KARNS CITY — It’s not hard to spot Megan McCartney on the soccer pitch.

The diminutive junior forward for the Karns City girls soccer team sticks out with her dark-rimmed glasses and her red hair.

“Just look for the ginger with the rec-specs,” she says, laughing.

She’s noticeable for other reasons: She’s lightning quick, handles the ball like a magician and can score just as skillfully as she can hand out assists.

Not too shabby for a player who stands a shade over 5-feet tall.

“Some people underestimate me, and I love to prove them wrong,” McCartney said. “They see me and see I’m short and I have rec-specs and I’m not a typical soccer player.”

McCartney isn’t a typical soccer player off the pitch, too. She is never far away from a soccer ball.

Sometimes, that becomes a problem at home.

McCartney can be found most days dribbling and juggling a soccer ball in the family living room — to the protests of her parents.

“I’ve gotten really good at it because I don’t want to get yelled at for breaking something,” McCartney said. “In small areas like that, I work on my skills.”

That work doesn’t come without peril as McCartney faces many obstacles in the house.

“Probably the lamps are the biggest ones,” she said. “And not hitting the little sister in the face.”

McCartney is the latest in a long line of playmakers for the Karns City girls soccer team dating all the way back to Leslie Barnhart, who scored 213 goals in her career with the Gremlins.

Then there’s Brittni Grenninger, who is now the Freeport girls soccer coach, Breann Wood and Emily LoPresti — all of whom have more than 100 career goals.

Karns City coach Tracy Dailey said McCartney is the fuel that powers the Gremlins’ machine.

“Megan is an unselfish player,” Dailey said. “Many times this season, she’d take it down to the end line and make a little chip to the six and into the net, usually off Haley Scherer’s head.

“She creates opportunities,” Dailey added. “We can put Megan pretty much anywhere on the field and she’d do a good job for us. She’s that skilled.”

That may be a reason why McCartney looks up to former teammate Emily Shumacher, who began her career as a goalkeeper with the Gremlins, moved to the midfield and then to forward.

“I just want to try to be the best I can be and work hard and be as good as the other playmakers who played here like Emily Shumacher,” McCartney said. “She was such a great player. Last year I moved into her position and someone said, ‘You’re the mini-Shoe. That made me feel good.”

McCartney also looks up to Pine-Richland graduate and World Cup champion Megan Klingenberg.

“She’s like motivation to me because she came from a small place and she made it big,” McCartney said. “As long as you keep working hard, you can make it somewhere.”

McCartney is singularly driven to get a scholarship to play soccer in college because it would be difficult for her to attend a university otherwise.

Her family is not wealthy and didn’t have the money to support her soccer career with club teams like the one she is currently on, Northern Steel.

McCartney said coaches, though, made it possible for her to play despite her family’s financial situation.

“I feel so blessed with these coaches who are so amazingly nice to my family with how we don’t have that much money,” McCartney said. “They are pushing me and helping me get far.”

McCartney is already receiving college looks, namely from Edinboro University.

It motivates her to play her best each time she ties her red hair into a ponytail and slips on her dark-rimmed rec-specs.

“I have to show the coaches what I can do,” McCartney said. “I have to come to every game prepared and play as hard as I can to represent our team and try to get those scholarships so I can go to a good college and pay as little as possible.”