FHC Soccer’s tremendous run came to a screeching halt on October 14th against Forest Hills Northern in the district finals. The game went to penalty kicks tied at 3, and FHN came out on top in the end. Senior Andrew Moeller knocked home two goals, and Eli Lipke scored the other.

The Rangers’ soccer season wasn’t off to an auspicious start as the boys started at 3-3-1, but starting on September 6th, a switch flipped, and the team won their next 12 straight, their only other loss coming in the playoffs.
Head Coach Paul Kramer is proud of his guys’ effort.

“The players never gave up,” Kramer said. “[They] played their hearts out the whole game and gave everything they had. As coaches, that’s all you can ask for.”

There are definitely positives to an early exit, especially for the younger players, as Kramer noted.

“This can be used as motivation for a lot of guys returning next year,” Kramer said. “[I’m] obviously devastated for our five seniors, who have represented the program with class and dignity throughout.”

Given the lack of senior leadership on the team, one of the biggest questions that needed to be answered was how the youngsters would adjust to a playoff atmosphere. Kramer was pleased with how it turned out.

“I thought the team handled the moment well,” Kramer said. “They were up for the challenge and knew that this would be a very intense game given the opponent and the result the prior week.”

The end result is not what matters most to Kramer. There’s a lot that goes into it.

“Soccer is a funny game sometimes,” Kramer said. “You can dominate a game and lose, and you can be dominated and still win. It’s called ‘The Beautiful Game’. For me, the beauty is the lessons that it teaches that parallel life itself. Sometimes, you do not always get what you feel you deserve. Sometimes, you get knocked down and humbled. How do you respond? How do you fight through adversity and pick yourself up and go again? It’s why I love this game and why I love coaching at the high school level.”