Home Local Sports Kelly Hoffman: The Official Richmond County Female Athlete of the Week

Kelly Hoffman: The Official Richmond County Female Athlete of the Week

Sophomore Kelly Hoffman has been named the Official Richmond County Female Athlete of the Week.
Kyle Pillar — The Richmond Observer.

ROCKINGHAM — Kelly Hoffman, a sophomore on the Richmond Senior High School soccer team, has been named the Official Richmond County Female Athlete of the Week.

Wrapping up her second year on the varsity team, and her first as the Lady Raiders’ starting goalkeeper, Hoffman’s physical play between the posts helped define Richmond’s season. After seeing limited playing time as a freshman, Hoffman exploded onto the scene in 2019, helping her earn her first career recognition. 

Athletic Profile

Age: 16

Birthday: March 10, 2003

Year: Sophomore

Spring Sport: Soccer

Position: Goalkeeper

Height & Weight: 5-5, 150 pounds

Years on Varsity: 2 Years

Experience: 4 Years

“BETWEEN THE POSTS” WITH KELLY HOFFMAN

RSHS Academics: Hoffman, unlike many of her teammates, will finish her school year this Friday, as she’s enrolled in Richmond Early College. Located on the campus of Richmond Community College, the school allows high school students to earn their diploma while also working toward an associate’s degree.

This semester, Hoffman took English III Honors with Ms. Ashton Davenport, Math III Honors with Ms. Cassie Delany, American History II Honors with Ms. Jennifer Byrd, and Biology Honors with Ms. Anna Sanford.

“My favorite class was Math III with Ms. Delany,” Hoffman explained. “I love solving problems and am good at math. Ms. Delany is really nice and makes class fun. She’s very relaxed.

“Hopefully I will graduate with my associate’s degree in the arts and get my high school diploma,” she added. “I’m starting to take more college classes next year, which will help give me a head start for actual college and my career.”

Hoffman has been a member of the junior varsity volleyball team the last two years, and was a starter on the JV basketball team this year.

Future Plans: With her sophomore year all but in the books, Hoffman is looking forward to her final two years of high school. She’s set some academic and athletic goals she hopes to achieve before she graduates in 2021.

“Aside from graduating, I hope to maintain an A/B average and keep getting good grades,” Hoffman explained. “I also want to continue to be successful in the classroom and on the field.

“Soccer is my favorite sport, so I’d like to keep playing well and maybe get a scholarship to play in college,” she continued. “With volleyball and basketball, I want to try to make varsity this year, and make all-conference if I can.”

While she’s a couple years off from going to college, Hoffman is leaning toward a career in the medical field. RichmondCC is trying to start an EMT training program, which Hoffman noted as something that piques her interest.

Athlete of the Week Stats: During the 2019 season, Hoffman made in appearance in every one of the team’s 20 games, and started 19 of them. Her work in net helped the Lady Raiders to a 15-5 overall record, while also winning second place in the Sandhills Athletic Conference outright.

In her 20 appearances, Hoffman gave up 45 goals, while making 77 saves in net. One of her best performances was a penalty kick shootout against Jack Britt High School in the first of three meetings against the Lady Buccaneers. Hoffman stopped three of the five shots she faced, as the Lady Raiders won 3-1 in PKs. She also recorded five shutouts.

In the one game she didn’t start in goal, which was senior night against Seventy-First High School, Hoffman added her name to the long list of Lady Raiders who scored this season. She found the net twice against the Lady Falcons, as Richmond rolled to a 9-0 mercy-rule victory.

Kelly Hoffman makes a save against Pinecrest High School earlier this season. 

RAPID FIRE – FAST RESPONSES

1) Now that it’s over, describe what your sophomore season was like in net for Richmond.

“It was a lot of fun, and I really liked all my teammates,” Hoffman said. “They helped me through a lot of stuff and were even more helpful in games.

“This season was what I expected it to be starting on varsity,” she added. “I wanted to be the starting keeper and help my team win as many games as possible. It was also tough facing some of the teams, and sometimes I had to be physical in the box.”

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2) How did you find your place as sophomore on a team full of 11 seniors?

“I’ve played travel soccer with a lot of the girls so I knew a lot of them coming in,” she explained. “But they were welcoming to me, and they made me feel like I was a part of the older crowd. It was a really good group of girls to play with, and I’m sad to see them go.”

3) Name an interesting fact that many people may not know about you.

“I have an identical twin sister Shelly, which is pretty cool,” Hoffman said. “We both go to Early College, and we’re both pretty competitive. Shelly is better at academics and I’m better at sports, but we both challenge each other.

“We have a good relationship and help each other out,” she closed.

Coach’s Corner: Lady Raider head coach Chris Larsen spoke of Hoffman’s development in goal throughout the course of the season, and how she provided a spark in the back to help the Lady Raiders be successful.

“The biggest thing with Kelly was her dominance in the back during the whole season,” Larsen said. “She set the tone early in the season, and a lot of other teams didn’t know much about her. That let those teams become eager to come inside the box, but they soon found out Kelly wasn’t going to let them.

“She was a freight train and did an excellent job taking control of the box,” he added. “Kelly is a  big reason why we had the success we did. She gained a lot of confidence throughout the year and carried that over from game to game. Her presence was able to keep us focused and kept the momentum going our way.”



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Kyle Pillar is a 22-time North Carolina Press Association award-winning sports editor with The Richmond Observer. Follow the sports department on X @ROSports_ for the best in-depth coverage of Richmond County sports.