Junior midfielder Paola van der Veen is playing it forward this season

The first free kick she scuffs wide with her left foot.

The second, an attempt to curl it over a would-be wall of opponents, is skied high beyond the far post.

There is one shot left as Paola van der Veen is the last Ute off the practice field on a damp, dreary midweek afternoon. This time, she takes a few seconds extra, locates her target, approaches and swings her left foot through the ball from about 20 yards away. This time, she drills the back of the net.

Utah’s junior Dutch midfielder, it appears, has fully adapted. Coach Rich Manning said he’s seen her comfort level soar, her position in his midfield system stamped and having now been through the rigors of a college soccer season a couple times, the former Netherlands youth national team product is making her mark.

“It’s been a really pleasant surprise,” Manning said.

Nicknamed “Po,” the midfielder is second on the team in goals scored (six) for the No. 25-ranked Utes as they open their 2017 Pac-12 schedule Saturday afternoon against rival and reigning NCAA champion, No. 10 USC. Her six goals and three assists (15 points), currently ranks second in Pac-12 play.

Back home in Leidschendam, Netherlands, van der Veen grew up an attacking midfielder. Although she saw the bulk of her minutes as a left-sided defender with her former club team, ADO den Haag, and youth national team, her initial college visit to Utah allowed her to speak freely. Getting forward, threatening defenses, initiating goal-scoring chances, was her forte.

“That’s where my heart was,” she said.

Just eight starts into this year, van der Veen has already tripled her previous career goal total. She started 17 games as a freshman, but saw her sophomore season a year ago — Utah’s most successful season ever in the Pac-12 — cut short due to a knee injury suffered in late August. She tried to push through it, but eventually made the decision to undergo surgery to repair her damaged LCL back in the Netherlands last December.

Utah’s midfielder didn’t practice all spring. She rehabbed on campus until returning home in April. Manning said he had no idea how van der Veen would look with her boots laced up a couple weeks before preseason started this summer.

“She’s worked so hard and she just seems like really focused, mentally ready and maybe a little bit of redemption for missing out on the excitement of last year,” Manning said.

Off the field for nearly a year, van der Veen said it took a few months to trust her knee again, to make the usual movements necessary on the ball and tracking back on defense. Once preseason began, however, the fears dissipated.

“I felt like this is my year to go,” she said, “and so far, so good.”

The Utes, van der Veen said, have emphasized more possession early in 2017, which has allowed the midfield of herself, Haylee Cacciacarne, Holly Daugirda and Eden Jacobsen to control the flow of games.

“Our midfield is amazing this year — it’s not just me,” van der Veen said. “We’re willing to work for each other.”

And it certainly doesn’t hurt that the Utes now have another established goal-scorer for opponents to worry over.

“No question,” Manning said. “It’s always a plus-one. If somebody can score one more goal, in these Pac-12 games, that makes the difference.”