by Kaitlyn O’Neil, Reporter

The Jim Thorpe boy’s soccer team held a senior roster of sixteen boys this past season. The boys team went twelve and six this season, and they earned themselves a spot in districts. This kind of success came with the help of the talented seniors on the team.

“I believe this is the largest graduating class to date. The benefit of having so many senior players, and the maturity of the roster, I think has helped the team. Having sixteen seniors graduate and leave the team roster is certainly a large amount but not insurmountable,” said the boy’s soccer team assistant coach, Lynn Stelling.

Lynn has been coaching soccer for sixteen years, and this year she has decided to retire from coaching. She has watched all the young men grow into the people they are today, one of them being her son, Todd Stelling and she could not be more proud. She hopes for them to carry all the memories they have made through being on this team, and hopes that they always remember their soccer “family.”

“I am pretty upset about it being my last year in high school soccer because I most likely will not get to play competitively again, and I love the guys around me so I will definitely miss it a lot,” said senior player Jake Burkhart.

Burkhart has played soccer for Jim Thorpe all four years; however he missed out on almost two years because of injuries. He has learned to play with the boys around him, and he feels blessed to have played in his final year of high school soccer.

When asked about next year’s season, junior Ian Montelius said, “Obviously next year things are going to be very different, but we have a whole lot of talent still returning to the team. Collectively, as a team, we all need to step up and fill in for all the gaps left by the seniors, especially the younger players.”

Other senior players on the team include: Cody Geiser, Cameron Condly, Jorge Macareno, Joe Schwartz, Phil Struble, Adam Francia, Michael Solt, Shane Meckes, Ryan McArdle, Cole Frycklund, Dalton Freer, Eric Fischer, Austin Carilo, and Logan Hunsicker.

The boys participated in their senior night on Thursday, October thirteenth, and after double overtime the boys took the win against Palmerton. This win was likely one of the highlights for the seniors, considering it was their last regular season game and it was senior night.