It’s been the best of starts for Akron’s Perry Kitchen. The Indianapolis native and youth national team veteran has been a mainstay for the #1 Zips as they’ve been tearing through the opposition in the early part of this college soccer season.

A star among stars, Kitchen has been playing a vital holding midfield role for Caleb Porter’s squad, a change from his customary spot in the back line with both the U17 and U20 Men’s National Team.

But the main thing for Kitchen is being at the heart of things. He’s played every minute so far this season for the Zips. He was a stalwart in the back line for the U20 MNT this summer as it won the Milk Cup in Northern Ireland. In two years at the U17 MNT Residency program in Bradenton, Florida, nobody logged more playing time than Kitchen.

All of which helps explain why he was named team captain and led the team out of the tunnel for the opening match of the FIFA U17 World Cup in Nigeria last October, and why what happened next continues to puzzle those who follow it most closely.

The U.S. team surrendered a pair of 1st half goals. Kitchen was removed from the lineup by coach Wilmer Cabrera at halftime. He never saw the field again at the tournament.

“That just shows again what kind of toughness and character he has,” Akron coach Caleb Porter said of the way Kitchen has bounced back from the experience. “He is a natural leader. For someone to come in as a freshman and play the kind of role he has with the team just shows you what a leader and what a winner he is.”

If Kitchen is using last year’s experience as motivation, he is using it very effectively. But he doesn’t seem too interested in grinding any axes, even while admitting it was a tough thing to go through.

“It was pretty tough. I was pretty upset once I got back,” he said. “But I try not to let my lows get too low. I knew I had to bounce back and recover. You have to focus on the future, you can’t focus on what’s already happened. Hopefully that attitude pays off. I think it has so far.

“Maybe initially (it affected confidence), but nothing major. I mean, I think I’m a good player and if I think that then I’m the only person I have to prove anything to. I’m not too talkative when it comes to any personal difficulties. I got through it myself and with my family. I’m doing good.”

Porter will tell you that Kitchen is way more than good.

“He’s an excellent defensive midfielder. I’ve worked with some pretty good ones when you think about Danny O’Rourke and Brad Ring (as an assistant at Indiana) and Ben Zemanski and Blair Gavin (at Akron). He’s right up there with those guys,” Porter said. “We like to get a lot of guys forward and we’re only playing one holding mid and that’s Perry, so that shows you how well he is taking on the responsibility.”

The Zips haven’t given up a goal so far this season, but have also scored 11 in 5 games including 2 that Kitchen tallied himself. Not known as a goalscorer, he admitted to being a work in progress when it comes to celebration.

“The first one (against North Carolina) I didn’t know what to do. I just ran to the bench,” he said. “On the 2nd we had kind of planned something, I just didn’t know I would be the one to score it.”

“Something” in this case was a simulated canoe trip, with the players switching sides to “paddle” on before falling out of the imaginary boat.

Kitchen might have added a personal effect of quickly resurfacing, putting the boat right side up and moving downstream faster than ever. He’s done quite a good job of this over the past 12 months and the future is looking very bright indeed for this standout player.