Ending on her own terms.
It has been quite the career for graduate student Kylinn Kraemer at Montclair State University and it means everything to her to be able to finish how she wanted.
“It’s been awesome,” Kraemer said. “Like I am beyond happy that I came back for my fifth year. I cannot imagine not having come back and it’s just been nice to kind of have my last year ended on my own terms, not from an injury.”
Back in January 2021, Kraemer suffered a torn ACL in her right knee during a pick-up soccer game. The injury would cause her to miss two seasons of soccer — the coronavirus (COVID-19) shortened the spring 2021 season and the normal fall season, which was too quick of a turnaround after having surgery that same year.
Having Kraemer back this season has been great according to the head coach of the women’s soccer team, Patrick Naughter.
“It’s amazing,” Naughter said. “It’s like having another coach on the field and she just understands the game really well, understands the game as I see it really well. She is, for me, one of the best players in the conference. On the ball, off the ball, the way she tackles, losing her for two seasons was massive.”
Kraemer over the years has proved to be a staple for the Red Hawks back line, even during the time that she was injured.
Outside of soccer, Kraemer is just as busy. She was a psychology major undergraduate student and is currently pursuing her masters in social research and analysis.
“It’s almost intimidating how much stuff she does in a week,” Naughter said. “And you’re like this is a 21/22-year-old kid. Like what am I doing? You know what I mean?”
Kylinn Kraemer is currently a graduate student and finished her fifth season with the Red Hawks. Photo courtesy of Mike Peters
This year Kraemer is a graduate assistant for a course at Montclair State called Pop Culture, Celebrities and Social Media, a sociology course that she co-created with her advisor in the spring of 2022.
The class is co-taught by two professors and in Kraemer’s graduate assistant role, she is responsible for, but not limited to, doing research, supporting students, preparing materials and ideas, teaching students and contributing to discussions among students.
Christopher Donoghue is one of the head professors of the course and he believes Kraemer is a very valuable asset to have.
“[Kraemer] is relentless, she’s very dedicated,” Donoghue said. “That’s probably why she’s such a fantastic athlete and graduate assistant and graduate student. [Kraemer] just always makes herself available to complete activities and support our work and our research and our teaching whenever something is needed. She always gets the job done, she’s very thorough.”
Kylinn Kraemer sits down with professor Christopher Donoghue.
Photo courtesy of Mike Peters
Donoghue admires the way Kraemer dedicates herself to different challenges and would always want to be on her team.
“I like to say that [Kraemer] is someone that I like to have on my team,” Donoghue said. “Meaning that she always puts forth such a great effort. That’s why I think it translates both in sports and in research projects and in teaching teams. She puts a lot of herself into everything and she works very hard. So you know, she’s a good teammate to have for any project that I’d be working on.”
Kraemer is able to relate better to the students than the professors due to her age. Because of that, she helps keep the material within the course relevant and more relatable to the students.
According to Kraemer, she’s the Gen Z correspondent for the class.
“I like to kind of keep relevant topics flowing throughout the class because the people in the class are closer to my age than their age,” Kraemer said. “They can kind of relate to it and not get so bored.”
Kraemer isn’t exactly sure what the future holds. However, she’s on the path that she wants.
“I kind of plan on just following that trajectory,” Kraemer said. “Doing research or data analytics at some sort of company. I’m not exactly sure but [I’ll] hopefully get a remote job too.”
In her final season with the Red Hawks, Kraemer started 16 games and appeared in 18. The Montclair State back line collected 11 clean sheets during 2022 en route to their 17-3-1 season and Kraemer was an enormous part of it all.
The graduate student provided stability on and off the pitch throughout her career. Every team needs a Kylinn Kraemer on their side.
