Tons of athletes spend their whole lives dedicating themselves to the sport that brings them fulfillment. In the case of Alex Moeller, that sport was soccer. From a young age, he always had a passion for the game. He credits this admiration to his brother and his neighbors.
“Growing up, my biggest inspiration to play soccer was my brother and my neighbors,” Moeller said. “Every day, we would play pickups in our cul de sac.”
His younger brother Andrew has good memories of playing with his older brother.
“It was always a good time playing with him and old teammates.” Andrew said, “We were always on the team, and I knew he was going to be a good player.”
Moeller could have done other sports, but he chose soccer because he felt he was the best at it and enjoyed it the most.
“I decided soccer was going to be my main sport when I realized that I liked it the most and was best at it,” Moeller said.
Growing up in the Metro Detroit area, Alex always had shown a natural talent for the game when he had been mixed in a variety of intermediate-level contests. But it wasn’t until his move to Grand Rapids that he experienced competitive soccer at its fullest.
“My first experience with competitive soccer came when I first moved to Grand Rapids from the Metro Detroit area,” Moeller said. “I joined the local Midwest United when I was 11 and played there until I moved to Wolves at 15.”
Moeller found success at Midwest for a few of his earlier years but found that Wolves was currently in the top youth soccer league in the country. Looking for a challenge, Moeller decided to transfer.
“At the time,” Moeller said. “Wolves was the only team that was a part of the MLS Next.”
Now, at Wolves, he was flourishing. He was traveling the country, winning games on one of the best teams in the state, and it seemed to be the pinnacle of his athletic career. Most kids would only dream of competing at such a high level as he was, but Alex wasn’t satisfied yet. There was just one more mountain for him to conquer before college: high school soccer.
“I’ve known Alex since middle school,” said senior captain Matthew Taylor when asked how well he knew Moeller. “But I didn’t get to know him very well until this year.”
Playing in high school was something he’d been wanting to do for a while. Even though it was not as skilled or as professional as the club he had been previously playing for, something about sharing a team with the friends he sees at school every day excited him.
“I had envisioned playing high school soccer my senior year for a while.” Moeller said, “I wanted a year where I can play with my teammates that I see every day at school.”
The news about Alex’s arrival excited returning varsity captain Matthew Taylor.
“I was really excited because I knew Alex was a very talented player and could help fill the gaps that the seniors from the previous year left,” Taylor said.
Moeller showed up the summer before senior year during the time of pre-season strength and conditioning, and it was clear he wasn’t an ordinary athlete. The coaches had some knowledge of Moeller from talks with him and other varsity athletes, but when they saw him on the field, they knew that he was going to be a key player on the team.
This level of performance doesn’t come easy. Moeller was able to perform like he was due to his incredible work ethic, which his brother admires.
“He has a very hard work ethic,” said Andrew Moeller, “especially when fighting through injuries.”
Not too long after, as the summer was coming to an end, it was time for tryouts. Lifting the weights and doing the running is impressive alone, but when it came time to see how you perform on the field, tryouts were the deciding factor.
Even in the first half hour of tryouts, it became clear just how talented he really is. On offense, he was nearly impossible to guard. After all was said and done, Alex not only made varsity but was also awarded captain due to his work ethic and leadership.
During the last two years, Moeller had been receiving multiple D1 and D2 offers, but this season, after a lot of thought, he committed to Western Michigan University. He could have gone to a bunch of schools, but he feels like WMU fits him best.
“I received my offer at Western along with a few other D1 schools in the middle of my junior year,” Moeller said. “Later on, it was just a matter of which school provided me with the best fit.”
Andrew was excited for his brother and knew he made the right choice.
“I was really happy for him because of all the work he put in to go there,” Andrew said, “but not also surprised because of his talent. I knew he would get into a D1 program.”
He went on to be a crucial player on the team and scored a lot of their goals. Senior captain Matthew Taylor believes he was a great addition to the team.
“Alex brought a winning mentality to the team,” Taylor said. “Alex was always focused on one thing: winning. This really helped us get some big results like the win against FHN and Rockford.”
