Outside of girl’s golf, high school athletics regular season games and matches are set to begin Aug. 14. Before then, North Star will preview each of the Lawrence North fall sports teams. Boys soccer is our next highlighted team.

Last year’s boys soccer season could only be described as up and down by head coach Kameron McBride. If you watched Lawrence North last year, that inconsistency could be easily identified. The look from the MIC Standings spoke otherwise. After forfeiting a majority of their games due to an illegal transfer and getting blown out by Cathedral in the sectional semi final, LN Boys Soccer finds their program in a new era. Gone are St. Joseph University freshman Aidan Watkins (11 goals) and Alan Kahlenbeck (8 goals) along with a double digit senior class.  While a big portion of the offense has moved on, McBride doesn’t expect the offensive production to slow up.

“We got a lot of guys stepping up from junior varsity now. Aaron Coats, who sat bench on varsity last year, Edwin Obispo are going to step into roles that allow them the chance to score when before they haven’t,” McBride said. “Every year you have someone step up, I mean someone has to score the goals. We got a really good balanced team this year and I think that offensive production is going to be more spread out, but will still come.”

While the senior class dominated the pitch last season, now senior Devon Herbert managed to carve out an important leadership role, giving him much valued experience in leadership heading into this year’s campaign.

“We got four captains that were elected by the players. Devon Herbert, who was the leading vote-getter will be our speaking captain,  along with Matt Doemland, Edwin Obispo and Aaron Coats,” McBride said. “Devon, he’s been a four year varsity player and so he’s a natural leader and everyone respects him out there. All four of those guys have the respect of their peers out there and are going to be very strong leaders out there.”

Per usual, the reality of playing in the MIC brings a gauntlet to the season schedule for McBride and his team, something the program has been preparing their incoming varsity players for since day one.

“I think we do a good job through our JV team by preparing them and getting them adjusted to that MIC schedule. We’re confident that they’re going to step into that role on the varsity level,” McBride said.  “Other than that, just bringing the intensity and tone set by us and our leaders and captains in practice, so that every session feels as intense as a match so that when we hit that Carmel, North Central part of the schedule, it’s just a matter of bringing that practice intensity to the match.

For Herbert, the outlook of this season is bright, much like the one two years ago that resulted in a regional final appearance.

We’re more of a team this year, last year we were just a set of individuals. I’m looking forward to this year because we have people who like each other and like to work together,” Herbert said.

It’s pretty positive. I think at the least we could win sectionals and at the most regional finals, so I’m pretty confident.”

Key Returning Players: Senior Devon Herbert, Senior Tony Rodriguez, Senior Matt Doemland

Important Games: Lawrence North at North Central (August 22), Lawrence North at Carmel (September 5), Lawrence Central at Lawrence North (September 12)

Last Year State Tournament Result: Lost in Sectional Semi Final (Cathedral defeat Lawrence North 4-1)