Chugiak, Alaska isn’t typically regarded as a soccer hotspot, or a hotspot of any kind for that matter. In fact, it’s quite a cold spot—the temperature dropped to 38 degrees below zero one day in 1999, and the mean temperature rises above 40 degrees just five months out of the year.
Kelly Cobb hasn’t let that slow her down, however, as she’s overcome subzero temperatures, a lack of local competition, and just a five-month long outdoor season to earn a coveted spot on the Duke soccer team.
Cobb’s youth soccer experience is rather unique compared to her new Blue Devil teammates. Hailing from a place where the average high temperature is often below freezing, Cobb grew up playing soccer indoors.
“When I was younger we played a lot in indoor gyms, but recently they built a huge dome complex. It has a turf field and allows us to play during the winter time which is really nice.”
She excelled at Chugiak High School outside of Anchorage, tallying 98 goals in three seasons, including 22 in her senior year despite appearing in only 15 games. She was an All-American selection twice by Parade, and earned the 2011 Gatorade Player of the Year award as the best player in Alaska.
Thanks to the Alaska Dome, finding a place to practice wasn’t the hard part; the real challenge was finding suitable competition to be noticed by college scouts and coaches. Cobb traveled with her club team to various tournaments around the lower 48 states where the talented striker quickly caught the eye of numerous college programs.
“I was looking at UNC, Notre Dame, and Duke,” Cobb said. “But when I visited Duke, I really loved [head coach Robbie] Church. Also, of course, Duke has an outstanding, beautiful campus and high academics so it’s a good challenge.”
For Duke, she’ll fill a niche on the front line that’s currently unoccupied.
“She’s a little different than the forwards we have,” Church told GoDuke.com. “She’s a little taller, she’s a little stronger. She’s a target player.”
This summer, Cobb has been preparing for her role at Duke with one of her future teammates, current Blue Devil forward Mollie Pathman. They play together under-20 U.S. national team, and Pathman has already begun readying Cobb for her transition to Duke.
“Mollie’s been a great role model and she’s been really good telling me what to expect when I come in,” Cobb said.
The challenge Pathman can’t help her with is getting used to life outside Alaska, but while Cobb understands the difficulty of moving 3,500 miles away from home, she isn’t too worried about adjusting.
“I’m sure I’ll get homesick,” she said. “I’ve heard the stories, but I think I’ll be pretty busy between school and soccer. And honestly it doesn’t matter, if I went anywhere else it’d still be really far away from Alaska.”
Cobb is not so confident about dealing with North Carolina weather, though. “I think I’m a little worried because I’ve never had to deal with heat or humidity before,” she said with a laugh. “I’m pretty white so I’m just bringing lots of sunscreen and I’ll just hydrate all the time.”
Up until now, though, Cobb hasn’t let the weather stop her from making it this far, and certainly won’t let it keep her from achieving her ultimate goal.
“To win a NCAA championship is what I really want,” she said. “And I think we’ve got the players to do it.”
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