Bemidji Boys Soccer Has Sights Set High

“We don’t want to settle at just a section victory,” says junior attack Silas Hess. “I feel like for us that doesn’t feel like much anymore. If we win sections, we want to go far in state – otherwise, it’s almost not worth it anymore.”

“This year going into it, we really feel like we proved that we belonged there and we want to get past that game,” says junior midfielder Ben Hess.

But getting there won’t be an easy feat as numerous challengers await, especially with the target planted firmly on the Lumberjacks’ backs.

“We realized for a lot of teams that they look at that schedule and they see Bemidji coming to town, or they’re heading up here, and we realized that we’re going to have to be on our “A” game most games to be able to take care of business,” says head coach Rick Toward.

“Last year, we were ranked 5th in the state; before that we were ranked 3rd, so there’s been a target on us for a while, but we don’t sweat the stress,” says senior midfielder Aspen Galdamez.

They’ll be led by their two top returning goal scorers, Silas and Ben Hess, who use their twin superpowers for good and not evil.

“It helps,” says Ben. “Sometimes it seems like we know where the other is going before they even know where they’re going.”

“There is an innate thing there that as coaches we just step back and kind of let them roll,” says Toward.