Freeport’s Comperatore motivated to succeed in postseason

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, October 17, 2017 | 11:27 PM

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Kaylee Comperatore got her front teeth back just in time for last Christmas, but her biggest gift came this fall.

The Freeport senior, who dealt with injuries for much of her junior season, is healthy — knock on wood — and productive for defending WPIAL runner-up Freeport, which again expects to rank as one of the top Class AA seeds when playoff brackets are released Wednesday.

The Yellowjackets' striker has a team- and career-high 31 goals entering the postseason.

“I'm pretty happy because I have a history of getting injured a lot in the seasons, and it knocks me out for a while,” Comperatore said. “It feels really great to be injury-free and having a great season.”

Comperatore led Freeport in goals with 10 as a freshman and scored four before suffering a high-ankle sprain toward the end of her sophomore year. After she sprained the same ankle, her left, during a preseason game last summer, she returned midway through the season and scored 10 goals as the Yellowjackets made a run to the WPIAL championship game and PIAA playoffs for the first time in school history.

But then came the most painful injury: Comperatore, who scored three goals in four playoff games, took an elbow to the face in Freeport's PIAA tournament opener against Karns City. The force left three of her front teeth dangling, leading to a six-week recovery process that included three root canals and a diet of soft foods.

“I couldn't really do much physical activity because any small bump would knock them out,” Comperatore said. “It was a long recovery. I was on a soft food diet for pretty much six weeks. I couldn't bite down on anything. I ate a lot of ice cream, applesauce, pudding, soup. It was hard.”

Comperatore can laugh about the injury now — she said she probably went for a burger or pizza when she could finally eat solid foods again — but said it felt “really defeating” to deal with the time out of the lineup. She credited her support system of her parents, teammates and coaches for helping her get through.

“I love playing soccer, and I love playing for this team,” she said. “That encouraged me to get back into it and work as hard as I can.”

The injuries did little to change her hard-charging style of play on the field. The leading scorer in Freeport's swarming offensive attack, Comperatore uses her speed to put pressure on opponents.

The Section 2-AA champion Yellowjackets (14-2-1, 11-0-1) exceeded their 2016 regular-season goal output by more than 30 goals, with Comperatore a major factor.

“She's fast, very aggressive and she wants to go to the goal and be the one to put it away,” said Freeport coach Brittni Grenninger, herself a prolific goal scorer during her high school days at Karns City. “I think in high school sports, especially girls, you see sometimes it looks like they're almost timid to be the one to want to shoot or be the one to have the ball on their foot when the game's on the line. Kaylee wants to be that player for us, and she has taken on that responsibility this year.”

Grenninger said Comperatore is quiet off the field, but an aggressiveness switch clicks on between the lines.

“She just never stops,” Grenninger said. “If we lose the ball, she's our first line of defense up there. She's going 100 miles an hour from the time she takes the field until the time the whistle blows.

“She'll run through a brick wall to put the ball in the back of the net.”

Freeport enjoyed the best postseason run in school history last fall, and the Yellowjackets hope to match or exceed that despite losing a strong core. As one of the team's 14 seniors, Comperatore finds herself motivated for one last big run in the playoffs.

“We were really successful last year, and I know me and the three other captains wanted to keep it going,” Comperatore said. “We've just been trying to motivate the team and keep the success going.”

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer.

Tags: Freeport