Men’s Soccer 2017 Season re-cap:

Dakota County Men's Soccer:  2017 Season re-cap:

In early August, the Men's soccer team set out on an adventure that would bring the team through a valley of highs and lows throughout the 2017 season.  The team worked hard in practice and played hard in its games.  The season was a tale of two stories, the non-conference versus the conference. 

The Non-Conference:

The non-conference was friendly to the Blueknights as they went 5-2-0.  The Blueknights split with Lake Superior from Duluth, Minnesota, Won 3-1 and lost 0-3 and split with Gustavus Adolphus College Junior Varsity from St. Peter, Minnesota, Lost 1-2 and won 2-0.  They beat St. Olaf College Junior Varsity twice, 4-2 and 6-2 and Beat Minnesota West Community College 7-1.

The Iowa Conference:

This was the first time in years since the Blueknights have competed in the Iowa Conference.  The Blueknights at one time, years ago was in the Iowa Conference but backed out for several reasons.  This year, once again the Blueknights played a conference schedule.  The team was picked to finish ninth in the pre-season poll and the Men's soccer team finished ninth.  The team was not able to win in a game in the conference this year, as the team went through growing pains and learning how to compete with arguably the toughest conference in the country from top to bottom.  The Blueknights competed hard and played some very good soccer, but just could not get a win on the board.  They did tie, Scott County, which finished in tenth place, 2-2 in a very hard fought game in Bettendorf, Iowa.  The Blueknights also played Iowa conference teams twice more on the season outside the conference schedule and suffered a 3-1 defeat to Hawkeye Community College and a 2-1 double overtime loss to North Iowa Area Community College. 

Coach, Mark Obarski, said," that the team displayed moments of brilliance throughout the year, but also had moments of a lack of trusting each other on the field, which caused breakdowns throughout the field. "  Obarski, "Said that many players return next year and the team needs to come together both on and off the field."

All-Conference Selections:

First Team All-Conference:                                                   Kapaw Htoo

Second Team All-Conference:                                              Hamza Abdujalil

All-Conference Honorable Mention:                                    Alexis Gavalin

All-Conference Honorable Mention:                                    Ryan Zamora

2017 Award Winners:

Most Valuable Player:                                                           Kapaw Htoo

Offensive Player of the Year:                                                Hamza Abdujalil

Defensive Player of the Year:                                               Kapaw Htoo

Practice Player of the Year:                                                  Septimio Lazada

Blueknight Award:                                                                Juan Davis

Rookie of the Year:                                                                Joaquin Sanchez

Most Improved Player from start to finish of the season: Martin Gana

The 2018 Schedule will be released in the Spring of 2018.