As he enters his fourth season in charge of the program, Becker boys’ soccer coach Nick Crowley says his team has experience in both facets of the game – offense and defense. He is hoping that is enough to lead to a successful season for his team, which will once again be a bit short in the numbers department.

“We’ll have a lot of experience with almost all of our starters having two years of varsity experience,” Crowley says. “We might have some offensive firepower this year in Micah Boyer and Chris Stich, and hopefully a solid backline featuring Kyle Vogl, Owen Kolbinger, and Hudson Romfo.”

Optimism abounds for Crowley and his squad, as they have been busy piling up the practices over the past two weeks in preparation for their back to back opening games, August 26 and 27.

“It’s always exciting to start a new season and this year is no different, especially after going through all of the COVID procedures and policies from last year and not having as many to enforce and follow this year,” Crowley says. “It’s been nice to go back to something more like normal.”

Conditioning will be a key for his team, as the coach notes the smallish size of his roster.

“We have a really small squad, with only 18 guys at the high school level, when our normal numbers are 28 to 30,” Crowley says. “It’ll be a tough and tiresome season for the guys.”

Crowley does have experience, as well as some new ideas via his coaching staff, as Damien Klug and Steve Borst both return and will be joined by Sarah Dvorak. 

“She will be volunteer coaching with all of the soccer teams this year – she brings some college playing and coaching experience,” Crowley says.

The Bulldogs will rely on the leadership of their tri-captains to help the younger players navigate the rigors of a full varsity season and Owen Kolbinger, Micah Boyer and Brekken Klug are up to the task and ready to assist Crowley in setting a positive tone.

“The guys are having fun and there’s improvement from last year – passes are crisp, shots are harder and more accurate,” Crowley says. “Some kids have even gotten taller and bigger. They all come with good energy to practice.”

The coach lists Monticello and Princeton as two of the top teams in the M8 Conference, while the addition of a third class to the MSHSL soccer structure should mean a bit more parity come playoff time.

“Instead of having 19 schools in our section, we will go down to eight – which aligns a lot more with other sports,” Crowley says.  “Looking at who is in our section, it will be a lot more competitive, but there are more schools around our size – such as Zimmerman, Big Lake, and Rockford.”

Add it all together and Crowley thinks his team is ready to compete on any given night.

“Our record last season wasn’t great so we are looking to improve on that and we are also looking to improve on our goal differential and not concede as many goals as we did last season,” says the coach. “And everyone wants to stay healthy, especially because of our numbers.”