Boys Soccer | City preview - Post Bulletin | Rochester Minnesota news, weather, sports

August 25, 2011 at 4:28 PM

LOURDES

Head coach: Tom Kane. Assistant coaches:Sean Kane, Joe Elder, Nick Rieder, Andrew Forliti, Mac Miller.

Last year:7-0-0 HVL, 15-3-3 overall. Lourdes fell 2-1 to St. Paul Academy in the first round of the state tournament.

Outlook:Lourdes coach Tom Kane has been anticipating this season for a number of years. That’s because he’s known for a long time that this team would have a winning blend of talent, with a pack of strong seniors and juniors, especially. The seniors are led by a terrific senior midfielder, Brian Williamson. Joining him in what will be a loaded midfield are juniors Alan Schembri-Wismayer and Karl Krecke. Lourdes has gone from two midfielders to three this season, as it looks to get more scoring. Krecke moves up from defense. The Eagles, who lost in the first round of the state tournament last year, averaged just a shade over two goals per game. Lourdes will be looking to get the bulk of its goals from junior forwards Gabe Salerno and Jack Convery. Last year’s leading scorer, Paul Convery (15 goals), has graduated.

Lourdes should be excellent again defensively, paced by third-year starting goalie Will Elder. Elder is just a junior. He worked extensively on his game and his strength over the summer.

Challenges:The biggest concern remains goal scoring. Kane has set things up to generate more scoring. But now it’s on his team to make it happen.

Coach says:"My biggest concern is getting our forwards acclimated to playing, and getting them and everyone else going offensively. We need to get more shots on goal. We’re stressing that first." — Tom Kane

LOURDES ROSTER

Returning lettermen

Seniors: James Armstead, Tyler Sloan, Brian Williamson, Nate Wells, Michael Nowakowski. Juniors:Will Elder, Karl Krecke, Gabe Salerno, Henry Saling, Jack Convery, Alan Schembri-Wismayer, Ashton Praska, Lee Brandrup, Tim Wente, Jake Steinmetz. Sophomore:Zach Hebl.

Other varsity candicates

Seniors: Alex Gowan-Nuehring, Eric Guevremont. Juniors:Patrick Andrews, David McCarthy, Mikael Paulik, Matt Kempinger. Sophomores:Calvin Kim, Robert Simari.

LOURDES SCHEDULE

(RRSS is Rochester Regional Sports Stadium; FMSC is Fuad Mansour Sports Complex)

Aug. 27 — Duluth Marshall, RRSS, noon

Aug. 30 —at Kasson-Mantorville, 7 p.m.

Sept. 6 —at Pine Island/Zumbrota-Mazeppa, 5 p.m.

Sept. 10 —Benilde-St. Margaret’s, RRSS, 3 p.m.

Sept. 13 —Stewartille, FMSC, 5 p.m.

Sept. 17 —at Breck, 1 p.m.

Sept. 19 —Northfield, RRSS, 5 p.m.

Sept. 20 —at Byron, 7 p.m.

Sept. 22 —at St. Thomas Academy, 7 p.m.

Sept. 24 —at Austin, 11 a.m.

Sept. 27 —Cotter, FMSC, 5 p.m.

Sept. 29 —at Holy Family Catholic, 5 p.m.

Oct. 1 —Mankato East, RRSS, 1 p.m.

Oct. 3 —Orono, RRSS, 5:30 p.m.

Oct. 4 —La Crescent, FMSC, 5 p.m.

Oct. 6 —Lake City, FMSC, 5 p.m.

Oct. 11 —Section 1A tournament, TBD, 7 p.m.

Oct. 13 —at Section 1A tournament, TBD, 7 p.m.

Oct. 15 —at Section 1A tournament, TBD, 11 a.m.

Oct. 18 —at Section 1A tournament, TBD, 7 p.m.

Oct. 26 —at state tournament, TBD

Oct. 31 —at state tournament, Metrodome, TBD

Nov. 3 —at state tournament, Metrodome, TBD, 10 a.m.

CENTURY

Head coach: Hal Houghton. Assistant coaches:Drew Lueders, Chris Graham, Chris Sedarski (volunteer).

Last year:6-1-2 Big Nine, 10-5-2 overall. Century finished third in the Big Nine and fell 1-0 in overtime to Lakeville South in the Section 1AA quarterfinals.

Outlook:Hal Houghton was in his first year as head coach last season, after serving as an assistant for a number of years. Well, that first year sure went well, with Houghton taking an inexperienced team and getting it to score lots of goals en route to a 10-5-2 record. Century averaged nearly three goals per game.

Now, Houghton is going to have to do it all over again. Century graduated 15 seniors. The Panthers do have one key player back, however, senior Noor Mohammed. Mohammed scored eight goals last year and had about 10 assists. He’s likely to play midfield this year. Also back are two more players with some varsity experience, junior defenders Ben Coleman and Jack Koplin. Houghton is also excited about the potential of junior midfielder Mikey Allen and junior Collin Gustafson.

Challenges:Houghton thought his team would be strong defensively, but he hasn’t seen that yet in practice. There is also the challenge of getting all of these new varsity players in positions that most suit them.

Coach says:"Once we get things sorted out, I think we can be a competitive, solid team. But there will be some growing pains." — Hal Houghton

Returning lettermen

Seniors: Noor Mohammed. Juniors:Mikey Allen, Ben Coleman, Jack Koplin.

Other varsity candidates

Seniors: Burhan Abukar, Jack Fojut, Tommy Joswiak, Christian Laing, Gregg Nelson, Jeremy Nielsen, Tim Ajal. Juniors:Collin Gustafson, Jordan Roth, Mo Elkarib, Nick Waara.

Sophomores:Peter Beiswanger, Hayden Ashworth, Josh Grove, Seyla Ou.

CENTURY SCHEDULE

Aug. 26 —at St. John's University, Simley, 5 p.m.

Aug. 30 —Lakeville North, 7 p.m.

Sept. 1 —Mankato West, 7 p.m.

Sept. 8 —at Faribault, 5 p.m.

Sept. 13 —at Northfield, 5 p.m.

Sept. 15 —at Owatonna, 7 p.m.

Sept. 17 —at Anoka, 1 p.m.

Sept. 20 —Winona, 7 p.m.

Sept. 22 —John Marshall, 7 p.m.

Sept. 27 —Austin, 7 p.m.

Sept. 29 —at Albert Lea, 7 p.m.

Oct. 1 —at Lakeville South, 11 a.m.

Oct. 4 —Mayo, 7 p.m.

Oct. 6 —at Mankato East, 4:30 p.m.

Oct. 8 —Holy Angels, 11 a.m.

Oct. 11 —Section 1AA tournament, TBD

Oct. 13 —Section 1AA tournament, TBD

Oct. 15 —Section 1AA tournament, TBD

Oct. 18 —Section 1AA tournament, TBD

Oct. 26 —at state tournament, TBD

Oct. 31 —at state tournament, Metrodome, TBD

Nov. 2 —at state tournament, Metrodome, TBD

JOHN MARSHALL

Head Coach: Tony Birch. Assistant coaches:Frank Spaeth, Bunly Suy.

Last year:1-8-0 Big Nine, 2-15-0 overall.

Outlook:The Rockets have struggled mightily in recent years. Now, however, that struggle seems to be lessening. JM has some intriguing young talent, including freshman midfielder/forward Ashton Naumann and freshman Ben Jensen. Still, both are too young to be leaned on heavily. Good thing that JM does have some veteran talent to guide the way. Junior goalie Jacob Garvey was an all-conference player last year. Senior Meola Cheak, a midfielder, was honorable-mention all-conference. The Rockets also have Dakota VanDemmeltraadt and Jayden Schuster back as third-year starters. Both are seniors and captains.

JM had a heck of a time scoring last year. It is going to have to figure out how to get the ball in the net to really get things turned around. But stopping goals is made a lot easier when you have someone as formidable as goalie Garvey.

Challenges:Again, scoring may be a problem. Another thorn is simply getting this group to believe it can win, as JM has struggled so much the last few years. That includes winning just two of 17 games in 2010.

Coach says:"We don’t have the tradition of schools like Mayo and Century in soccer. The biggest thing for us is trying to build up that confidence. But if we can get on a roll, we can do well." — Tony Birch

JOHN MARSHALL ROSTER

Returning lettermen

Seniors: Meola Cheak, Boris Cvijetinovic, Theodore Ringhofer, Jayden Schuster, Dakota VanDemmeltraadt. Juniors:Jacob Garvey, Mitchell Monson, Adnan Mustic.

Other varsity candidates

Seniors: Grant Eckhoff, Abderrazak Ferchichi, Alex Keyser, Jonathan Underdahl. Juniors:Abdikadir Muhumed. Sophmores:Brett Cornforth. Freshmen:Cole Alward, Benjamin Jensen, Ashton Naumann.

JOHN MARSHALL SCHEDULE

Aug. 25 —Lakeville South, 7 p.m.

Aug. 27 —Fairmont, 1 p.m.

Aug. 30 —at Farmington, 5 p.m.

Sept. 1 —Mayo, 7 p.m.

Sept. 8 —at Mankato East 5 p.m.

Sept. 13 —at Owatonna, 7 p.m.

Sept. 15 —Mankato West, 7 p.m.

Sept. 17 —at Lakeville North, 7 p.m.

Sept. 20 —at Faribault, 5 p.m.

Sept. 22 —Century, 7 p.m.

Sept. 27 —at Winona, 7 p.m.

Oct. 1 —at Northfield, 5 p.m.

Oct. 4 —Austin, 7 p.m.

Oct. 6 —at Albert Lea, 7 p.m.

Oct. 8 —Mayo, 1 p.m.

Oct. 11 —Section 1AA tournament, TBD

Oct. 13 —Section 1AA tournament, TBD

Oct. 15 —Section 1AA tournament, TBD

Oct. 18 —Section 1AA tournament, TBD

Oct. 26 —at state tournament, TBD

Oct. 31 —at state tournament, Metrodome, TBD

Nov. 2 —at state tournament, Metrodome, TBD

MAYO

Head coach: Charles Abboud. Assistant coaches:Dean Alcock, J.D. Bartleson, Faiz Abdirahman.

Last year:8-1-1 Big Nine, 9-5-4 overall. Mayo fell 2-1 to Lakeville North in the Section 1AA semifinals.

Outlook:Mayo has a bunch of new guys as it has to mostly start over from last when it finished 8-1-1 in the Big Nine. The Spartans have 15 newcomers to the varsity roster.

Mayo coach Charles Abboud says things will be challenging early in the season, especially. However, by midseason, he expects his team to make a significant jump. He considers the Big Nine to be loaded with high-end teams, and with no team that is well below par. Abboud cites Mankato West, Mankato East, Owatonna, Austin and Century as the conference favorites.

Challenges:Finding scoring might be tough, and also getting all of these varsity newcomers acclimated to varsity soccer will be a test.

MAYO ROSTER

Returning lettermen

Seniors: Justin Aldrich, Graham Sparks, Derek Herman, Nikolas Brozovich, Ian Hathaway. Juniors:Luke Zietlow. Sophomores:Mario Gonzalez Martinez.

Other varsity candidates

Seniors: Andrew Roberts, Jayro Ramerez, Michael DeBusman, Martin Ramirez. Juniors:Adam Dutton, Esad Mujic, Ryan O’Callaghan, Marc Ayllon Simon, Sawyer Bock. Sophomores:Jose Molina Duran, Liam Hathaway, James Findlay.

MAYO SCHEDULE

Aug. 25 —Lakeville North, 7 p.m.

Aug. 27 —at Lakeville South, 3 p.m.

Aug. 30 —Northfield, 7 p.m.

Sept. 1 —at John Marshall, 7 p.m.

Sept. 8 —Austin, 7 p.m.

Sept. 15 —at Albert Lea, 7 p.m.

Sept. 17 —at Farmington, 11 a.m.

Sept. 20 —Owatonna, 7 p.m.

Sept. 22 —Mankato East, 7 p.m.

Sept. 24 —at Prior Lake, 1 p.m.

Sept. 27 —at Mankato West, 5 p.m.