College Soccer Stories #1 - Karsten Lusk

Prologue

What the United States does a lot more differently than all the other countries is the presence of college soccer. I called upon a Gordon College Soccer player, Karsten Lusk, who’s a very good friend of mine. Karsten has firsthand experience of what college soccer is like and can enlighten the public on what the experience is like. I sat down with Karsten and picked his brain, asking him to detail the ins and outs of the recruitment process, his first college season, what his average day is like, and his goals for the future.

The Beginning

The New York state native began formerly playing organized soccer in the 8th grade where he scored 20+ goals from the center back position. Soon after, he graduated his middle school and attended Saint Joseph Regional High School in Montvale, New Jersey. Karsten immediately stamped his authority on the program making the varsity team freshman year and remained a regular in the team all four years of high school. In his junior year, Karsten became a captain of the team and would also captain the team in his senior year. In his senior year he made second team all conference and finished his high school career with 4 goals and 17 assists.

The Recruitment Process

Karsten became serious about playing college soccer in his junior year and started to attend ID Camps, a setup where he could showcase his skills to various college coaches and schools. Knowing Karsten personally, it is clear he relishes being tested and experiencing intense competition; he found this during the college recruitment process and developed his love for the game motivated him to put extra work in whenever he could find the time to. The Messiah College ID Camp would prove to be the most significant. He attended this camp in the summer before his senior year of high school. There were many Christian Colleges and Universities present at the camp that were keeping a watchful eye on future talent. Newcastle United was also present at this ID camp. Karsten came into contact with a few smaller Christian schools but they did not typically peak his interest. The two colleges that really caught Karsten’s eye were Geneva College and Gordon College. He spoke to each school’s respective coaches frequently, but the Geneva College reached out to him much more often. Karsten had his reservations about the current Gordon coach at the time, and had a feeling that his foot was halfway out the door but always brushed it off. He attended family fun day, an event that is for the recruits to get to know the players and coaches on the team. Karsten’s past feelings about the coach were manifested when one day he was scrolling through his twitter feed and saw that the Gordon College coach did indeed leave the program. Karsten panicked because he wanted to attend Gordon but never expressed his desire to commit. He got into contact with the assistant coach of Gordon College and questioned him about what would happen. The assistant coach assured that Karsten would definitely be considered and asked him for a highlight tape.

Changing of the Guard

On March 2, 2017, Gordon announced that they have signed former pro and Gordon Soccer alum, Matt Horth, to coach the team. Matt Horth had this to say when he got the job "’I'm absolutely thrilled with the opportunity to return to Gordon and manage the men's soccer program,’ said Horth. ‘As a Gordon Soccer alum, this program holds a special place in my heart and I'm honored to have the opportunity extended to me. The purpose and values that Gordon stands for have everything to do with why I was so keen to take the position, and I'm excited to continue advancing the program to become the next national powerhouse. It's great to be home.’" (Excerpt from Gordon College Athletics website). Matt Horth wasted no time getting in touch with all the recruits and reached out to Karsten. Karsten describes his first experiences with Horth as friendly and warm. Horth has many connections to the pro game, most notably playing for the Atlanta Silverbacks under Eric Wynalda in 2012. Karsten cites that with Horth’s tutelage, contacts, and assistance he has everything he needs to be successful in his college career and beyond. Karsten finally committed to Gordon College much to Coach Horth’s pleasure. Coach Horth sent Karsten a workout plan to follow in order to be ready for the season.

A New Adventure

The summer before his freshman year of college Karsten took his yearly trip to Norway, where he has family. He also has a close friend in Norway who plays for a FK Donn, a Norwegian third division club’s youth team. Karsten gets a great deal of experience from playing with his friend and his teammates. Knowing what was ahead of him, Karsten trained with more of a purpose and drive. Shortly after he came home from Norway he moved into college and started preseason. Karsten started preseason rather roughly, he held his own in all of the practices but struggled in many of the short-sided games that they played. Karsten even went so far as to say that he was one of the bottom two players on the team at this time. He stated that the difference in the level of play between high school and college is incredible. The college game is played at a much quicker pace and the importance of your first choice is paramount to success. Eventually the Gordon practices moved into full-sided 11 v 11 games and Karsten started to thrive in his new environment. In Gordon’s first preseason game against Lasell College, Karsten was deployed at right back an unfamiliar position to him, but he was happy that he was getting playing time regardless. It was in the next preseason game against Suffolk University that Karsten was played in his natural center attacking midfielder position. He had a great game against Suffolk finding splitting passes and open space regularly. Coach Horth was impressed and pulled Karsten aside, saying that his fitness has improved. Gordon had a good season, finishing 13-6-1, with 5 of their 6 losses only by a 1-goal deficit. Karsten featured in 4 games, playing 112 minutes in total and always in his natural position in the #10 role. He played against Washington College, Eastern Nazarene, Western New England, and Nichols, the games against WNE and Nichols being playoff games. Karsten expected little playing time but was determined to capitalize on whatever time he got. Karsten believes through hard work he can become one of the best and most important players on the team. He expressed that he has the talent to match any of the players on the team it is just a matter of putting it all together and adapting to the college game.

Karsten’s Average Day

Karsten wakes up 7 a.m., gets breakfast and then goes to his first class of the day from 8-9 a.m. Right after that he heads to his second class which is from 9:00-10:10 and then to Chapel from 11:25-12:25. After service concludes at Chapel, he gets lunch from about 12:30-1:30 and then goes back to his dorm to get most of his work done from 1:00-2:30 p.m. He then heads down to the locker room at 2:35 to get ready for practice needing to be on the field at 3 p.m. Practice lasts from 4:00-6:00. Karsten then gets dinner with the team after practice concludes. The next part of Karsten’s day will either go one of two ways, he’ll either head to the gym to get extra work in or head back to his dorm to complete more of his assignments from his classes. He’ll then get washed up and get to bed or kick back and unwind with a couple games of FIFA.

Looking Back then Looking Forward

I asked Karsten what his takeaways from the season were and he had very positive things to say, “I developed more as a person than a player this season. One takeaway from this season is I can do it.” He also highlighted his goals for the future. One goal was to show up to the summer 2018 camp being the fittest player on the team. He also stated his desire to start in 15 games next season (There are 20 games in total if the team makes the playoffs). Karsten also indicated that stats weren’t important to him, a good performance on the pitch takes precedence and as long as he’s playing well, the stats will take care of themselves. Beyond his sophomore year he wants to make first team all conference 2 times and after his college playing career concludes, he wishes to play professionally in his ancestral Norway.

Thoughts on Pro Soccer and the US Soccer Program

Since playing college soccer, Karsten appreciates what the pros can do a lot more than he used to. Karsten, being a long time Tottenham Hotspurs supporter and student of the game, explained to me that what the pros do is so difficult to the average player, yet they make it look easy. Karsten pointed out that in college soccer his teammates essentially shoot the ball at him so he expects the pros do the same but making even harder passes while on the slick surface of grass. I asked Karsten why Europeans could be world-class players by the age of 21, for example, while most Americans don’t become world class throughout their whole career. Karsten explained that Europeans face stiffer competition in the academy setup and that allows them to grow at a much faster and consistent rate. Karsten added, “The US is going to have that soon with all the new academies such as NYCFC and Red Bulls, the future of US soccer will be driven forward by players born after 2010.” To follow up Karsten’s response I mentioned how the styles of the academies are very different. The US academies don’t have their players living together, do not educate them, and are only on the field for 2-3 hours maybe a few times a week while European academies train every day, are on the field for much longer, and receive a general education from the academy. I posed a question for Karsten “Do you think that US will reach world class level heights even though its players don’t spend nearly as much time on the field.” Karsten answered, “Not if it continues the way it is. I think it’ll change. I remember after my high school games I would always realize I’m learning, so the more the time on the field the better.” Karsten made another comment saying “With all the research coming out about the head injuries and CTE in football, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some parents put their kids into sports such as soccer instead. Take Arsenal and Germany’s Per Mertesacker for example, he’s 6’6”, not fast, and clumsy, now take Lebron James who stands at 6’8” and is fast and agile. If the US can secure these athletes young and train them to be class players on the pitch the USA will be insane.”

I’d like to thank Karsten Lusk for giving me his time; all of his feedback and stories were quality. Under the Lights will definitely be keeping tabs on his promising career and giving updates on it here. If you want to follow Karsten’s journey yourself, follow him on Twitter and instagram @KarstenLusk.

You can follow me on Instagram and Twitter @christiandelucs.

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