The North Branch boysí soccer team wrapped up their season with their annual awards banquet last Thursday night.

Winning top honors and the teamís MVP vote was senior captain and North Suburban All-Conference player Matt Jorgenson.
Earning all-conference honorable mention and the teamís offensive MVP was eighth grader Brian Grand. Senior co-captain Anthony Vilaysack earned all-conference honorable mention as well.

Ninth grader Drew Lundquist was named the teamís defensive MVP. He anchored the Vikingsí defense this past season, playing sweeper. Lundquistís efforts helped theVikings hold their first-round playoff opponent to just one goal in the final match of the season.

Coachesí awards for outstanding commitment, integriy and attitude were won by Jake Kolke, Vilaysack, and Travis Peterson, whose nickname is ìT-Money.î A first year soccer player and senior, Peterson also earned the teamís ìMost Improvedî award. Coach Brad Gustafson commented, ìAnytime you have a four-foot vertical jump, youíre going to be tough. T-Money has some ups.î

Winning the ìWorld Cup,î the teamís season long practice tournament, was Team China (Jorgenson and Matt Kleven). These two battled all season long in practice and eventually overtook Team USA, which was led by Kolke. Team China was awarded World Cup replica trophies.

The Vikings finished the season 1-17-0. They look forward to playing more games against section opponents next year and look to earn a higher seed going into the playoffs.

ìThe guys finished a great season in style,î said Coach Brad Gustafson. ìThe banquet was fun and the captainsí portion of the program was pretty cool. Matt and Anthony did a nice job of leading our team this past season. We are in one of the toughest conferences in the state and had a very young group. We will be bigger and better next year, but I will always look back on the fortitude and commitment to each other that this yearís team made. A true class act.î

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