Greseth and Dahl among returning leaders for soccer team
Sports | Published on August 12, 2024 at 2:03pm CDT
The Minnewaska boys soccer team possibly lost the most players to graduation from any of the fall sports teams at MAHS.
The soccer team, which was 6-6-4 last year, graduated five key players from last year’s team, including the Golden Boot, Most Assists Award, The Engine Award and the Goal of the Season awardwinners from 2023.
The soccer team is set to open up the season Thursday, Aug. 22 at Fergus Falls followed by the home openers against Heritage Christian, Saturday, Aug. 24 and Hillcrest, Monday, Aug. 26.
The Lakers have 14 regular-season games scheduled this season and eight of them are at home.
Gone from last year’s team, coached by first-year head coach David Vinje and assisted by Caleb Greene (JV) and Jarrid Jergenson (junior high), are Blake Nelson, Thomas Poegel, Connor Quelle, Ethan Curry and Jose Contreras Mondragon.
Nelson and Quelle were named All-Conference last year along with junior goalie Tenzin Dahl, while Poegel and Curry earned honorable mention. Nelson was also named to the All-State team, giving the Lakers 18 first or second-team All-State players over the past 28 years.
In addition, Nelson won the team’s Golden Boot award for the leading scorer, Quelle won the Most Assists award, Poegel earned the The Engine Award, and Contreras Mondragon won the award for the Goal of the Season when he scored a goal at SC Cathedral midway through the season, which was the first goal scored against the team last season.
It was an unusual scoring year for the Lakers last year. Of the 16 games, Minnewaska Area scored one goal six times and were held scoreless five times. Yes, that’s right, only five times in 16 games did the Lakers score two or more goals.
The season came to an end with a disappointing 1-0, double-overtime loss to Melrose, a team whom the Lakers beat (2-0) and tied with (1-1) earlier in the season.
• St. Cloud Cathedral, ranked among the top three in state all season, won the conference title with a perfect 8-0 record last fall, followed by Little Falls-LPGE (3-3-2), Minnewaska (2-4-2) and Melrose and St. John’s Prep (both 2-5-1).
• In season-ending stats, Nelson led the Lakers last year with eight goals, while Greseth had five, and Quelle and Contreras Mondragon both had three. Quelle was also the leader for assists with 10.
• In other awards handed out last season but not going to the graduating seniors were the Most Valuable Player award, given to junior goalie Tenzin Dahl, and the Most Improved honor, awarded to junior Chase Smith.
