SPORTS
A7
Advance-Titan
Morgan Van Lanen - Assistant Sports Editor Questions? Email: atitan@uwosh.edu
February 11, 2016 — www.advancetitan.com
KATIE HANSON/ADVANCE-TITAN
Above: The 2015 men’s soccer team finished their final season with an 11-4-3 overall record and made an appearance in the NCAA tournament and lost 2-0 vs. St. Olaf (Minn.). Below: Wytse Molenaar served six seasons as the UW Oshkosh men’s soccer head coach as he totaled a 79-27-19 overall record with 3 appearances in the NCAA tournament.
Players and coaches find new homes by Erik Buchinger the minute after, saying, ‘I’m really sorry, but this is my buchie90@uwosh.edu home,’” Simon said. The men’s soccer team, While his soccer program along with the men’s tennis is being cut, Harenda is headteam, is set to be eliminated ing for a program that will following the 2015-16 aca- begin its inaugural season in demic year, which was an- the fall at Northern Michinounced on April 6. gan University, a Division II ince the program s final school. season concluded in No“For me, it’s kind of a cool vember, members of the UW situation going from someOshkosh men’s soccer team thing so special where it needed to make a decision ended and moving into somethat would impact their aca- thing that’s brand new,” Hardemic and athletic futures. enda said. “Y ou have to look at the A former coach of Harenwhole pict re and find o t da’s knew Northern Michiwhat’s important for you,” gan’s coach, which eventualsoon-to-be-former Oshkosh ly led to Harenda receiving a men’s soccer head coach Wy- scholarship to play soccer. tse Molenaar said of the ad“I’m looking forward to vice he gave the players. the whole experience of it The Titans had 30 players being a step up, so it will be on their final roster this sea- tougher competition,” Harenson, including eight seniors. da said. “I think we’ll have a Of the 22 players with eli- good team and have a good gibility remaining five con- year.” firmed they have either transRys said he intends to ferred or plan to transfer from transfer for the fall, but he UWO, including freshmen is still waiting on responses Nic Harenda and Tyler How- from two potential schools. ard, sophomores Jakub Rys Rys is interested in being a and Javier Simon, and junior marine biologist, and he said Kevin Schenk. UC Santa Cruz has one of the Harenda, Rys and Simon top programs in the country. are currently taking classes “I’m really banking on at UWO and will make the Santa Cruz’s admissions,” move for the fall semester to Rys said. continue their collegiate socRys visited Santa Cruz cer careers. over winter break and said he According to Simon, he did came away impressed. not have thoughts of transfer“I loved that school,” Rys ring until the season conclud- said. “I loved every second of ed nearly three months ago. it, and it’s a great school.” At first he was committed to If he does not get admitted staying at Oshkosh because to Santa Cruz, Rys said he of the friends he had made, will likely enroll at Wartburg the classes he enjoyed and College in Waverly, Iowa, he even signed a lease for the 2016-17 school year. Y ou have to look at the “When [ the season] was whole pict re and find o t over, I started rethinking things and went through ev- what’s important for you. erything in my head again,” — Wytse Molenaar Simon said. “I was like, Soon-to-be-former UW ‘Wow, it’s really over.’ Oshkosh men’s soccer head Then, over the next couple coach of months, that was the only thing on my mind.” In the end, Simon decided he would enroll at Loras Col- which was his second choice lege, a Division III school in behind Oshkosh out of high Dubuque, Iowa, which was school. his second college choice out After finishing o t their of high school. The Duhawks final seasons at in were the national runners-up the fall, Howard - who will in 2015 that also featured his play for the University of brother, Jorge Simon. Dubuque - and Schenk have According to Simon, he already enrolled at their new would return to school in Os- schools for the spring semeshkosh if the program were to ter. come back. Schenk said he was in the “If the team was reinstat- process of switching his maed today, I would call Loras
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jor from business to education around the same time the University announced its decision b t wanted to finish his soccer career at Oshkosh. “I knew I wanted to play my final season so that s why I waited for the summer to fig re everything o t Schenk said. In the fall, Schenk applied and was accepted into Illinois State University. According to Schenk, when he was fairly certain the men’s soccer program would not come bac he officially made the decision to transfer. Schenk said his choice of Illinois State was strictly for academic reasons, and he will not be playing soccer but will miss the game as well as his friends in Oshkosh. t s definitely weird not being there,” Schenk said. “I miss everyone. I miss all my friends that I made there, but I had a really good time playing soccer and being able to do what I love.” A few Oshkosh players such as freshman Sean McCarthy, who is considering a transfer to Viterbo University or Clarke University, and junior Jacob Hernandez, who said he might pursue a Division I career at UW-Milwaukee, are still undecided whether or not to leave UWO. “I don’t want to look back on my college career wishing that I would have played my last year, but at the same time it s diffic lt given all the circumstances around my particular situation,” Hernandez said. For freshman Casey B rzeski, he said he is too far into his academic program to transfer even with years of eligibility remaining. Titans’ coach Molenaar, who completed his 11th year on the Oshkosh coaching staff, six as a head coach and five as an assistant was announced as the head coach of Albion College in Michigan on Feb. 1. Molenaar said other schools contacted him, but he wanted to make sure he wo ld be a good fit for his new job. According to him, he knew Albion was an ideal landing spot for him. “It’s similar to what I tell recruits,” Molenaar said. “Y ou know when you are somewhere if that s a fit and I had that feeling.”
Molenaar said he is excited to work with his new players beginning on March 1 and for the support of the men’s soccer program, which is in the process of getting a new stadium. “There are some really exciting pieces about the program,” Molenaar said. There s definitely a lot of support from the college, as well as the athletics in general and for sure towards men’s soccer and that program.” While he said he is excited for his new opportunity, Molenaar described the situation as “bittersweet.” “I can’t describe it any other way,” Molenaar said. “I’m
beyond excited to start [ at Albion] , but at the same time, I am also still deeply saddened by how this all materialized.” Molenaar said he is still upset with UWO’s decision to eliminate the men’s soccer program. “The 32 years of history of that program and what it all brings with, to me, it’s not something I can comprehend that the leaders here at the University were willing to toss that aside when solutions were presented to them,” Molenaar said. All five players who transferred or plan to transfer said they would remain at Oshkosh if the men’s soccer
program was not eliminated. Rys said his time with the program was valuable. “It’s a hell of an experience because I got a connection with the guys that I wouldn’t have had otherwise if I wasn’t on the team,” Rys said. “I loved every second of it.” Simon said he appreciated his time at Oshkosh and wants to have a similar experience at his next stop. “The experience was something I will never forget, and I hope I can recreate it at Loras, but I’m holding it to a high standard because my time in Oshkosh was so great,” Simon said.