She's back. Gophers soccer senior Khyah Harper has multiple hat tricks to prove it.

A high school soccer sensation once upon a time, Khyah Harper scored a single goal in each of her first three college seasons, then scored three each in consecutive games this season for a 5-0-1 Gophers team off to its best start since 2016.

Explanation, please.

"Injuries, unfortunately," she said.

Harper had surgery on both ankles, including an internal brace and implant insertion after she tore three ligaments — and knee surgery on a torn meniscus as well.

All of it sidelined her for long stretches of those first three seasons. Now a senior, she participated fully with the Gophers in the spring and with Salvo SC in the Women's Premier Soccer League during a very successful summer.

"It's pretty exciting how this year is going," Harper said. "I feel like I'm playing a lot more like myself."

Like herself means a gifted scorer since her days at Centennial High School, where she was ranked a four-star prospect. She was named the Star Tribune's 2020 Metro Player of the Year after she scored 26 goals in 14 games. She is the first Gophers player to deliver back-to-back hat tricks since Laurie Seidl in 1998 and Gretchen Brandt in 1994. Her seven points — three goals and an assist — against St. Thomas were a career high.

"I just have a feel to get a goal," Harper said. "I've always wanted to score goals, but this year I think it's really going my way, and I'm really finding the back of the net. … I'd say that I'm really calm when I'm in front of the net. I bring that. When I get a chance, I'm really sharp trying to put it away."

So she has poise?

"Yeah, a little bit," Harper said.

Gophers coach Erin Chastain calls Harper a "wonderful talent."

"She's very technical, she has a wonderful soccer IQ, and she's really clinical in front of goal," Chastain said. "I think she's really embraced the responsibility to score goals for the team. Now that she has been on the field for the last six months consistently, you're starting to see what we can do when she's sharp."

The Big Ten selected Harper as its co-offensive player of the week after the St. Thomas performance. It was her first Big Ten weekly award. She was chosen to the Top Drawer Soccer national team of the week after her second consecutive hat trick.

"It means a lot," Harper said about such recognitions. "It just shows my hard work coming back from injuries the last few years is really paying off. Everything goes to my team because I couldn't do anything without them. I wouldn't be getting awards without them."

Starting with Thursday's game at Illinois, the Gophers are heading into a Big Ten schedule that now includes USC and UCLA.

Harper credits the team's undefeated start for her eight-goal spurt. She also has three assists for a team-leading 19 points.

"I just think our team is playing out of our minds," she said. "We just stay true to ourselves and to our game. … I just finished my chances that I could."

One Gophers fan threw a hat onto the field after Harper's third goal at Milwaukee. Her older sister Sadie, a former Gophers player, brought a homemade sign to the St. Thomas game two weeks ago, and Khyah scored the hat trick. Sadie brought it to Milwaukee with her parents, Brett and Desiree, and Khyah scored three times again.

It reads: Go Kiki Boo-Boo.

"It's kind of my nickname, but I don't really like to use it a lot," Harper said. "It's a family thing. It just might be my lucky charm."