Thunderhawks boys soccer season preview

The Grand Rapids Thunderhawks boys soccer team returns to the pitch with high expectations for themselves this year.

After going 10-4 last season, the team fell to Cloquet/Esko/Carlton in the Section 7AA Championship in a heartbreaker, a memory they hope to erase this year by taking that next step.

“We’re gunning for a conference and section championship,” says Rapids’ head coach Nick Koerbitz.

A section championship is not unrealistic for this team, who returns a number of starting players, including senior Tadi Taguta, who bursted into the Minnesota soccer scene last season for Grand Rapids, elevating the entire team around him.

Taguta was named to the First Team All-State Boys Soccer Team following a 2023 season in which he scored seven goals and five assists. But it’s not the stat sheet where Taguta looks to make his impact, it’s in the midfield. Few players possess the touch and ball skills of Tadi Taguta, and he uses it effectively to facilitate the attack by controlling the pace of play for the Thunderhawks.

“The play goes through him,” Koerbitz says of his senior star, who says camp so far has been great.

“It’s been amazing,” says Taguta. “I really like the way we’re playing so far.”

While the offense may go through him, everyone has a role to play if the team is to make their way back to the section championship, and Koerbitz says they are all bought-in.

“We have spent a lot of time this summer on the field and in the weight room, and it has paid off a ton. We are still looking to develop reading the play in front of us. As we should control the game against most of our opponents,” Koerbitz explains. “We need to be patient with the ball and recognize when we need to keep possession and when to attack our opponents weaknesses.”

When they exploit that weakness, look for forward Dean Kortekaas to fill up the state sheet, similar to last year when he led the team with 11 goals scored.

On the defensive side of the ball, goalkeeper Evan Linnell returns as the senior starter after playing in all 16 games for the Thunderhawks, while allowing only 1.31 goals per game last season.

They’ll soon find out how the offseason program has improved the team, starting Thursday, Aug. 21, away at Moorhead.