Lincoln North Star – 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 North Star

Head Coach – Ed Meitzen

Year Record
2019 7-9
2018 8-10

Players to Watch – 

  • Taylor Cumblidge (University of Missouri-Kansas City soccer signee)
  • Kate Jones
  • Kyler Hahn
  • Maram Hadi
  • Jaycee McFadden
  • Madison Burback
  • Smar Khudidah
  • Alexis Simmons

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

NEST Analysis – A very exciting season could be on the horizon for Lincoln North Star. During the 2019 season, a losing record was the final result. Look for that to change as North Star should be favored in many of their match-ups, especially at home. A plethora of talent will occupy the field wearing the blue and burgundy. Taylor Cumblidge will provide a dominating presence in the midfield for the Navigators. Cumblidge occupies a spot on our preseason players to watch list as she is a top 20 talent in the state. Coach Meitzen will have plenty of options as he develops his starting eleven, as you can see from our above list. This is an up-and-coming program that could make unexpected noise at the state tournament in 2021. While they fell just outside of the Top 10 for Class A, Lincoln North Star is a Team on the Verge in our pre-season list.

 

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.

 

Gretna – 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.

Gretna 

Head Coach Info – Tyler Ortlieb

Previous Records

Year Record
2019 15-1
2018 14-3

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 – Gretna is always a competitive program that has transitioned beautifully from Class B to Class A. The 2019 season saw the Dragons fall just short of the championship contest. Nevertheless, it was a terrific season, which has become business as usual for Coach Ortlieb’s team. Gretna finds itself ranked #3 at the Class A level in our pre-season poll. A solid crop of returners, supplemented by talented newcomers such as Colin McClung and Maguire Perkins, justify these lofty expectations. In addition to on-field play, the Dragons have newly updated facilities that are extremely impressive. Training and game-days should be elevated by these resources. 

 

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 B Boys – 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 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 TwitterInstagram, or listen to our podcast on Spotify.