Men’s soccer wrap up
Sydney Taylor, Staff Writer
photo courtesy of unsplash.com
With the end of the semester nearing brings the end of fall sports. Some teams are off towards playoffs but other teams, like men’s soccer, have come to a close.
The NGU men’s soccer team has wrapped up their season, finishing .500 in the conference, meaning they came up victorious three out of the six conference games they played.
The overall record for the Crusaders came to 4-13. The team this year were led by top scorer Mitchell Backer, freshman, with five goals and most assists by Ben Mackay, sophomore, with three assists.
The team put up 17 goals this season. Goal keeper, Noah Kendrick, junior, finished out the season with 71 saves followed by goal keeper, Dawson Martin, junior, with 32 saves.
Kike Molina, senior, played his last season with the team this year. Molina shared that in his opinion, the best game the team played this year that was against King University. “We have other big games we look forward to such as Furman, it is always fun to play them and have that underdog mentality,” Molina said.
Molina finished off the season with a single goal and that lone goal ended up being a game winning goal and two points.
Like many college athletes, dreams of continuing on the sport he or she is involved in to a higher level is not uncommon. This year felt different for Molina, he said, “I took it more serious because I had more aspirations to win so we could turn heads from professional teams or scouts.”
Molina had a good season and solid finish, but before the season could come to a close he had an even better ending secretly planned out for him.
The soccer teams got together for a big senior night team picture but little did Molina know what was in store during this meeting.
Molina was surprised with his parents that he hasn’t been home to see in five years. The team got together to raise some funds to fly his mother and father out to his senior night.
“There is no way to explain what that means to me. My dad said to me when he hugged me that he thought he’d never see me again,” said Molina.
Molina doesn’t know what’s next for his career and what life has to offer but his accomplishments are from a deep rooted place and his family is what keeps him motivated.
“My life has being shaped by friends, coaches, and the people that surrounded me these 5 years that I have not been home. For my parents to be able to get to see what my life is about is simply a blessing,” said Molina.
