It has been a great time to be a Hillcrest Raven on the soccer pitch. Hillcrest has made back-to-back trips to the state tournament in Des Moines during the 2018 and 2019 seasons. A year ago, Hillcrest put together a 12-5 campaign. The Ravens flew to Des Moines by knocking off Grand View Christian, Clarke and Solon by a combined 7-0 score before being eliminated 5-1 by Sioux Center in the state quarterfinals. The win at No. 7 Solon, on the strength of a Jacob Boller chip in goal and Blake Bontrager clean sheet, was their second road substate victory in as many seasons. A year ago, the Ravens were led by Louis Etienne with 25 goals, ninth most in class 1A, Boller with eight assists and Bontrager at 75 saves and an 84% save percentage. Overall, the Ravens had an impressive season defensively, posting seven shuts outs, not only relying on Bontrager in goal but also an athletic and experienced back line including Eli Ours, Jorge Canchola and Kobe Borntrager.

Hillcrest returns Brian Maren as the leading scorer from last season’s team with four goals. Toby Chen had six assists as the leading returner. Aiden Kolck saw just over two matches worth of minutes in goal last year, posting nine saves and a 75% save percentage, and the entire Raven back line is back. This week, Hillcrest head coach Marcus Miller talked about the team’s numbers, make-up and returners. “Last year we had just about enough to pull of a JV team. I’m not sure we are going to have that many this year. I’m looking at about 18 kids. Drew Blauvelt who worked really hard last year and improved, Kobe Borntrager who was a steady defensive player for us in the back line and Toby Chen, helped us out a lot, started last year as a mid-fielder but could move to the back line if needed. Those were our seniors. In the junior class, Eli Ours is a very steady presence in the back line. John Hughes and Will Kolck both started games last year and saw a lot of minutes. Aidan Kolck is likely to be our starting goalie. Last year was his first year so he had a great teacher in Blake Bontrager.”

The IAHSAA has set a potential return to practice for May 1st and a first competition date of May 4th.