The Becker Bulldog boys soccer team met this week for its end of the season banquet, and the team was able to celebrate a number of milestones.

The team ended the year with an overall record of eight wins and nine losses, but Coach Nick Crowley was able to put the record in perspective.

“In conference play, we lost five games by one goal, and two of those games went to overtime,” Crowley noted. “We had a lot of frustrating games this season that didn’t go our way, but we also had some great results.”

Crowley mentioned his team’s 7-0 win against Big Lake as a definite highlight, as well as starting the season 3-0.

In the playoffs, Becker advanced all the way to the Section title game before falling to Princeton.

“The boys worked hard pushing our season into the 10th week and into the section championship game,” Crowley said. “We knocked off Monti 2-1, the only time we’ve ever beaten them on the road and just the second overall win over the Magic in program history.”

Other highlights included a 2-0 shutout over WIllmar, the #1 seed in the section and #5 ranked team in the state.

As a team, Becker had a potent offense that led to a telling statistic.

“We had the best goal differential in program history at +13, having conceded 27 goals and scoring 40,” Crowley said. “We had the second highest number of clean sheets and second highest number of goals scored in a season.”

In the classroom, Crowley’s players also took care of their work, being named the Mississippi 8 Academic Team.

Individually, several players were awarded for their performances this season.

Senior Micah Boyer  was named the runner-up Mississippi 8 Player of the Year , as he scored 26 goals and two assists for a career total of 52 goals, six assists.  Boyer was named Outstanding Offensive Player and MVP of the team, as well as All-Conference.

Fellow Senior Brekken Klug also received All-Conference status and was honored as the Most Dedicated Bulldog. He also received the Golden Senior award.

All-Conference honorable mention awards went to Seniors Nick Gruber, Hudson Romfo, and Owen Kolbinger, as well as Sophomore Eric Kyaw.

Romeo picked up the Most Improved award, while Gruber was named the Defensive Player of the Year.

In all, 14 players received Mississippi 8 All Academic awards for having a GPA between 3.75 and 4.0, while 19 players lettered for the team.

“I’d like to thank our seniors for the great year and the fantastic leadership... I greatly appreciate the parent support, having driven well over 500 miles this season to support us,” Crowley said. “And, one last shoutout to the fans who showed up to our playoff run – the support in Monticello, Willmar, and versus Princeton was pretty awesome to experience and so helpful in our success.”