The past week, Owatonna Soccer has been working to give back to the community. On Thursday, Sept. 14, the boys soccer team played the second annual Dylan Lauwers Memorial Game. On Saturday, Sept. 16, both boys and girls teams hosted a Stock the Husky Pantry game.
At 7 p.m. on Sept. 14, the Owatonna Boys Soccer team held the second annual Dylan Lauwers Memorial Game. September is National Suicide Prevention month. Dylan would have been a senior this year at OHS. He played soccer since he was a kid, but sadly lost his life to suicide. The team hopes to raise awareness for suicide prevention and bring together the community while also honoring the life of their former teammate.
Owatonna’s Court Sports partnered and created shirts for the team to wear and for the public to buy. The “Out of the Dark” shirts were printed in purple and teal, the colors of the suicide awareness ribbon. The boys on the team wore their shirts all day leading up to the game. They were able to raise $1,105 for the sales, which all went to organizations for suicide awareness.
The team played the Mankato East Cougars. Before the game, the players wore their special warmup jerseys and throughout the game they wore matching purple socks. Senior captains, Garrett Karsten and Ashton Kraus, along with junior captain Jackson Mottl, walked across the field and handed Dylan’s parents a special gift from the team. After the crowd shared a moment of silence, the starting lineup began with ten players instead of 11. This was meant to honor a position that Dylan would have played. Within the first half of the game, seniors Leroy Delarosa and Garrett Karsten each scored a goal for Owatonna. The team continued to play hard and ended the game with a victory of 2-1. Varsity head coach, Bob Waypa said, “This game is about remembering Dylan and all the positives he brought these guys growing up and playing together.”
Waypa also explained that suicide impacts many people and that there is always others to talk to if you’re struggling. Senior Madeline Walerius said, “Dylan was someone who would do anything for anyone. No matter how much he was struggling, he was always willing to listen to others.” Being able to hold the memorial game means being able to bring awareness to suicide prevention. This game is a great way to honor Dylan and the special place he holds in many people’s hearts.
Stocking the Husky Pantry
On Saturday, Sept. 16, both the boys and girls soccer teams played home games. The event for the day was to stock the pantry. The girls team played Chaska at 1 p.m., and the boys played Cretin-Derham Hall at 3 p.m.
The Husky Pantry is located at Owatonna’s Trinity Lutheran Church. They help those who may need an extra hand getting necessities. The pantry takes all sorts of non-perishable things like peanut butter, granola bars, fruit cups, mac and cheese and canned soup. They also take toiletries and hygiene products like toilet paper, toothpaste, or deodorant. Having these things donated makes it possible to help those in need while also keeping it localized.
The games gave an opportunity for fans to donate to the pantry while also supporting Owatonna teams. The girls played an aggressive game against Chaska that ended in a tie of 0-0. The girls head coach Nate Gendron said, “We were on a bit of a losing streak so we felt this was a good result. We played really well, just didn’t get as many offensive chances as we wanted to score.” The boys team played a tough game against Cretin-Derham Hall and ended up losing 3-0.
The event brought in over 400 donations. Coach Gendron also said, “We want to teach our players the importance of giving back to their community. There are a lot of students in need who sit next to them at school and we want to support them.” After the game, the girls team and the boy’s captains brought all of the donations back to Trinity to help organize it.
The next home game for the girls is on Tuesday, Sept. 26 at Lincoln against Albert Lea. The boys’ next home game is at Lincoln on Thursday Sept. 28, vs. Northfield.
