Get To Know Me (Future of the Game) – Annie Mulder

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.

Annie Mulder

Parent(s)/Guardian(s): Jane and Dan Mulder

High School Soccer Team: Lincoln East Girls Varsity

Position: Center back

Club Team: Gretna Elite Academy ENCL 04

Grade: Sophomore 

What is your favorite subject in school? Why?

My favorite subject in school is science because I think it’s fun learning about some many different things.

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

One of my goals as an individual player is to play division one college soccer. To achieve this goal I train daily and surround myself with players and coaches who will help me to get there. I also maintain good grades.

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?

A main goal I have for my high school team is to win state! Beyond that goal I hope for my team to become a close knit group that everyone can rely on if anyone would need help in or outside of soccer. I hope to accomplish us as a team, always improving, to work together, and become a concern for all other teams in the state.

Who’s your favorite soccer player and why?

My favorite soccer player is Julie Ertz. She’s my favorite because I really love the intensity she has when playing the game. She’s very aggressive and gets things done no matter how challenging it may be. Her movement on the field is another thing I really admire about her. One day I hope to be somewhat compared to how she plays!

 

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.

Lincoln East – Class A Team Preview (Boys)

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.

Lincoln East

Head Coach – Colin Smitsek

Previous Records

Year Record
2019 12-3
2018 8-8

Players to Watch – Brayden McPhail

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

Previous Season Accomplishments – 2019 Class A State Qualifier

NEST Analysis – Lincoln East is a team on the rise in Class A boys soccer. After years of being on the bubble, the Spartans appeared to turn the corner in 2019. Qualifying for state is a huge accomplishment for any program. It is made even sweeter by the fact that this program had been on the cusp for many years with winning records. Right now the stage of Lincoln, Nebraska soccer is ruled by Lincoln Southwest. However, the Spartans seem to present the biggest challenge to that claim. Looking at the program’s history, title contention would not be unfamiliar territory. Brayden McPhail will be headman for this squad during the 2021 season. With momentum firmly on their side, a repeat trip to Morrison Stadium is within the realm of possibility for this team as they are ranked #9 in our pre-season poll for Class A. 

 

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 TwitterInstagram, or listen to our podcast on Spotify.

 

Class A Girls – Pre-Season Top 10 List

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 TwitterInstagram, or listen to our podcast on Spotify.

 

Class A Girls – Players To Watch

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 A – Girls

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

  1. Allie Napora
    • High School: Papillion-La Vista South
    • Class of 2021
    • Future Plans: University of Nebraska-Lincoln soccer signee
  2. Alyssa Judkins
    • High School: Omaha Burke
    • Class of 2021
    • Future Plans: Creighton University soccer commit
  3. Annie Mulder
    • High School: Lincoln East
    • Class of 2023
    • Future Plans: Kansas State University soccer commit
  4. Briley Hill
    • High School: Lincoln East
    • Class of 2021
    • Future Plans: University of Nebraska-Lincoln soccer signee
  5. Campbell Zimmers
    • High School: Millard North
    • Class of 2021
    • Future Plans: University of South Dakota soccer signee
  6. Ella Guyott
    • High School: Papillion-La Vista
    • Class of 2022
    • Future Plans: University of Nebraska-Lincoln soccer commit
  7. Emma Prososki
    • High School: Omaha Marian
    • Class of 2022
    • Future Plans: University of Nebraska-Lincoln soccer commit
  8. Gracie Haneborg
    • High School: North Platte
    • Class of 2021
  9. Haley Peterson
    • High School: Lincoln East
    • Class of 2021
    • Future Plans: University of Nebraska-Lincoln soccer signee
  10. Kayla Hassler
    • High School: Lincoln Southwest
    • Class of 2022
    • Future Plans: University of Nebraska-Omaha soccer commit
  11. Lauryn Anglim
    • High School: Papillion-La Vista
    • Class of 2022
    • Future Plans: University of Nebraska-Lincoln soccer commit
  12. Mykena Turner
    • High School: Papillion-La Vista
    • Class of 2021
    • Future Plans: South Dakota State University soccer signee
  13. Sarah Weber
    • High School: Gretna
    • Class of 2021
    • Future Plans: University of Nebraska-Lincoln soccer signee
  14. Savannah DeFini
    • High School: Gretna
    • Class of 2022
  15. Sena Ahovissi
    • High School: Millard North
    • Class of 2021
    • Future Plans: University of Nebraska-Omaha soccer signee
  16. Taylor Cumblidge
    • High School: Lincoln North Star
    • Class of 2021
    • Future Plans: University of Missouri-Kansas City soccer commit
  17. Taylor Daffer
    • High School: Gretna
    • Class of 2021
    • Future Plans: Creighton University soccer signee

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 TwitterInstagram, or listen to our podcast on Spotify.

 

Bellevue University – Men’s Soccer College Spotlight

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.

Bellevue University

Head Coach – Mark Heath-Preston (5th Season)

Assistant Coaches – Scott Robertson, Graeme Eaglesham

Mascot – Bruins

Year Regular Season Record
2019 8-10-2
2018 18-2-2
2017 8-7-2
2016 12-6-2

Nebraska Homegrown Players On Roster – 

  • #7 Juvenal Jacinto – Sr – Omaha South – Mid
  • #8 Zach Robbins – Jr – Omaha Burke – Mid
  • #10 Ricky Reyes – Jr – Omaha Burke – Mid
  • #13 Jack Finocchiaro – Jr – Omaha Westside – F
  • #14 John Cover – So – Gretna HS – Mid
  • #15 Morgan Penn – Sr – Columbus HS – Mid
  • #17 Eli Brown – So – Lincoln East – Mid
  • #18 Nate Fibich – So – Gretna HS – Mid
  • #19 Marvin Ramirez – Jr – Omaha Westside – Mid
  • #22 Alan Mendoza – Fr – Omaha South – GK
  • #24 Jared Robles – So – Nebraska City HS – GK
  • #25 Eduardo Castillo – So – Omaha South – D
  • #29 Max Lambert – Fr – Papillion-La Vista South – F
  • #31 Ivan Hernandez – Omaha South – D

NEST Analysis – The men’s program at Bellevue University is one of the intriguing squads in the state for several reasons. First and foremost, there are many homegrown Nebraskans that have been given an opportunity to play at the next level by the Bruins. Secondly, there is an overhanging feeling that this program is at the cusp of becoming a consistent title contender in the conference. Their 2018 season demonstrated how far this program has come in recent years, and they are looking for that to become the norm. Finally, from a recruiting and living standpoint, Bellevue University has advantages simply because of its placement in Sarpy County. Newly constructed  facilities located at Papillion Landing give the Bruins a major upgrade. Unlike many other small-town NAIA schools, the allure of the Omaha metro area is there for the Bruins to exploit.  With all of those recruiting pulls, the Bruins are a team to watch.

 

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 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 TwitterInstagram, or listen to our podcast on Spotify.

 

 

Lincoln East – Class A Team Preview (Girls)

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.

Lincoln East

Head Coach Info – Emily Mathews

Previous Records

Year Record
2019 13-3
2018 10-6

Players to Watch

  • Haley Peterson – University of Nebraska-Lincoln soccer signee
  • Briley Hill – University of Nebraska-Lincoln soccer signee
  • Annie Mulder – Kansas State University soccer commit
  • Olivia Kugler

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

Previous Season Accomplishments – 2019 Class A State Semi-Finalists

NEST Analysis – Coach Mathews should be incredibly excited about her team’s prospects in 2021. This is a program that has been building and all of that work has been aimed towards this upcoming year. It appears that a “golden generation” type of situation is taking place within the Lincoln East program. A returning triple threat of Haley Peterson, Briley Hill, and Annie Mulder have the Spartans poised for a momentous campaign. All three of those talented players are committed to play for high level Division I programs. Even though Class A was a difficult field to choose from due to the fact there are many talented players and teams throughout the state this year, Lincoln East claims the top spot in the NEST pre-season rankings. The Spartans will begin the season ranked #1 in Class A, and they are considered to be the favorites for the state title. High expectations can be a blessing and a curse for any program. Challenges will surface, but the best teams are able to overcome those obstacles.

 

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.