The 2015 high school soccer season may have kicked off its official practices in early March but the season began much earlier for the Bellevue Christian Vikings boys soccer team.
Vikings’ team captains Ryan Miller and Bennett Close organized player-led optional practice sessions throughout February in preparation for the spring season. Coaches were not permitted at these sessions but it didn’t stop the Vikings players from fine tuning their skills on the soccer pitch twice a week in February. The practices would last 90 minutes and were followed by another 20-30 minutes of drills featuring a multitude of shots on goal. The Vikings were itching to get back on the field after advancing to the Class 1A quarterfinals in May 2014. Close, who leads the Vikings with a team-high 11 goals this season, said team camaraderie is one of their squad’s biggest strengths and has played a major factor in the Vikings 12-0-1 undefeated overall record thus far. The Vikings have outscored their opponents 50-4 in 13 contests.
“Winning is obviously a great time and whenever you win that’s really fun, but the really cool thing about this team is that most of us have been friends all through school. We have 10 seniors on the team this year,” Close said. “It’s really cool being part of this team.”
Vikings’ fifth-year head coach Dave Westburg isn’t surprised by his team’s undefeated record so far.
“We returned pretty much everybody from last year’s team. This year our team motto is 1-1-30. We want to be first in league, first in our district and want to be playing on May 30 in the state final,” Westburg said. “We’re taking it one step at a time. We are going to have a very tough road ahead of us. There are some really quality teams. We’re not overlooking anybody.”
Close, who was the 2014 Nisqually League MVP, is the Vikings leading scorer while 2014 Nisqually League goalie of the year David Postma anchors the defense.
“David has been amazing. He is an incredible multi-sport athlete. He is our goalie, plays basketball and was the quarterback on the football team. He has a good head on his shoulders and is physically reliable. He hardly every misses a ball and is unflappable. He has just been a terrific keeper,” Westburg said. “There are games where we maybe should have lost or tied this year but he has kept us in the game with his abilities.”
Bellevue Christian’s top defender is 2014 Nisqually League defender of the year Ricky Hatate. The Vikings also have benefitted from the addition of midfielder Reed Schick to the team this spring. Schick, who will play collegiate soccer for the South Dakota School of the Mines, moved to Bellevue from the St. Louis region this year. Close will play at Chapman University in California and Hatate will continue his soccer career at George Fox University in Oregon. Miller said the Vikings are going to relish the month of May on the soccer field. If Bellevue Christian advances to the state title game, it would take place on May 30 at Sunset Chev Stadium in Sumner.
“It’s definitely a goal of ours as a team to get to the state finals. We’re just taking it one step at a time. We’re having a great season. We know as seniors it’s our last hurrah,” Miller said.
Shaun Scott: 425-453-5045; sscott@bellevuereporter.com
