At Nebraska Soccer Talk, we love covering everything soccer related. For the most part, that means covering games and providing analysis/opinions. However, our overall mission and purpose is far reaching and ambitious. Our goal is to bring the soccer community closer together through collaboration and communication.  There are countless people that deserve recognition for their efforts as a player, official, or coach. Throughout the season, we will be highlighting these individuals through our Get To Know Me articles.

This will be a series made up of three different components. All of which are meant to bring attention to the soccer community.

1. Get To Know Me (Coach Edition) – These individuals are responsible for building their programs, growing the game of soccer, and mentoring the next generation. We look forward to learning about their lives and philosophies.
2. Get To Know Me (Player Edition) – This article series will focus on high school juniors and seniors that have demonstrated themselves to be quality players and people. With these features, our community will learn about some of the most impressive players in the state.
3. Future of the Game – This article series will focus on the freshmen and sophomore classes. These are players that we will be covering for years to come.

Thank you to every individual that provided information for this idea. We appreciate your thoughtful and timely responses.

Addy Gleckler

Parent(s)/Guardian(s): Kelli Gleckler & Chad Gleckler

High School Soccer Team: Elkhorn South Girls Soccer

Position: Forward

Club Team: Gretna Elite Academy

Grade Level: Sophomore (10th grade)

What is your favorite subject in school? Why? My favorite subject is biology because I want to go into the Medical Field when I am older.

What are your goals as an individual player? What are you doing to achieve those goals? 

As a player, I have set many goals for myself so that I am always improving. Some goals I made at the beginning of the year are improving my speed, my footwork, and my confidence. With the pandemic, I had a lot of free time to get some touches on the ball everyday and go on runs in the mornings. I also went up to the field a few times and worked on some drills and my shot with my sister.

What goals do you have for your high school team during the 2021 season and beyond? What do you hope to accomplish as a group throughout your high school career? 

This high school season I hope to follow in the footsteps of the last season and work our hardest to make it to state and possibly win it! I also hope that throughout my high school career my team continues to improve and get better together.

Who’s your favorite soccer player and why? 

My favorite soccer player is Tobin Heath. She has AMAZING footwork and is always creating opportunities for her team. She is a great team player and always seems very positive and happy to be on the field and playing soccer.

Thank you for reading and being a part of our new community. A like, share, comment or recommendation of content would be greatly appreciated. In order to financially support our efforts, sponsorship/partnership opportunities have become available. Sponsors will receive vast exposure to the Nebraska soccer community through different media avenues. The sponsorship process is easy and reasonable.

Contact us on our website or email @ nebraskasoccertalk@gmail.com.

Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, or listen to our podcast.

Chace Hutchison

Previewing an upcoming season is never an easy task. To do so properly takes countless hours of emails, observations, statistical research, conversation, and reflection. Adding onto that difficulty are challenges, such as a cancelled 2020 season and lingering COVID restrictions, making our preview preparation feel almost impossible.

Despite these obstacles, the approaching 2021 season and its participants – whether that be players, coaches, fans, or families – deserve some semblance of normalcy. Soccer in Nebraska and all those who participate deserve to be promoted. Over the course of the next several weeks, NEST will overview EVERY high school soccer program in our state. This was done to the best of our ability using all of the information we could collect.

Nebraska Soccer Talk is here to support many fantastic teams, coaches, players, fans, and referees that make our game possible. One mission of this venture is to discover and centralize newsworthy information. This can only be done in collaboration with individual programs. As a whole, our sport must better promote itself in order to grow the player and supporter pool. We encourage every team to proudly and consistently advertise itself to us and the general public. The more information available, the more our game will grow. Soccer is a game historically left behind to linger in the background in the United States. That circumstance is changing, but that change will not happen automatically. Growing and covering all aspects of our sport will take effort from all of those who love it.

Disclaimer – To prepare for these articles, a questionnaire was sent to every school’s head coach and athletic director. Many of these questionnaires were returned in a timely fashion, others were not. Nebraska Soccer Talk prides itself on equal and in-depth coverage, but cooperation is needed to meet that goal. Please consider this to be our reasoning when it comes to article length and accuracy.

Elkhorn South

Head Coach – Lindsay Aliano

Previous Records

Players to Watch – Mia Baltzell  (Augustana University soccer signee)

State Status – Front Runner, Contender, Dark Horse, Up-And-Coming, Building, Too Early To Tell

Previous Season Accomplishments – 2019 Class B State Champions

NEST Analysis – An already competitive Class A field is adding another powerhouse to the schedule as the 2019 Class B champions will now join the ranks. Elkhorn South should fit right in as they too have talent within their program. Mia Baltzell will be a highlight of a Storm squad looking to reload and reintroduce itself to the state. Coach Lindsay Aliano is a fantastic coach and should provide Elkhorn South with an advantage on the sidelines. Nebraska Soccer Talk ranks South #7 in our pre-season poll.

Thank you for reading and being a part of our new community. A like, share, comment or recommendation of content would be greatly appreciated. In order to financially support our efforts, sponsorship/partnership opportunities have become available. Sponsors will receive vast exposure to the Nebraska soccer community through different media avenues. The sponsorship process is easy and reasonable.

Contact us on our website or email @ nebraskasoccertalk@gmail.com.

Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, or listen to our podcast on Spotify.

Chace Hutchison

Previewing an upcoming season is never an easy task. To do so properly takes countless hours of emails, observations, statistical research, conversation, and reflection. Adding onto that difficulty are challenges, such as a cancelled 2020 season and lingering COVID restrictions, making our preview preparation feel almost impossible.

Despite these obstacles, the approaching 2021 season and its participants – whether that be players, coaches, fans, or families – deserve some semblance of normalcy. Soccer in Nebraska and all those who participate deserve to be promoted. In the following article series, we will reveal our Pre-Season Top 10 rankings for the 2021 season.

This poll was developed while considering many different factors including program track records, recommendations from coaches, and roster strength. With that being said, much of this is subjective and opinions can vary. The rankings will be updated on bi-weekly basis. To the best of our ability, these rankings will reflect the reality of the soccer environment. Adjustments will be made as the season progresses and many conversations will take place. We look forward to those discussions. At season’s end, we will look back to review these pre-season rankings. What did we get right? Where did we go wrong? Which team surprised us all?

Also, included in each article is a section titled Teams on the Verge. These teams ranked just outside our Top 10 but are considered to be in contention. The rankings are fluid and flexible; any team could quickly enter our Top 10 list.

Class A Girl’s Pre-Season List

1. Lincoln East
2. Gretna
3. Papillion-La Vista
4. Omaha Marian
5. Lincoln Southeast
6. Millard West
7. Elkhorn South
8. Papillion-La Vista South
9. Lincoln Southwest
10. Millard North

Teams on the Verge: Kearney, Bellevue West, Lincoln North Star, Millard South, Norfolk, Omaha South, Omaha Westside, Columbus, North Platte

Thank you for reading and being a part of our new community. A like, share, comment or recommendation of content would be greatly appreciated. In order to financially support our efforts, sponsorship/partnership opportunities have become available. Sponsors will receive vast exposure to the Nebraska soccer community through different media avenues. The sponsorship process is easy and reasonable.

Contact us on our website or email @ nebraskasoccertalk@gmail.com.

Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, or listen to our podcast on Spotify.

Chace Hutchison

Previewing an upcoming season is never an easy task. To do so properly takes countless hours of emails, observations, statistical research, conversation, and reflection. Adding onto that difficulty are challenges, such as a cancelled 2020 season and lingering COVID restrictions, making our preview preparation feel almost impossible.

Despite these obstacles, the approaching 2021 season and its participants – whether that be players, coaches, fans, or families – deserve some semblance of normalcy. Soccer in Nebraska and all those who participate deserve to be promoted. Over the course of the next several weeks, the NEST will overview EVERY high school soccer program in our state. This was done to the best of our ability using all of the information we could collect.

Nebraska Soccer Talk is here to support many fantastic teams, coaches, players, fans, and referees that make our game possible. One mission of this venture is to discover and centralize newsworthy information. This can only be done in collaboration with individual programs. As a whole, our sport must better promote itself in order to grow the player and supporter pool. We encourage every team to proudly and consistently advertise itself to us and the general public. The more information available, the more our game will grow. Soccer is a game historically left behind to linger in the background in the United States. That circumstance is changing, but that change will not happen automatically. Growing and covering all aspects of our sport will take effort from all of those who love it.

Disclaimer – To prepare for these articles, a questionnaire was sent to every school’s head coach and athletic director. Many of these questionnaires were returned in a timely fashion, others were not. Nebraska Soccer Talk prides itself on equal and in-depth coverage but cooperation is needed to meet that goal. Please consider this to be our reasoning when it comes to article length and accuracy.

Elkhorn South

Head Coach Info – Jon Shaad

Previous Records

Players to Watch – Sam Sundstrom, Tyler Parks, Miles Schmit, Carson Chochon

State Status – Front Runner, Contender, Dark Horse, Up-And-Coming, Building, Too Early To Tell

NEST Analysis – Just like Elkhorn High, South will feel some effects of a third high school opening in the district. Less students equals a smaller player pool to choose from, which is never great for the coaching staff. However, unlike the Antlers, Elkhorn South has stability and known talent in the coaching ranks. After the team took a step back during the 2019 season, Coach Jon Shaad will be overseeing a program full of motivation and expectation. Elkhorn South can and should be competing at the top of Class A on a yearly basis. Sam Sundstrom, Tyler Parks, Miles Schmit, and Carson Chochon form the core of this team going into the 2021 season. The Storm begin the 2021 season just outside the Top 10, as they are a Team on the Verge. That situation could change drastically after a few early season results.

Thank you for reading and being a part of our new community. A like, share, comment or recommendation of content would be greatly appreciated. In order to financially support our efforts, sponsorship/partnership opportunities have become available. Sponsors will receive vast exposure to the Nebraska soccer community through different media avenues. The sponsorship process is easy and reasonable.

Contact us on our website or email @ nebraskasoccertalk@gmail.com.

Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, or listen to our podcast on Spotify.

Chace Hutchison