Being on a team is a bonding experience, especially for 2017 graduates Michael Scanlon, Anthony Kristensen and Torrion Robinson. They now play for St. Charles Community College together. This isn’t the first time they have been on the same team, though. They had played on the same team for freshman and sophomore year.

“I love the competition, and I just love being able to hang around all my friends,” Robinson said.

During his junior year, Michael Scanlon attended the U.S. Soccer Development Academy, which didn’t allow him to play on a high school team. In his senior year, Kristensen took a break from high school soccer and played scrimmages with friends, which included Scanlon and Robinson.

“I think it’s cool how Torrion, Michael and I are kind of going through this journey and getting better with each other, each step of the way,” Kristensen said.

They have all been playing since they were little and grew up to fall in love with the competition of the sport. Soccer is very fast-paced and the players need to feel comfortable enough to talk to each other on the field. Having played with some of their teammates in high school makes this task easier for all of them, claims Kristensen.

“I think that seeing each other every day and already having a friendship really helped us become better teammates,” said Scanlon. “We’ve played with each other for so many years which really helps build the chemistry and makes it a lot easier to play with them.”

When playing with SCC, their team didn’t have the season they had hoped for since they lost half their games (7-14). They had a slow start but started winning some games toward the end of the season. During regional playoffs, they were placed in the sixth seed out of eight. Their first match was an away game against the third-seed team and everyone expected them to lose. This game ended up being all their favorite memories as they won with a score of 3-2 and were the only lower seed to move on to the semi final. They didn’t move on any further, but they all enjoyed playing for SCC.

“My favorite memory was winning our first playoff game because we were the underdog and nobody thought we were going to win it and to come and win that game right off the bat really changed people’s looks on our team,” Scanlon said.