With spring officially underway, the Prep soccer team begins another season. The Junior Jays are coming off back to back state title victories, which they hope to add on to this year. The team is returning about half their players, including UNO commit Brody Brakke and Jordan Igwenma who scored 13 goals last season.
Prep soccer has been especially dominant in recent years, winning back to back state championships in 2023 and 2024. The ever elusive three-peat is just around the corner, but head coach Tom Hoover isn’t feeling much pressure about it.
“For me personally, no, I don’t ever feel pressure here … [my players] just kind of have this kind of calm spot, it’s competence, but it’s not arrogance,” Hoover says.
A state championship does not come easy, even for the Junior Jays. There is plenty of competition that they must look out for, despite being pre season ranked #1, according to Neb Preps. Coach Hoover says that #2 Omaha South is especially good this year, as well as #7 Elkhorn South and #5 Papillion La-Vista South, crediting the coaching staff of both. #3 Lincoln Southwest; however, is taking up a lot of his attention
“There are a couple, but Lincoln Southwest, whom we played last year in the state final has the majority,” Hoover states.
Beating these high level teams is no easy task, but Prep has been able to do it consistently when it matters. The Junior Jays have been strong for several years now, and Coach Hoover credits a lot of that to team chemistry. When asked about their biggest strength, instead of touching on the team’s ability to score goals, or the high level goalies that they have, he instead mentions the team’s ability to play together.
“A lot of these guys play together outside of high school soccer, and so many of them arrive with a familiarity with each other,” says Hoover.
Teams can have the skill, the chemistry, and the coaching staff to win, but feeling pressure is bound to happen, and how teams will handle the pressure can be unpredictable. Coach Hoover tells me that he will take on these expectations and wants his guys’ main focus to be going out there and having fun.
“[I want them to] Keep a focus on a perspective that says: this is fun. I get to play for my school, [and] I get to wear that name on my jersey. Everything else is extra,” Hoover says.
