The Cannon Falls Boys Soccer team started off their season just over a month ago and has attained a record of 5 wins, 7 losses, and 1 tie. This season, the captains are Micah Nelson, Andrew McGeough, and Issac Van Slyke, all of whom are seniors. Along with that, the other seniors on the team are Brekken Baird, Lucas Regenscheid, Marcus Nelsen, and Brent Carpenter. They have a new coach this season, Dan Schaak, who has coached for almost 30 years before this. Senior Micah Nelson, Junior Rylan Berg, and Sophomore Owen Harmsen gave more insight on how this year’s boys soccer program is going.
Senior Micah Nelson is a force on the field for the boys’ soccer team. He explained that their biggest goal for this season is to have a winning record. He also noted their team’s strengths and weaknesses this season. “Offensively, our team is great at pushing the ball up the field and creating scoring opportunities, but we lack composure on defence, allowing lazy goals that take us out of games.” When it comes to soccer, having a well-balanced offense and defense is important, so opponents don’t score. It is also important that when your defense does its job, you can carry the ball down the field to give your team scoring opportunities as well. The last thing Nelson added was that throughout his many years of playing, PEM has always been his favorite to play. This is because it is always a competitive game.
Junior Rylan Berg is one of the starters for the Boys Bomber Soccer team. He plays midfield, meaning he plays both sides of the ball- offense and defense. We asked him about what a daily practice looks like, his personal and team goals for the season, and what he is most looking forward to for the rest of the season. Berg explained, “A daily practice is normally 3:15 to 5. It starts with a team warm-up up which is dynamic stretching. After that, coach normally would talk to us for a little bit about what the day would look like or about our previous game. The drills we run in practice vary depending on what coach wants us to work on, but we normally do about 2-4 drills per practice. Those drills can either be super intense or chill, depending on how we performed in our previous game.” For team goals, the team wants to focus on scoring at least 2-3 goals a game, along with having a winning record, like Nelson stated previously. For personal goals, Berg wants to improve the areas of his game that are lacking, and he hopes to play a competitive game each time that they step onto the field. Lastly, he noted that he is looking forward to getting better as a team and just being able to play with his friends along with just playing the game of soccer.
Sophomore Owen Harmsen is one of the many young players who add to the varsity squad. We asked him about the team’s chemistry, what motivates him to keep going while in the season, and what he is most looking forward to for the remainder of the season. Harmsen explained that the team’s chemistry is good. They critique each other to improve their overall performance, along with lifting each other during games. Harmsen notes that along with lifting each other, they all encourage one another to keep going during games and hard practice, and that motivates him the most. Lastly, Harmsen adds, “I am most looking forward to having a good season for the seniors to look back on.”
The senior class this season contains 7 hardworking seniors who all contribute to the team immensely. With the post-season just around the corner, the team hopes to exceed the success along into the section bracket then years prior. Not only that, but also leaving the season knowing that they pushed their hardest and played as a team all season long. The team’s motto this season is “Go Beyond,” which means instead of giving 100% effort at practice, they are giving 110% effort, so they can continue to go the extra mile. They know when the season comes to an end, they will regret nothing.
