Hulne: The Pack is back as Austin boys soccer team faces a big week
Published 6:35 pm Monday, October 2, 2017
Last year the Austin boys soccer team faced the ultimate heartbreak.
After highly successful regular season, the Packers dropped the Section 1A title game for the third straight year when they lost to Northfield 1-0 and missed out on their first Minnesota Class A state boys soccer tournament since 2009.
That Austin team had 12 seniors, including two that are currently playing college soccer as Matias Parada is at Luther College and Abel Gebrekiros is at Iowa Lakes Community College.
Last year’s Austin team was a special group that went 16-3-1 overall and it had a bond that couldn’t be broken, even after it was knocked off by the Raiders. Apparently the players on this year’s Austin team must have been paying attention to the accomplishment of last years’ Packers as Austin is back in the thick of things this fall.
Austin’s Kevin Ortiz fends off Lourdes’ Nicholas Onderak during the first half Saturday afternoon at Art Hass Stadium. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
The Packers, who are currently ranked No. 4 in Class A, reloaded over the summer and they have a chance to make school history this week. Austin (10-0-2 overall, 7-0-1 Big Nine) has a half game lead on Rochester Mayo in the Big Nine standings and if the Packers can beat Owatonna, Albert Lea and Rochester Century this week, they’ll finish the regular season unbeaten for the first time and they would lock up their first Big Nine title in school history.
The Owatonna game is at Art Hass Stadium Tuesday at 7 p.m., the Albert Lea game is on the road Oct. 5 Thursday at 7 p.m. and the Century game is in Rochester at Saturday at 1 p.m.
The Packers have been a lot of fun to watch this season and they’ve been highly disciplined on both ends of the field. Austin senior keeper Josh Brehmer has picked up six shutouts and Austin has outscored its opponents 53-10.
Plenty of players have stepped up as junior Mooday Wah, who missed the postseason last year with an injury, and senior Lonyjera Okal have emerged as go-to scorers, and freshman Henry Tolbert has picked things up quickly as an explosive play-maker. In the midfield, the Packers are loaded with leadership as seniors Sam Bailey and OJ Cham, and junior Kevin Ortiz are highly skilled and highly vocal. On defense, Austin has been solid as the play of junior Victor Velzaquez, Ethan Tolbert and Eli Hirst has kept opponents from getting off good looks.
Ortiz said early on this season that this Packers team is special and they certainly are. If they can keep the momentum they’ve built up, they have a chance to be historically special.