Highlands soccer is up and running for the 2021-2022 season, and the boy’s soccer team has started off strong with the team having a record of 4-1-2. Even though COVID-19 still requires players to be socially distanced, it has been a strong start.  

      The Highlands High School soccer team won their first regular-season game v.s. Beechwood on August 12 at Tower Park. The score ended up being 1-0 with Junior Colin Pieper getting the goal and Junior Peyton Helminiak with the assist to help them win their first game. 

      Senior Cole Lorenzen stated his opinion over who the best players are on the team. 

      “The best players on the team in my opinion are  [Junior] Colin Pieper and [Senior] Jordan Frisk. They are our goal scorers but it is hard to decide because we have a pretty stacked team.” 

      Their second game ended with a loss and a score of 3-1 against Ballard High School.  Senior Joel Kendall scored the only goal during the game. 

      The next game they won 2-1 was against St. Henry High School, with Frisk and Senior Caden Schroder getting both of the goals, which won them their second game of the season. 

      Lorenzen commented over how he thinks the playoffs will go for the team. 

     “We will definitely make the playoffs with how we are playing but we do schedule hard. I think we will end with 20 wins.”

     In the game against Louisville Collegiate, they tied making the score 2-2. His game was a Northern Kentucky Soccer Showcase, making it a big and important game. The players getting the goals to tie the games were Pieper and Lorenzen.

     In their fifth and sixth game, which was against Bishop Brossart High School and Conner High School, the team got a combined goal of 8, with only 1 goal scored, which was by Conner. In the Bishop Brossart game, the goalkeepers were Senior Conor Mathis and Sophomore Jack Wilson had a shoutout with a combined goal of 7. 

     The Bird’s seventh game against Elder High School, which resulted in a loss, them losing 4-0 at Elder.

     The Bird’s best game of the season so far, was against Holy Cross High School, making a comeback from the last game against Elder. This ended with the team scoring 5 goals. Frisk got two goals in all during the first period, while Senior Sam Jones scored a goal. Sophomore Chad Gehsenhuse also scored a goal, making Junior Caden Schroeder scoring the last goal of the game. 

     Highlands High School Soccer Coach Chad Niedert discussed the game against Holy Cross High School. 

     “[On August 31] we depended a lot on Colin Pieper. Even though he was not the goal scorer, he moved the ball down the field to get the goals to his teammates”.

    The next boy’s varsity soccer game is September 4 against Henry Clay High School.