Tag Lexington

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.

Lexington

Head Coach – Keith Allen

Previous Records

Players to Watch – Janette Ortiz

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

NEST Analysis – The story of this Lexington program will be one of the most interesting for years to come. In recent years, this has been a group that struggles to field a competitive team. With untold amounts of dedication, planning, and hard work that narrative changed in 2019. After one of the most successful seasons in recent memory, Lexington’s next opportunity would be delayed for a year. Now is their chance to once again showcase themselves to the state. Will the results of 2019 repeat? Will we see further improvement? Or will a set back take place? Those answers can only be provided by time. With Coach Keith Allen at the helm, the Lexington girls look to be under good and stable leadership. On the field, Janette Ortize will be the main attraction during the 2021 season.

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.

Lexington

Head Coach – Jess McHargue

Previous Records

Players to Watch – Junior Casillas, Alex Cruz

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

Previous Season Accomplishments – 2019 Class B State Semi-Finalists

NEST Analysis – One of the most exciting teams in the state, Lexington will be favored in almost every matchup during the 2021 season. This is a program filled with attacking and ball handling talent that is sure to overwhelm many opponents. There is an intensity and flair built into the DNA of Lexington soccer players that generates admiration from all corners of the state. Additionally, Coach Jess McHargue has implemented a style of play that perfectly fits the talent available. Doing that as a coach is often talked about, but rarely actually accomplished. Junior Casillas and Alex Cruz are impressive players, both are seeking to establish themselves among the state’s best. The Minutemen’s chances are bolstered by the fact that they are equipped with a true home field advantage. This community truly loves soccer, that passion is on full display in the stands of every game. Morrison Stadium is the objective for this team during the 2021 season. Lexington enters the season ranked #3 by Nebraska Soccer Talk 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. Over the course of four articles, NEST will recognize many outstanding athletes that everyone should look forward to seeing on the pitch.

This list was put together using several resources such as coach recommendations, past all-state lists, statistical analysis from previous seasons, and observational research. The inclusions vary greatly in terms of location, age, and future plans. The listed athletes live in every corner of the state from Omaha to Scottsbluff. Many have signed or are committed to play soccer at the Division I level, while others are pursuing other interests in the future.

Even so, there are two traits that all inclusions of the inaugural NEST Players to Watch preview have in common.

1. Show stopping and jaw dropping ability on the field.
2. An admirable love for the sport of soccer. With their ability, passion, and outreach, this game will grow; that is the ultimate goal of Nebraska Soccer Talk.

A special congratulations to all of the athletes. Your hard work, skill, and dedication deserve to be recognized. Nebraska Soccer Talk will be observing closely as your season and career progress.

Class B Boys

Players are not ranked, instead listed alphabetically by first name.

1. Alex Cruz
   • High School: Lexington
   • Class of 2022
2. John Meyers
   • High School: Omaha Skutt
   • Class of 2021
3. Junior Casillas
   • High School: Lexington
   • Class of 2021
4. Kaedon Anderson
   • High School: Blair
   • Class of 2022
5. Zach Weis
   • High School: Omaha Skutt
   • Class of 2021

Once again, congratulations to the above athletes for all of their accomplishments. Your future in the game of soccer is incredibly bright.

Additionally, it must be mentioned that this is not intended to be an all encompassing or complete list. There are a great number of talented soccer players in Nebraska that we have simply not discovered yet. As the 2021 season gets underway, those athletes will be seen and recognized. That is truly the whole point of Nebraska Soccer Talk.

If you are a soccer player or know of a soccer player that should be on our radar, feel free to contact us. NEST is always looking to cover more soccer and add to our lists.

Thank you for reading and being a part of our new community. A like, share, comment or recommendation of our 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 preseason rankings. What did we get right? Where did we go wrong? Which team surprised us all?

Also including in each article is a section title 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 B Boy’s Pre-Season List

1. Omaha Skutt
2. South Sioux City
3. Lexington
4. Crete
5. Omaha Gross Catholic
6. Columbus Scotus
7. Blair
8. Holdrege
9. Norris
10. Omaha Roncalli Catholic

Teams on the Verge: Schuyler, Elkhorn, Mount Michael Benedictine, Waverly, Grand Island Northwest

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

Although it is rarely covered by the traditional media giants of the state, Nebraska is filled with exciting and competitive collegiate soccer programs. In fact, Nebraska contains a grand total of THIRTY programs for men and women. Those thirty programs compete across a wide variety of collegiate levels including Division I, Division II, Division III, NAIA, and junior college.

Nebraska Soccer Talk is here to examine, cover, and promote all of these teams. This task has been made a bit more challenging by the circumstances created by COVID-19. Depending on the playing level, conference, and school, the season outlook changes drastically. Roster information can also be in flux, depending on the school. Despite these challenges, our staff attempted to put together the best program summaries possible. To our knowledge, we are the only outlet providing such coverage to our state’s college programs.

Just like Nebraska Soccer Talk, this column will grow and become more in depth as the years pass. In the future, we hope to provide sideline coverage of games, facility features, coach and player interviews. We look forward to the journey ahead. Thank you for being a part of our community. The sport of soccer is growing in Nebraska, and we intend to see it thrive.

Disclaimer – In the making of this article, team websites and other research sources were utilized. Although we attempt to avoid them whenever possible, errors can occur. Please contact us directly with corrections.

Hastings College

Head Coach – Tim Bohnenkamp

Assistant Coaches – Cesar Herrera

Mascot – Broncos

Nebraska Homegrown Players On Roster –

• #11 Caleb Osmond – Jr – Lincoln North Star – F
• #14 Steven Castillo – So – Grand Island HS – Mid
• #18 Brendon Boatwright – Jr. – Papillion – LaVista HS – Def
• #25 Tyler Mase – Fr. – Omaha Burke – Mid
• #29 Miles Whitaker – Fr – Millard North – Def
• #32 Austin Uhlig – So – Millard North – GK
• #33 Kevin Toledo- Frutus – Jr – Lexington/CCC – Def

6/35 = 17%

NEST Analysis – One must look no further than Hastings’ jerseys to understand the standard of the program. Located just above the school logo are two stars: each representing a national championship. Its most recent championship campaign took place in 2016. Hastings has undoubtedly become the state’s most consistent and successful men’s soccer program year in and year out. Just last year, the Broncos were one victory away from adding a third star to their jersey. In his third year, Coach Bohnenkamp has put together a large and interesting roster. Like many NAIA schools, Hastings is fortunate that Nebraska is home to only two D1 soccer programs, both of which tend to recruit internationally.  Hastings always seems to capitalize on this situation by bringing in some of the best talent that Nebraska has to offer. Combining those high-level homegrown players with prospects from all over the world makes this squad a case study for success. Hastings College is an exciting program that we will look forward to covering. Any Nebraska team that produces championships, All-Americans, and professionals has our attention. 

Additionally, how sweet is this hype video?! This is what it takes to grow your brand and the game of soccer!

Thank you for reading and being a part of our new community. A like, share, 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 multiple 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