WORTHINGTON — The Minnesota West men’s soccer team is looking to build off its prior season's success. The Bluejays saw a major leap in their program under head coach Jordan Balster, thanks in part to the influx of international talent from Germany and Columbia, which balanced out a roster of talented area kids. That roster culminated in a conference championship.
This season, Balster and the Bluejays are hoping to add to the formula with returning area talent in Eli Robinson, Prince Lebbi, Kaleb Lee, Adrian Sanchez and Leon Togba. ADVERTISEMENT Robinson, the goalkeeper, will be working with a new center back tandem in South Korean Joenghyeon Han and German Robin Braun. Braun, a native of Stuttgart, has been named a team captain and came back to the US in pursuit of playing collegiate soccer.
Braun had previously been in Minnesota as an exchange student in Owatonna. Braun described himself as a student of the game. Back in Stuttgart he began playing soccer at five years old and he owns season tickets to VFB Stuttgart, who finished second in the table in last year’s Bundesliga standings.
He also has two years of university completed while in Germany, with his emphasis in study being sports management. But he also sees room for growth. Despite only being here for two weeks, Braun and Han have already developed a strong connection and Braun said that he sees ability in his teammates that he has never seen before.
“Everybody brings something new. For example, we have one player from Chile, he is good at his technique and dribbling,” said Bruan. Braun said he was aware that Minnesota West was coming off a strong record and that after messaging with coach Balster he decided to commit here with a goal on his mind.
“Our goal is to run it back and also get even more out of it,” Braun said. “Maybe the nationals, that would be a dream.” ADVERTISEMENT Leading scorer from last year, Anton Cordes, did not come back for his sophomore year, leaving a hole to be filled in terms of putting the ball in the net for the Bluejays.
One such candidate to fill the void up top is the sophomore winger Lebbi. Lebbi played high school soccer for Fairmont and also played for the WCFC Toros in the UPSL. “Especially this being my last season, it's really important for me to show off for my team,” Lebbi said.
“I am looking forward to transferring to a university next year and this season is going to be the season where I play my best football and I can lead the team.” Lebbi has embraced the change from being an outsider player on the wing, to an inside player as the striker of the team. “The coach believes in me,” Lebbi said.
“Jordan (Balster) requested I play forward, which is a new vision for me. I am still learning and I am excited to see what the season has for me.” For the Bluejays, a return to the top of the conference is not guaranteed.
But for sophomore goalkeeper Eli Robinson one opponent is circled in red for a rematch. “We don't know what it'll be like this year, but I'm excited to play Anoka-Ramsey, especially on our home field,” Robinson said. “I really enjoy just playing here in Worthington.
It's a lot of fun, it's a beautiful field — it's an amazing field. The facilities are top notch for our conference and division. I really do think that practicing out here helps our team a lot.
” Returning as coaches for the Bluejays are Balster, Minnesota West professor Daniel Bernstrom and Frank Herrera. All three coaches compliment each other well. ADVERTISEMENT “Dan does more than I could ever tell anybody,” Balster said.
“It might not feel like that much, but it is allowing me to not put so much focus on the guys and making sure they are doing well in school, letting Dan take over that. Letting Dan check in on guys every now and then to make sure everything’s going alright. He’s giving me time to focus on the program.
The loads of back end things beyond coaching and practices and games and everything like that." "Having those guys take things off my plate, Dan off the field most of the time and Frank on the field stuff," Balster added. "They know how it goes on in the program, and how to bring it to bigger places, better results when you work as a team.
” The Bluejays host a home scrimmage on Wednesday against the junior varsity squad of Northwestern at 11 a.m. After that, their conference opener is on Sunday against Lake Superior College at 1 p.
m. on Trojan Field..
