Patrick Allan leads varsity soccer team towards state title

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Jared Dean

Press Photo- The boys soccer team finished with a record of 26-0 and a state championship. They fought hard and beat Wayzata in the championship with a score of 2-0. “Some of these kids may have played in games with similar stakes maybe of higher quality. But they don’t have the atmosphere that a state final is going to have. Every kid wants to play in front of his friends and family.” Smothers says.

Nothing speaks to the dedication a captain has to his team quite like the complete sense of leadership and awareness that senior soccer captain Patrick Allan possesses.  If a sports captain has to have complete confidence in his teammates, than Allan fits the bill. Allan was able to successfully lead his team to an undefeated season of 26-0 and a state championship.

“His [Allan’s] leadership is a little different than some of our other captains. He is a lot more emotional and more of a physical presence out on the field,” Varsity soccer head coach Jake Smothers said.

Allan plays with confidence on the field even in the state tournament where stakes were at an all time high. Fans watched as Allan would kick the ball with perfect precision every time. He makes the sport that requires so much skill and technique look like child’s play. It’s not what Allan says that speaks to his leadership, but it’s his play that speaks volumes.

If one was in the student section during the state tournament, a person would hear something along the lines of  “Patrick is a beast” or “Look at how easy he makes it look” every time Allan touched the ball.

“He doesn’t talk you up a whole lot. He just kind of gets out on the field and grinds it out,” teammate Jayger Eckles said about his captain,  “He led us through his play and his determination to just win.”

If Allan’s goal was to just win than he did just that. The team accomplished a nearly unreachable feat of 26 wins and not a single loss, proving to everyone that they were truly the best. Allan’s goal for being a captain was to build a chemistry with the team so the team can have that special bond needed to be a great team. The commitment of the team as well as the chemistry are two of the things that Allan gives credit to the success of the team. He mentioned that his nomination for the Mr. Soccer award was very surprising to him because his main focus was on winning.

“Seeing him get the recognition for his efforts was sensational I am really happy for him,” Smothers said about Allan’s nomination.

Allan received a nomination for Minnesota’s Mr. Soccer award as well as a spot on the All-State team. These honors may have come as a surprise to Allan but not to his coach and his teammates. When Allan spoke of the nomination he mentioned that it wasn’t just him that made it possible and that “that nomination was for everybody,” speaking more to the humility this senior captain has.

“Being a captain is being someone you can depend on, someone you can always look to for leadership,” Allan said.

Eckles spoke of a time in the state championship game where Allan did exactly what he described being a captain is. He told a story of during warm ups he had made a few mistakes and Allan walked over to him to comfort him. He said that Allan put his arm around him and helped to instill some confidence back into him. Eckles mentioned that Allan seems to always have a “calming presence” on the field and this quality is one of many that makes Allan such a good leader.

“Being a captain is honestly just being able to connect with each of the players individually. It’s like a chemistry we all have, you grow a certain bound between each other and that helps us play better,” Allan said about being a leader.

This formula for success Allan has seems to be effective not only among the team as a whole but also as individuals. The team plays well together because they all know each other. They all know each other’s tendencies, their strengths, as well as their weaknesses. The ability to fill in the gaps of weakness among players is what pushed the team to an undefeated season and the state title.

This togetherness mentality was pushed by Allan and the other captains by organizing events for team bonding, through years of playing together, as well as a welcoming attitude towards foreign exchange students as well as other new players.

“It was awesome. Just that feeling that we’ve been working for four years for this year and we picked out this year as U.S. Bank Stadium opens. We’ve had so many memories this year just to have it all combined into that last game was great,” Allan said.