, who take a two-game winning streak into their Big 12 opener Friday at 7 p.m. against Texas Tech at the OU Soccer Complex.

Her decision to transfer now has Liz studying physical therapy, a decision no doubt influenced by her incessant therapy sessions while recovering from various injuries.

Liz's first serious injury came in eighth grade when she tore a medial collateral ligament and dislocated her kneecap. Liz finished that match and played another the next day “before I actually realized, 'OK, this really hurts. I should probably go to the doctor,' ” she said.

She just eats it up. She can never get enough soccer. She will not stop until she accomplishes her mission. I guarantee it. She's a hard-charging kid.
Mike Keester

Then came a seemingly endless array of leg/ankle/shin injuries. Luckily, the Keester family is well-insured. “I've got (Tulsa orthopedic surgeon) Bryan Hawkins on speed dial,” Mike said, not kidding.

“She's played so many more games than I did,” Colleen said. “It puts so much stress on your body. It's just not realistic to think no one is ever going to get hurt.”

Asked to estimate how many matches Liz has played to date, Mike surrendered quickly. “Oh, I have no idea. … Maybe 10,000?” Mike said.

Keester family members seem just as proud of Liz' fortitude off the pitch as her achievements on it.

“She has fought through so many adverse situations,” Sue said. “Being the youngest of four, I always thought she was tough anyways. She makes good grades. She's respectful of adults. She makes very good choices. I'm very proud of her soccer, but the amazing person she's turning into, I can't be more proud of that, either.”

Even with all the time required for rehabilitation, Liz's love for the sport has never waned.

“She just eats it up,” Mike said. “She can never get enough soccer. She will not stop until she accomplishes her mission. I guarantee it. She's a hard-charging kid.”

Liz couldn't help but be exposed to soccer at a young age while hanging out at her older siblings' matches. “She's had a soccer ball at her feet since she was maybe 3 years old – out on the field, running around,” Colleen said. “She loved it from the beginning.”

While Colleen was with the Sooners, Liz would attend overnight soccer camps at OU. “That was a lot of fun,” Colleen said. “She could always hang with the kids who were way older than her. We'd bump her up a couple of age groups.”

Competing against older kids paid dividends because Liz would go on to have one of the most prolific high school soccer careers in Oklahoma history.

As a sophomore and senior while playing at Jenks High School, she was selected Gatorade/ESPN Oklahoma Player of the Year in 2011 and 2013 and presumably would have won as a junior had she not suffered a severe ankle injury while playing on an Olympic Development Program team in Italy during spring break in 2012.

Liz was an ESPN All-American, a U.S. Soccer U-17 Women's National Team participant, led her club team to five straight Oklahoma titles (2007-11), won the 2011 National League title and left Jenks as the program's all-time scorer with 82 career goals.

Recruited by all the heavyweight college programs except North Carolina and Notre Dame, Liz orally committed to Texas A&M in the winter of her high school junior year. The Sooners were her second choice.

“I wasn't shocked, just because she had a ton of options,” Colleen said of baby sister choosing to play for the Aggies. “She made a hard decision to go there. It wasn't a comfortable decision and it wasn't exactly what we all wanted, but we supported her.”

Sue's strongest memory was how intense the recruiting process was. “I just remember it was a high-pressure sell and she committed early,” Sue recalled. “I totally understood. She's really good about making decisions, weighing the pros and cons.”

Coming out of high school, Liz envisioned a career as a veterinarian. “A&M's a good school,” Colleen said, before adding with a whisper, “but it's not OU.”

No one can go back and make a brand new start, but anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending. We don't really talk too much about the past. We look forward to what's around the corner with her.
OU head coach Matt Potter

Colleen still looks back fondly at Liz' high school playing days at national team camps. “She was awesome,” Colleen said. “Gosh, she was just so fun to watch.”

Had Liz managed to stay healthy (or healthier), at what level might her status be today?

Sue: “I think she could have gone as far as she wanted to go.”

Colleen: “I think she should be on the national team.”

Mike: “I absolutely think she should be on the national team, if she could just heal up.”

Liz and Potter agree to not waste time wondering what might have been, however.

“Right now, my whole heart is into what I can do for this OU team. I haven't thought about anything else,” Liz said. “When you're a little girl playing soccer, you're like, 'I want to be like Mia Hamm or Brandi Chastain. I want to be on the national team.' Now, I'm just so into doing what I'm doing here, I don't think about anything else.”

Potter acknowledges Liz as a superb player – present tense, not past tense.

“We were kind of aware of her injuries, but to be perfectly honest, we kind of wanted her to start a clean page, a clean slate and move forward from this point,” Potter said. “We're not where we're going, but we're also not where we've been. No one can go back and make a brand new start, but anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending. We don't really talk too much about the past. We look forward to what's around the corner with her.”

What does Liz bring to the Sooners? Potter's response has a wide scope.

“She's driven. She's competitive. She's passionate,” Potter said. “She wants to get better. She wants to lead. She doesn't shy away from responsibility. High character. High talent. High expectations, which transfers on to what she does on the field.”

John Rohde is a respected name on the Oklahoma sports scene and will provide regular features for SoonerSports.com. Voted Oklahoma Sportswriter of the Year five times, Rohde has covered OU football and basketball, the Oklahoma City Thunder, OKC/New Orleans Hornets, Dallas Cowboys, Texas Rangers, the Final Four, Masters and PGA Tour. He spent over 26 years for The Oklahoman, serving as a columnist and beat writer. He can be heard on 107.7 The Franchise, the flagship station for OU Athletics weekdays from 5:30-9 a.m.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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