It was students that made soccer happen at TCU

Dream comes true for TCU soccer players

By PAT BECK pbeck@stpeterherald.com Aer nearly a lifetime of playing pick-up games in their neighborhood with family and friends or playing alone, the dream of playing on a high school team nally came true last fall for Kris Ruiz and Chloe Triden. Triden, started playing soccer at age 5 or 6. Unlike Ruiz, Triden didn’t have a big group of family and friends who played soccer together. Her sister, sophomore Alexa Triden, “played it a little bit, but it wasn’t really her thing. But she started it up this year, and now I think she really likes the sport.”

e 2019-20 Minnesota State High School League fall season marked the rst that Tri-City United oered boys and girls soccer programs. Ruiz and Triden, with the help of other TCU students, sta members and families, did a lot of work to make their vision come true.

Soccer experience

Ruiz, a 16-year-old sophomore and son of Ramona and Raul, started kicking the ball around at about 8 years old. He grew up playing soccer with his family and friends at Centennial Park in Le Center.

Mainly his brothers got him started, but all of his family liked soccer. en a group of friends, most of whom composed the varsity team, started playing pick-up games about seven years ago.

“It was nothing ocial,” Ruiz said. “We just played for fun. No league or nothing.”

When there were enough people, they had two teams of 11, only boys and sometimes adults, mostly uncles.

en, for two years, he joined the Tri-City United Soccer Club, which had teams with summer games against other towns.

“It was low level friend leagues of 13- and 14-year-olds,” Ruiz said. “It started with the soccer club, and as time progressed we nally got the school to give us an actual school team. Four years ago we were really trying to get a team.”

Triden, a 17-year-old junior and daughter of Tim Triden and Lori “My parents said you should pick a sport,” Triden added of her own experience. “I said ‘Hey, this is cool sport, and I saw it on TV.’ When I started I had so many dierent coaches, but my parents would play with me if I didn’t have anyone. I worked on it by myself. I would literally just kick a ball outside and practice skills that I learned when I was little or just run in circles, work on dribbling and tricks. at’s what I did for years.

She continued, “I have moved around my whole life, but I played with New Prague leagues at the beginning. I did a couple camps when I moved around and home schooled. Before that I played in a Lakeville league, working on drills and playing in tournaments.” Triden came to TCU three years ago in eighth grade and attended summer camps before this season started. She hadn’t played on a team for three years. Love for the game Both Ruiz and Triden felt passionately about playing their favorite sport in their high school’s colors. “ere’s so many things I like about soccer,” Ruiz said. “I love everything about it. Pele, one of the best footballers who ever lived, said, “It’s a beautiful game. I truly believe that because when you’re playing it, it’s like a work of art.” Ruiz also is a sprinter in track (100 and 200 meters) “because that helps with soccer, too.” Triden said, “We connect with people at a deeper level, working hard to achieve something. Getting to play something that you like, hanging out with people who have a common interest. To me, it was never about winning or losing, it was just getting out there, giving it your all and trying to have a good time doing it.” Triden doesn’t play any other sports, but she is in theater. “Soccer is the one sport I want to stick with.” Ruiz said he always wanted to play against other schools because he thought like football, baseball, hockey and other teams, they “could play with their friends in actual competition, not just summer leagues that are not really that competitive.” And he plays, “For the love of the game. I’ve always wanted a team.” Triden said, “I just love soccer, and I just wanted an opportunity to play it. I wanted people from my school that I see every day to play with me. We could work together and win games or not win games, which is also fun. Just play the sport, spend time together and get to know people that I go to school with on a deeper level. And just have something competitive that just wasn’t light like practicing.” SOCCER Continued on page 4 FIRST SEASON HIGHLIGHTS Aug. 27 The Tri-City United girls team played the school’s rst soccer game against Cannon Falls on TCU football eld in Montgomery. The Tri-City United girls soccer captains, from left: defensive midelder and sophomore Michelle Ramirez, junior and midelder Maria Martinez, sophomore and wing midelder Liz Beth Mendez and junior and wing defender Chloe Triden. These girls not only led the girls soccer team, they helped get the program started by recruiting girls and meeting with school faculty. (County News le photo)

Sept. 5 The rst TCU boys game happened at Triton High School.

Sept. 17 The rst away game for TCU girls soccer team against Great River Tigers at Twin Cities Academy

Kriz Ruiz lands the rst goal of the game in the Titans’ 6-1 victory over Triton. (Carson Hughes/Le Sueur County News le photo)

SOCCER Continued from page 3

TCU soccer coach Carey Langer gives the girls soccer team a pep talk in the rain during half-time of the school’s rst soccer game against Cannon Falls. Langer called on the girls to be more aggressive. (Carson Hughes/Le Sueur County News le photo) Tri-City United High School soccer players Chloe Triden, a junior, and Kris Ruiz, a sophomore, are united in their passion for the sport which started last fall. They are standing in front of their classes signed commitments to graduation in 2021 and 2022. (Pat Beck/St. Peter Herald) First year Ruiz called the rst year of TCU soccer “a beautiful experience that I got to play with my group of friends that I grew up playing with. Finally being able to play with the school was great.” He added, “We won a couple, we lost a couple, but that’s just the sport. We denitely had high hopes. But we needed a bit more games to adapt to the high school game because we were used to playing random games.” Ruiz said it’s the toughest competition he’s ever faced: “Especially Albert Lea; we didn’t expect them to play that hard or be that quick. It caught us o guard. It would have helped if we faced similar teams like that during the season.” e boys had some experienced players, including Ruiz. ey played together in the o season at Soccer Blast indoor league in Burnsville against other teams. “at really helped us to become better,” he said. “We were more experienced than the girls because we had been playing constantly in the summer. We went every day to the eld.” Although the girls team didn’t win, Triden said, “It was 100 percent ne because a lot of us were new to the sport. Some of us hadn’t played soccer before this. You could tell these other teams had grown up together. Every game we got better, and we learned. We just worked harder.” She added, “ere was one game where we were winning for half the game. at was enough for us. We would have liked to win. We’re guring out where our strengths lie and working to improve each other and gure out how to play the sport and work together eectively. at was denitely what this season was about. Maybe next year we could get a couple if wins. at would be cool.” Future expectations e boys had about 25 players in the rst season. But eight starters were seniors, so Ruiz said, “It’s basically like we were starting over. It’s denitely going to be a lot harder, because we’re losing eight of our starters, mainly composed of that friend group I believe in the new generation, we’ve all agreed that we’re going to enter a soccer league in the summer. We’ll get coached by a dierent coach and get dierent aspects of the game, so when we come back as TCU, we’ll be ready.” He continued, “We’re a fairly young group. ere’s probably only two or three seniors playing varsity. It’s mainly going to be freshmen and sophomores. So we really have to train and be prepared to play some really rough and tough teams because we want to be good. We want to give the other team ght. We’re going to give it our all.” e girls team had about 17 players but only lost two seniors to graduation. However, in some games, they barely had enough players for a team. “Next year, we’ll have more girls in high school that could play varsity games,” Triden said. “I think we will have more players because a lot of girls have had the experience of trying it out. My hope is more people are interested because it is more established.” ey may not be a powerhouse or even a dark horse playo contender just yet, but the Tri-City United boys and girls soccer programs are very much started and on their way. And at the end of the day, high school sports are a good way to get to know people and make friends, Ruiz and Triden both agreed. “I was really excited that we got to have jerseys and we got to wear them to school, and say, ‘Hey there’s a team,’” Triden said. “I got to know people. I got excited to see people that had similar interests, and now I have more friends in school because of it. at’s exciting in general. I’m really grateful that we have it. We’ve been waiting for so long.”