Five members of the Minnewaska Area boys soccer team earned conference honors following the completion of the 2022 season.

Seniors Aaron Feigum and Genaro Contreras Mondragon, along with junior Blake Nelson, were named to the Granite Ridge All-Conference team, while senior Noah Palmer and junior Connor Quelle were named to the honorable mention team.

In addition, Feigum was also named to the All-State second team.

The Lakers went 8-7 this year, including a 5-4 mark in the Granite Ridge Conference and a 2-0 loss to Prinsburg in the opening round of the Section 8A Boys Soccer Tourney. 

The Lakers started out 0-3 and 2-5 before turning things around and going 5-3 over their final eight games.

Season soccer stats

The top three scorers for the Lakers this season were Blake Nelson, Aaron Feigum and Genaro Contreras Mondragon.  Feigum had a team-high 16 points on seven goals and nine assists, while Contreras Mondragon had eight goals and five assists, and Nelson tied with him for the team lead with eight goals while also adding two assists.

A total of 10 different players had at least one point this year as Connor Quelle had one goal and two assists, Jose Contreras Mondragon, Ryan Greseth and Preston Martin each had one goal and one assist, and Connor Erickson, Dalton Peterson and Jackson Holmes all had one assist.

In goal this year was sophomore Tenzin Dahl, who had 121 saves on 149 shots on goal for a save percentage of 81 percent with four shutouts and a goals-against average of 2.0.

Senior Aaron Feigum had a season-high four goals and Blake Nelson added two during a 7-0 win over Melrose Area midway through the season, while senior Genaro Contreras Mondragon had all three goals for the Lakers during a 3-1 victory over Rocori late in the year and Feigum and Contreras Mondragon both had two goals during a 5-1 win over Melrose to close out the regular season.

The match against the Bluejays was also the last game for Minnewaska Area head coach Ted Hill, who had said earlier this season that he would retire at the end of this season.  He has been the Lakers’ head coach for 27 years since the inception of the program at MAHS in 1996.

He was assisted this season by David Vinje, Tony Feigum, Manford Foster and Jarrid Jergenson.

The Lakers will lose 10 players to graduation from this year’s team  Members of this year’s Minnewaska Area varsity soccer team were seniors Alicia Boysen, Genaro Contreras Mondragon, Aaron Feigum, Paige Boysen, Brooke Kolstoe, Rhet Kuehne, Caleb Mahoney, Noah Palmer, Preston Martin and Dalton Peterson; juniors Jose Contreras Mondragon, Ethan Curry, Blake Nelson, Thomas Poegel, Connor Quelle and Kody Ward; sophomores Tenzin Dahl, Ryan Greseth, Jackson Holmes and Riley Thorfinnson; and ninth-grader Connor Erickson.