By Jake Schroer
Crow River News Sports
The STMA Knights boys’ soccer team has experienced a steady improvement over the first two years of head coach Tomas Rodriguez’s tenure; a fact that has him excited for the new season.
“We have a huge senior class, we have ten seniors this year and they’re all phenomenal soccer players,” Rodriguez said.
The Knights went 3-13-1 in Rodriguez’s first year as coach, and bettered that total to 5-10-1 in 2015. Each season, the number of participants has grown, and it reached 60 for the 2016 fall season.
Rodriguez feels that the current varsity team is at its pinnacle, where other teams within the conference have either rebuilt or are in the process of rebuilding.
“I’m so excited. I can’t wait for conference play,” Rodriguez said.
This season, STMA will train like the best, Rodriguez said. The Knights have ordered several new pieces of training equipment such as a pair of giant tires, 35-pound vests for players to wear while training, and ropes.
Key returning players for STMA include Tanner Sorem and Cole Meyer, who are both team captains as seniors, along with Tanner Songstad and a host of others, Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said that the STMA football team’s recent state championship can serve as a motivator to other teams at the school, including his own. Also serving as fuel is the announcement that US Bank Stadium will host the latter parts of the state soccer tournament.
“That stadium, just being in there, will definitely be a motivation for all of these kids, especially me as a coach to get them there,” Rodriguez said.
As usual, STMA has a slate of competitive games both conference and non-conference. Rodriguez looks forward to the competition as the Knights play Maple Grove for the first time in his head coaching career, along with Waconia, St. Cloud Tech and Burnsville.
“It’s going to be a great test for all of our kids, especially our upperclassmen who really deserve to be here right now,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said that the kids coming in already have a lot of soccer knowledge, so now the coaches can build on the tactical side. A specific goal for the upcoming season is to finish games and close them out, which has been a weakness in previous years.
Rodridguez said that the sport of soccer continues to grow, to the point that Minnesota United FC will join Major League Soccer beginning in 2017.
“That’s just going to feed into these boys’ dreams, and that’s what we want.”
Rodriguez said that the growth will hopefully lead to more colleges building soccer programs for kids to continue their careers.
Overall, Rodriguez looks forward to the season.
“These guys have all joined because they enjoy our program, and they enjoy having fun and making sure this game is always fun,” Rodriguez said. He added that he enjoys teaching them things outside the realm of sports.
“I know that this school takes pride in growing kids, and we take pride in shaping them on the pitch,” Rodriguez said.
The Knights play Elk River Thursday afternoon at 3.