All the hard work is starting to pay off for Becker boys soccer coach Nick Crowley, who enters his seventh season in charge of the program with excellent numbers and seasoned talent.
“For the first time since I’ve been in charge, we’ll have more than 30 athletes in the high school program,” Crowley said. “We’ve been successful with 19, 21, and 24 kids the last three seasons, but it’s been difficult because we’re always one injury away from a major impact on our season.”
The Bulldogs will operate with four captains this year, as seniors Rowen Klug and Eric Kyaw return and are joined by Evan Norberg and Tate Salvavold.
Asher Olson, Norberg and Kyaw received All-Conference a year ago, giving the Bulldogs a talented foundation on the field that will include returning 10 of 11 starters from a year ago.
“We’ve got a lot of talent, hopefully that shows in the goals we score and the improvement in the number of clean sheets we have this season,” Crowley said. “We’ve got a strong senior class. We all have high expectations for the season with our sights set on the conference title and on making it far in sections.”
Joining Crowley on the coaching staff this year are Damien Klug, in his eighth year with the program, and Parker Lahr, a 2020 Becker grad who will serve as a Varsity assistant this season. Paul Olson will once again coach the middle school program, giving Crowley solid soccer coaches throughout the program.
“It should be a fun season,” concluded Crowley.
Opener
The Bulldogs dropped their season opener last Thursday, falling 4-2 to St. Cloud Apollo. The Bulldogs fell behind 3-0 before fighting back to make it a game.
“Our bounce-back started with a change in attitude and energy from Eric Kyaw - which was infectious,” Crowley said after the game. “Asher Olson scored the first goal to go into halftime 3-1.”
Norberg added a goal on an Asher Olson assist in the second half to make it a 1 goal game until the closing minutes.
“It was a much better second half and we had a few other opportunities that we didn’t capitalize on,” Crowley said. “We were missing over and wide of the net, and getting some unlucky deflections that didn’t bounce our way.”
