Keating's ability to take those opportunities when they come has been particularly evident in the FA Cup, where she has been the first-choice goalkeeper for new head coach Andree Jeglertz. The 21-year-old kept clean sheets in each of City's first three outings of the competition, to help them to the semi-finals.Then, in extra time, she came up with an incredible contribution to get her team to Wembley.
With just two minutes of extra time remaining, City were 3-2 up, having come from 2-0 down in the final knockings of the 90 minutes. Sjoeke Nusken must have thought she'd levelled the tie back up though when she directed a header towards the visitors' goal, only for Keating to stick out her left arm and push the effort onto the bar.
It came after Keating had made an error for Chelsea's second goal, failing to deal with a cross and allowing Sam Kerr the opportunity to head into an empty goal to double the Blues' lead. After the game, Jeglertz praised Keating's "mental strength" to bounce back from that moment so well.
"I knew I needed to redeem myself and that there would be some point in that game where I needed to make a big save," the goalkeeper said. "At the end of the day, big saves like that are always nice. It's just like celebrating a goal. I'm just glad that I saved it and it didn't go in and we didn't go to penalties."
Lauren Hemp, the City winger, toldGOAL. "That save was ridiculous. Khiara just came out of nowhere! She's been unbelievable for us as well, because when you are in and out of games, it's hard to get that bit of momentum and consistency that you want, but to be able to come in in a game like that and produce saves like that, it's massive."