Almost from the time she first kicked a soccer ball at the age of 4, Kylee Burke has been one of the top defenders on whatever team she’s on.

With her next team, though, she might have to find a new job.

Burke signed with Meridian Community College last week and said its coaches have indicated they plan to use her as a forward. It’s a position that scores goals, not prevents them, but one Burke feels she can handle as she looks toward the next phase of her soccer career.

“I played forward a little this year for Warren Central, and then I played it off and on with the select team. But I played defense pretty much the rest of my life,” said Burke, who has scored fewer than a dozen goals in her high school career. “I went to a summer camp there and played offense a lot more in our scrimmages. I guess they liked what they were seeing.”

Burke spent her first three seasons in Warren Central’s starting lineup as a defender. Coach Viktoria Case, however, moved her senior leader into a more offensive role this season to generate scoring chances.

Burke responded well to the switch. Although she only scored two goals, she racked up a team-high 10 assists.

“I could play her anywhere on the field. This year she played a lot of offense for me because it was kind of like she was the quarterback. She could make the plays happen,” Case said.

Burke got junior college offers from Meridian and Holmes Community Colleges, and a couple more from small four-year schools in Arkansas and Alabama, she said.

Meridian had the most to offer, Burke added, and now she’s eager to offer her skillset to the Eagles’ cause.

“I’ve always liked soccer, so I was just really excited getting an opportunity to play on,” Burke said. “It means a lot. It means my work has finally paid off.”