SPORTS WRAP
Owatonna girls’ soccer will have to navigate some new challenges as they attempt to defend their Big Nine championship. While their opponents stay the same, big turnover in the coaching ranks could lead to different schemes from their rivals.
Nate Gendron, in his eighth year at the helm for the Huskies, says about half of the coaches are new in the conference. “When we’re doing a lot of game prep, I don’t necessarily know what the Big Nine teams will look like because I haven’t played against those coaches. We’ve played against the programs several times, but the coach might do something different because it’s a new coach. It’ll be exciting.”
But the goal remains the same. “We want to be Big Nine Conference champs again. It will be a tough battle, for sure,” he said.
The Huskies graduated 11 seniors last fall, several of whom are now playing college soccer. Still, OHS brings back some veteran players with a strong push from a big group of freshmen.
Junior captain Norah Cederstrom remembers being a young player adjusting to varsity. “I think the pace of play is just a lot quicker. I think one of my favorite memories is getting to know the older girls and hanging out with them.”
And now “being that role model for them and be somebody that they know they can go to. And just being there and setting a good example for what girls’ soccer is like,” said Cederstrom.
Sophie Schlauderaff is a second-year captain as a senior. “We have a really young team this year. A lot of new girls. It took us a couple of practices to get to know each other a little bit more and see how we play… We’re a very fast team. So, using that to our advantage,” said Schlauderaff.
Gendron looks to Schlauderaff as “a true utility player that we hope to use in several aspects of the game. She is able to win 50/50 balls and control possession.”
He says Cederstrom is a “really dynamic and influential player that will be on the outside. She is able to use her high-quality footwork and skill to take players on one-versus-one.”
Attley Klemmensen “will be playing the middle of the field as a central midfielder. She will control the game for us, and we want everything to funnel through her feet. She will be a key part of our transition game defense to offense.”
Klemmensen says she frequently looks for someone on the outside. “Gabby (Simon), Rylee (Hilmer), or Norah are open and you pass it way out to them. Then they cross it. Or me and Sophie make some small passes in the middle to move it up the field. I think we’re really a fast team and we’re pretty strong.” She says they can be aggressive when they need to be but added “not too aggressive.”
Owatonna graduated 15-goal scorer Kennedy Schammel and are hoping her sister, Presley, a freshman, can pick up some of that load. “She is filling her sister’s shoes quite well. She will be moved around depending who we play. But the ball will be glued to her feet,” Gendron told Owatonna Live.
Other freshmen playing significant time are Finley Rolloff, Meela Hartman, Addy Elmhorst and Avery Pegg.
In addition to the leadership of his captains, he can rely on players on the back line. “Bryn Routh and Audrey Dowling really lead from the defensive side and then funnels everything up.”
The Huskies once again will host one game at the high school. Simon loves playing at their regular home pitch at Lincoln Soccer Complex. “I do like that it is grass, since we’re always on turf most of the time at away games. Getting the feel of being on grass again which is really nice. But also I’m so used to it.”
Coaching changes
The turnover of coaches in Big Nine Conference girls soccer is becoming the norm across high school sports. The Minnesota State High School Coaches Association reported on their website on the challenge of filling coaching positions.
“It is reality,” agrees OHS Activities Director Marc Achterkirch. “It is becoming more difficult to find coaches. But I think it’s a trend. It’s harder to find teachers.”
More coaches are coming from outside the teaching profession. “We’re lucky that in Owatonna we have businesses that are accommodating for those folks so that they can coach.”
Many OHS grads return to coach here. “It’s fantastic to see…A lot of them who want to get back into coaching had great experiences with their coaches and want to give back,” said Achterkirch.
Several recent head coach hirings are Owatonna grads including Kiana Starks (gymnastics), Josh Woodrich (boys’ golf), Maddie Meyer (girls’ golf) and Tasheena Cooke (girls’ cross-country). Sara Anderson (girls’ tennis) was just added as an assistant to longtime head coach Curt Matecjek, himself an OHS graduate.
Confirming a theory in the coaches’ association report, Achterkirch says, “There’s no question that the demands of the coaching job have definitely changed over the years. Being a coach for 30 years, I’ve been in long enough to see what the expectations and the demands are of our coaches.”
He says as athletics have gotten more complex with schemes and off-season training, coaches feel a need to spend more time to “stay on top of that. It becomes very demanding…It’s a major sacrifice away from their own families.
“Are we paying our coaches? Absolutely. Do we hold them to a high standard and high expectations? Absolutely. But, I think, it’s getting to the point where the expectations and demands are so high that you’re forcing people out or scaring them away from it.”
Beyond the long hours of practice and games, and late-night bus rides, comes the benefit, “Something that’s just very, very rewarding. To be able to work with young athletes and go through all of those experiences in life. Be a positive role model in their life, a mentor.”
Final season
Owatonna boys’ soccer coach Bob Waypa will retire after this season, his 28th as Huskies’ coach. “One of those tough decisions. Never easy,” he told Owatonna Live. His daughter, Kelli, is a freshman playing soccer at Dordt University in Sioux Center, Iowa.
“I missed about 90% of her high school career. Because when we’re playing, she’s playing. I didn’t want to have that happen in college. I want to make sure I enjoy those years. At some point maybe I come back coaching a lower level or something else. But I want to give time to my daughter and the family. It’s something that I thought about and this is the right time.”
Waypa has been there from the start of soccer at OHS in 1998 with the first games played at the old Willow Creek School, on hard fields. “To see the current complex at Lincoln School, as beautiful as it is. Now we have a high school where we can play on turf, train on turf, a great weightroom… Soccer continues to grow. It continues to get better.”
Achterkirch states, “I will tell you, Bob, has always had his heart in the right place. He’s always been about building relationships, trying to provide kids with a great experience and fond memories. So, they always look back at the time playing boys soccer with great memories.”
Off the sidelines
Achterkirch, himself, has gone through a coaching change, stepping down from the football staff after 30 years. “I have had the opportunity to go and spend some time with my daughter, Margo, in Colorado and go see my son, Grant, with his scrimmages with UW-La Crosse football.”
Watching the Huskies season opener was “kind of an out of body experience. I’m standing there watching it. I think the hardest was when the team was walking out to go through the tunnel and seeing coach Jeff Williams and coach Matt Skala and the players. It was hard for me not to be with them.”
OwatonnaLive.com play-by-play schedule
Thursday, Sept. 11:
OHS girls swim/dive vs. Red Wing, 6 p.m.
OHS girls’ soccer vs. Austin, 7 p.m.
OHS volleyball vs. Rochester Century, 7:15 p.m.
Friday Sept. 12:
OHS football at Rochester Century, 7 p.m. (simulcast on The FAN-Owatonna 1170AM/106.3FM)
Blooming Prairie football vs. Fillmore Central, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 13:
OHS boys’ soccer vs. Cretin-Derham Hall, 1 p.m.
OHS girls’ soccer vs. Lakeville South, 3:30 p.m.