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Best of kin: Kijowski family has led Raider girls’ soccer program to unprecedented heights

By Jonathan Guth jguth@heraldstandard.Com 6 min read
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Waynesburg Central’s Rhea Kijowski races for the ball against Brownsville during a Section 3-AA match on Oct. 14 at Waynesburg Stadium. Kijowski has one more year left of high school play before she plays for West Virginia University. (Photo by Jonathan Guth)

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Waynesburg Central’s Jillian Kijowski (right) is pursued by Brownsville’s Emma Keeney during a Section 3-AA match at Waynesburg Stadium on Oct. 14. Kijowski, a senior, has finished her high school career, but she will be playing in college at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, a Division I program. (Photo by Jonathan Guth)

Joe Kijowski’s knowledge in soccer used to be very limited, but the former wrestler took up coaching the sport to help his daughters, Jillian and Rhea, when they started playing the game.

Kijowski doesn’t take any credit for their success, but Jillian and Rhea have become two of the best players on Waynesburg Central’s high school team and earned Division I offers in the process.

Jillian is a senior who will attend the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, while Rhea, a junior, will attend West Virginia University.

“I never played soccer in my life, but I started coaching when they were younger because they needed a coach,” Joe Kijowski said. “I was the high school coach at Waynesburg Central by the time they got there. You can’t really take that time back.”

Jillian will be the first to sign her letter of intent as a senior, and is ready to take her game to the collegiate level.

“I believe I will sign my letter of intent in February,” Jillian said. “I knew that I wanted to go down there. I went to an ID camp and they liked me. I called them for feedback from the ID camp in June, and they made an offer for me to come and play. I will be playing somewhere in the mid. I play midfield in high school.”

Jillian was glad to just get on the field this season after an injury her junior season.

“I tore my ACL and both meniscus,” Jillian said. “It was hard not being able to play, but I was there for my teammates. I always wanted to be a college player, and I plan to major in pre-med and biology.”

Rhea will have to wait until next season to officially sign, but she had verbally committed to the Mountaineers and head coach Nikki Izzo-Brown after her freshman season.

“I love the program and the coaches at WVU,” Rhea said. “My club team is in Morgantown, so I had connections to the program with my club coach. They saw me in some of my games and at ID camps. I verbally committed later in the spring of my freshman year.

“I really feel like I still have the same mindset, even though I committed after my freshman season. It all comes down to what happens on the field. I really haven’t changed anything since I was recruited. I am not sure what position I will be playing in college. I just want to go and play.”

Jillian and Rhea are part of Raider teams that have been a staple in the playoffs and won the school’s first WPIAL championship in 2017 when they earned the Class AA championship with a 4-2 victory over Freedom.

Kijowski coached the team when Jillian was a freshman to a section title, a 16-3 overall record and one WPIAL playoff win. The following year, with Rhea now on board as well, Waynesburg won another section title, went 20-2 overall, and in addition to winning the WPIAL title, also won a PIAA playoff game. Last year, his last before stepping down, Kijowski guided the Lady Raiders to a 13-6 overall record, a second-place finish in the section and another playoff berth despite Jillian’s absence.

Jillian wrapped upped her high school career with 37 goals and 73 assists, which was accomplished in three seasons due to her injury. The midfielder had 14 goals and 22 assists as a senior.

Rhea finished her junior season with 31 goals and 11 assists. The striker, who has also played some mid-field, has 107 goals and 65 assists in her career.

Waynesburg made the playoffs again this past season, finishing third in the section and going 10-7 overall.

The question regarding Joe’s success as a head coach is: How does a former wrestler lead a soccer team to unprecedented heights?

“You have to watch the best coaches and steal their stuff,” Joe Kijowski said. “I stole most of my stuff from Nikki (Izzo-Brown). I wrestled in college, so it really comes down to drilling the fundamentals so much that they become secondary, and work on the basic principles. We worked a lot on the basics at the beginning.

“Coaching can be a challenge, but my girls always put in the time. They never had to be dragged to practice, and were always eager to practice. They have a great work ethic and are so humble. They are better athletes than I ever was.”

“Our dad has always been there for us,” Jillian Kijowski said. “He coached us all the way up. It has been great.”

Jillian and Rhea credit playing club soccer as a huge factor in having the opportunity to play at the next level. Both play for FC Alliance Athletica in Morgantown, West Virginia.

FC Alliance advanced to the semifinals of the US Youth Soccer Regional Championships this past summer before losing 4-2 in overtime during the semifinals. Rhea scored twice in the semifinal match.

Jillian and Rhea will evaluate playing professional when their college careers end, but both are solid students with 4.0 GPAs and should have no problem succeeding in whatever they choose to do in life.

“I am just looking at what’s right in front of me right now,” Jillian Kijowski said. “I will just live it out and play soccer.”

“I just want to see what happens when it comes to playing professionally,” Rhea Kijowski said. “I am really not sure about what I want to major in.”

The travel to see Jillian play will be a tad further for Joe and family, but he plans on attending matches and will obviously keep up to date on her.

“Jillian had been progressing well, and then she had the ACL injury and had to miss her junior year,” Joe Kijowski said. “She got to go to the No. 1 place on her list, so it is really special.”

Rhea will be just down the road, and will be playing for one of the better programs in the country starting in 2021.

“We are excited to see Rhea play at WVU,” Joe Kijowski said. “Rhea was very humble when she verbally committed to WVU. You could see that she had the gift to go to a larger university and play.”

“It will be exciting to be one of the local players on the WVU roster,” Rhea Kijowski said. “I am also excited that people will be able to come to my games there.”

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