The Prior Lake High School boys soccer team has been quietly competing, winning games and earning results against both top conference and section opponents.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Lakers beat section rival Minnetonka and took a point from state-ranked No. 1 Eden Prairie and conference leader Rosemount, with their only section team loss coming at Edina in August.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As the regular season comes to a close this week, and one game remaining, the Lakers will enter the postseason with a current overall record of 8-3-3 and are poised to host the first section match, with the opponent yet to be determined.<\/p>\n
When recalling the season, senior defender Colton Smith said, \u201cIt\u2019s been a really fun season, and we\u2019ve had a bunch of competitive games. We\u2019ve figured out how to work together and compete against really big-name teams.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
With 15 seniors on the roster, the Lakers have a talented team with 11 starting members and depth off the bench. \u201cThe majority of our team are seniors, so it\u2019s kind of our last run,\u201d said senior forward and leading goal scorer, Nick Rafat. \u201cWe think we can go far this year.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
This team shares a camaraderie and a bond that can only be created from years of playing together. With dinners and bus rides, time spent together off the field and genuine friendships, the connection between players translates to success on the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bond we have with one another is unmatched; it\u2019s unlike any other team I\u2019ve played with before\u2026 on and off the field, we\u2019re always looking out for each other\u2019s best interests,\u201d senior leader and midfielder Advyay Chauhan said about what makes the Laker team special.<\/p>\n
Regular season play for high school is intense, demanding both physically and mentally, with 15 games in just short of eight weeks. With 22 years of experience coaching at the high school level, head coach Mike Shebuski manages the team effectively, citing the program motto: \u201cBetter People, Better Leaders, Better Lakers\u201d as what drives how the team operates each season. He said he reinforces the belief that success doesn\u2019t always have to do with wins, losses\u00a0or stats, but instead, looking for growth, courage\u00a0and character.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Reflecting on the season, Shebuski says, \u201cI\u2019m really enjoying the season with this team. I think we\u2019re doing great things on the field, and I\u2019m proud of how the team has responded and learned from challenges, how we try to play and how we compete.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Looking ahead to section playoffs, the Lakers know they face a challenge. Section 2AAA is one of the toughest in the state year after year, and with single elimination play, there is no room for error.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know our section is great, some of the best players, coaches\u00a0and teams out\u00a0there,\u201d \u00a0Shebuski said. \u201cWe try to stay focused on one game at a time. We believe that the best version of us can compete with any team in the state on any given day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The first round of sections will be played on Oct. 13.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Prior Lake High School boys soccer team has been quietly competing, winning games and earning results against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":925346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-925345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=925345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/925346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=925345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=925345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=925345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}