North Stafford soccer seeks to rebuild a ‘powerhouse’

URIAH A. KISER / Stafford County Sun
Published: March 5, 2008

Reinwald, 17, plays for the girls' varsity team, and Conklin, 18, plays for the boys'. Both are hoping to restore the school's reputation on the field to the "powerhouse" days of old.

"There are a lot of expectations this year, I know especially for the guys team. We lost 14 seniors last year, and because of that the other schools don't think that we will be bringing much to the table," said Conklin. "Everybody will be gunning for us this year."

And for good reason, as the boys' team went undefeated last year, and then went on to win the Commonwealth District Tournament for the third year in a row.

According to Reinwald, the girls' team faces similar issues as they too lost six valuable senior players last year. But she is confident that her team will step up this year, and bring home the win.

Both of these players have more in common than one would think. Not only are they do they bring their precise soccer skills to the field, but they both come from similar backgrounds, with athletic parents, and have siblings who either currently play for North Stafford, or have played for North Stafford in the past.

"My sister is a freshman here and just made the varsity basketball team. She wants to be the best and I think that she will have more opportunity to succeed here than I did because she is so driven," said Reinwald.

Conklin is the youngest of three brothers who have all played soccer at North Stafford.

Both athletes are senior class officers in the school's student council association, both belong to the academic honor society and both share a common love for other sports such as cross-country track and basketball.

When game time comes, however, both players say they take the field to have fun and strive for their best, but they most importantly aim to win.

"Colonial Forge is always a good fight and a big rivalry for us," said Reinwald.

On the boys' side, Conklin said Mountain View High School's team has become a major focus and an ever-developing challenge for the North Stafford team.

"When Mountain View first opened, they took the freshmen that were supposed to come here, and they went to that school," said Conklin. "Each year they try to come over here and try to prove they are better just because they didn't end up going here."

Despite the challenges and rivalries, both say that soccer is not a sport for the kind of trash-talk that football and other sports have become infamous for.

"You talk between your friends on the team about who is good and who is going to win, but you never get into a shouting match over the games," said Reinwald.

"Yeah, this is not a sport where you get up in someone's face and start yelling about the game; you just come out and perform and win," added Conklin.

After this season, Reinwald and Conklin have both been recruited to play on the college level, both in New York State. Reinwald will attend Canisis College in Buffalo, and Conklin will attend Long Island University in New York City.

"The move is going to be easy for me when I go to Brooklyn because of the soccer team there," said Conklin, who was also offered scholarships at Radford and Longwood universities in Virginia. "I'll already have a set group of friends when I get there."

The boys' varsity team will play its first game of the season, a scrimmage against Forest Park at home on March 7, and the girls' varsity team will play its first regular-season game against James Monroe on March 10.

"If the season plays out as well as I want it to, I hope the only thing that I will be leaving behind is great expectations for next year's team," Conklin said.

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