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Age: 26.
Hometown: Central Lake, Mich. Now lives in Madison.
Occupation: Software developer at Epic Systems.
Current teams: Free agent. "Wherever they need a goalie."
Soccer experience: Started playing in eighth grade. Played at Central Lake High School and one season at NCAA Division III Carthage College in Kenosha.
Favorite rec soccer moment: "When I moved to Madison, I was engaged to be married. The indoor league started two or three weeks before my wedding, and I had a game the night before my rehearsal dinner. The only thing my fiancée at the time, my wife now, said over the phone was 'Nothing in the face,' because we had the wedding coming up. So that night I'm playing goalie, and I was OK, just trying to play normal. Right in the middle of the second half a guy comes full speed and I come out at him and he kicks it as hard as he can. The ball comes up and the first thing I thought was 'Not the face,' so I tipped (my head) back and took a shot right in the neck. When I got up, they're like, 'Are you OK?' And I'm like, 'I'm great, it didn't hit me in the face.' That was for you, honey. That was one of my better moments."
Boots: "Rag-tag, second-hand. Play It Again Sports is nice."
Who's the best player you've played with or against? High school teammate Ben Walker. "He had a rocket leg, he put keepers out of games. He didn't break their arms, but he hyper-extended goalies' arms. Every time in warmups, I would just dodge his shots, I wouldn't even try to stop them. This one game, we had a free kick at midfield and no one was paying attention, and he just crushed it and put it into the upper corner of the goal from half field. He was just amazing. And he never tried, that's what was so amazing about him. He would dog it at practice. Then (in games), he would just kill people. And he played sweeper and had the most goals on our team."
Why do you play? "I enjoy competition. I've played soccer since eighth grade, and I just enjoy all sports in general – basketball, soccer, football, if it's got a score, I like to play it. And I happen to be good at soccer, so I play it."
Do you have an on-field pet peeve? "I just hate it when the other team is boastful when they're winning. Obviously, people like to celebrate, but when I'm losing, I just hate it when I see them celebrate. It drives me crazy."
Are you a soccer fan? Do you follow a specific soccer league or club? "I've never been a fan of watching soccer. I'll watch the World Cup, because it's the best of the best, but I don't really enjoy watching games."
Does your team have a rival? "In high school, since I'm from the sticks, from the country, people talk about 'the town over.' Two towns over was the best team in the state (Elk Rapids), they were like the two-time defending state champions and we got to play them a couple of times. It was always our best game because we knew we were playing the best. My senior year, we tied them, so that was one of our highlights. We didn't beat them, but we tied them. I don't know if they considered us rivals, but we were always up for playing them because they were the best."
What aspect of your game needs work? "I flinch when I know a shot is coming. ... I play coed, so when it's a guy who's got the ball and he's on a breakaway, I'm working on not flinching when the guy in winding up. Or when I do flinch, I say, 'Next time I'm not going to flinch.' I haven't taken any more to the face, though, I don't know why I'm flinching."
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