CHICAGO – Amundsen features 17 seniors this year, the largest group that manager David Chinchilla has had. The majority of them hadn’t played a minute of varsity action until this season, so there has been a learning curve. 

“Their dedication to the program -- a lot of the seniors have been three-year JV players -- that isn’t something I’ve had in the past,” he said. “We haven’t had the results we’ve wanted, but it’s been really nice to see them compete and see them struggle, to be honest, because you get to see how they fight back out of it.”

Holding their spot

Staying up in the Premier Division is a priority for the Vikings. They’ve learned a lot in the tough conference games that will only help them build for the future. 

“We’ve seen what we need to work on to get better, to help prepare us for conference play, playoff play,” midfielder Miller Avery Avery said. “We’re close, but just need to fix some things.”

Positive takes

The Vikings are on a five-game losing streak but have seen solid efforts. Play in the BodyArmor event included a one-goal loss to Mendota and a PK loss to Hononegah.

Premier “squeeze”

Coach Nick Matsa put together a challenging schedule to help prepare Young for a potential deep run in the playoffs. However, he didn’t expect to have so many games in a short period of time. 

“The schedule has been loaded,” he said. “I had the schedule made and then we switched to the eight-team Premier Division. It's great, and I truly love it, but it was four games I wasn’t counting on. It really squeezed us in. But the guys have handled it really well.”

Maksa has used the crush of games to give a number of underclassmen, like freshman Musa Abiade, opportunities to gain experience on the varsity level.

Sophomore Curtis Jackson starts for the Dolphins.

Title chase

Young controls its own destiny in the Premier Division. The Dolphins fell to Solorio earlier this season, but have Lane and Washington coming up this week. If they defeat those teams, they have a chance to win the league.