VALENCIA — Kellen Fletcher glowered at the mere suggestion she play lacrosse.

Her older sister, Eden, played the sport at Mars High School — and played it quite, well, too.

But not Kellen. The sixth grader didn't even want to look at a lacrosse stick.

“Absolutely not!” she proclaimed. “I will never play lacrosse.”

She didn't even want to go to watch her sister play and excel for the Planets.

“I think at that point I just wanted to do my own thing,” Kellen said.

Then, one day, she picked up a lacrosse stick. Didn't know what spirit moved her to do so — she had been so adamant against it.

But she did. Turns out, lacrosse wasn't so bad.

Turns out, the Valencia native was quite good at the sport, too.

“I fell in love,” Kellen said, chuckling. “It was so funny.”

Eden went on to play at Lock Haven, which inspired Kellen to want to play at the next level, too.

Kellen, now a junior at Mars, took big step toward that dream last week when the midfielder committed to play at the University of Akron, an NCAA Division I school.

Not too shabby for someone who five years ago had no desire to play the sport at all.

“The day I committed I was like, 'Wow. This is actually happening,'” Kellen said.

She was a natural at the game when she began.

A prolific scorer, Kellen was solely focused on shooting the ball into the net.

Again. And again. And again.

“At first I thought the whole point of the game was to shoot and score,” Kellen said. “When I started breaking it down — the defense, the transition, the ball movement — that's when I fell even more in love with the game. I was just in awe. There was so much more to this game than I thought.”

Kellen, who also plays club lacrosse for True Lacrosse Pittsburgh, began to understand the finer points of the game.

That only made her a better player.

And it got her noticed colleges all over the country.

But it was the coaches at Akron that impressed Kellen the most during the recruiting process.

“They went the extra mile to keep in touch with me and to get to know me,” she said.

They encouraged her to visit the campus. Because of COVID-19, Kellen couldn't take an athletic visit, so she took an academic one.

She was sold.

Another factor in Kellen committing early was uncertainty because of the pandemic.

“The recruiting process was complicated because of COVID,” Kellen said. “Not all schools were on the same scheduled, especially Division I because some of them are waiting to recruit the 2022 class. Then there's the fifth-year ordeal and some schools aren't taking as many from my class. That's why I committed early. I didn't want to lose any opportunities.”

Kellen and her teammates at Mars had already lost a season.

Kellen was gearing up for her sophomore campaign last March when the season was canceled because of COVID-19.

She's hopeful she will have a junior season.

But those long months with no lacrosse last spring made her question her resolve.

“During the first quarantine when there was nothing for months, it was honestly kind of scary,” Kellen said. “I went three months without lacrosse and I wondered, 'Do I still love this sport? Do I still have a passion to play in college?' There was nothing to motivate me. No practices. No games.”

Fortunately for Kellen, her club team was able to play in several tournaments this summer which rekindled her passion.

“It was a great feeling to play again,” she said.

She's hoping for the same feeling this spring.

“I love my high school lacrosse team,” Kellen said. “I love the game days and the locker rooms and the playoffs, all that jazz.”

Kellen, who is also a diver on the Mars swimming and diving team, said she can't wait to get to work on improving her footwork and defensive skills.

Her offensive skills are just as good as ever.

At 5-foot-5 and lightning quick, Kellen can create scoring opportunities for herself almost at will.

She can't wait to scream toward the net, fire a shot and score in bunches again.

“I'm so excited,” Kellen said, no glower this time. “It feels like forever. Freshman year seems like forever ago.”