Dakota United Hawks Adapted Soccer Soars

As a captain of the Dakota United Hawks adapted soccer team this past season, Brandon Mathiowetz knows that how an athlete feels affects how he or she performs in competition. That’s why he made sure to offer encouraging words to his teammates if he saw them starting to get down.

“When we’re losing, I tell them ‘good job’,” said Mathiowetz, a senior at Hastings High School. “Positive reinforcement.”

This season, however, Mathiowetz and his teammates on the Hawks’ physically impaired (PI) team didn't have to worry much about losing. The team, coached by Stacy Pfarr, finished the regular season with a 6-1-1 record, good for second place in the South Division of the Minnesota Adapted Athletic Association.

The Hawks’ cognitively impaired (CI) team, coached by Tom Grothe, is in much the same position, having finished second in the South Division with an 8-1-0 record.

Unfortunately, neither team achieved a state championship this season; the state tournament was held this past weekend. The PI team won its first game in the state tournament, but lost its second and went on to win third place; the CI team lost its first game and went on to win the consolation bracket.

Regardless of the wins and losses—and of the state-tournament excitement—members of both teams were in agreement when asked their favorite part about playing soccer: making friends and having fun playing a sport together.

A Tight-Knit Community

Students from Rosemount, Apple Valley, Eagan, Hastings, Mendota Heights, Inver Grove Heights and South St. Paul are eligible to play on the Dakota United teams. Although not every city is represented on both teams, it can still be difficult for kids from that many different schools to come together and play on a team.

But that hasn’t hindered either Hawks team.

“I like how well the people get along, the camaraderie on our team,” said Mathiowetz, who played defense.

“It’s fun—playing with your friends,” said Ricky Arends, a senior on the CI team.

Many of the Hawks also play on the Dakota United floor hockey teams in the winter and softball teams in the spring, which has helped them grow even closer.

In addition, most adaptive athletes start playing at the high school level in seventh grade, and some of them play on teams in sports the Minnesota State High School League doesn’t sponsor, like wheelchair basketball through the Golden Valley-based Courage Center.

So it’s no surprise that Mathiowetz said the adapted athletics community is “very tight-knit.”

Grothe and Pfarr share this view, and both were impressed with their teams on and off the field of the play this season.

“These guys are good hustlers," Grothe said. "They really hustle.”

“What I like about it is the attitude of most of the kids," he said. "It’s amazing how quickly they get over a loss. After five minutes, they’re asking, ‘When do we get pizza?’ ”

That’s not to say the players don’t take the game seriously. While the CI team flew up and down the gym floor during a recent practice at the Rosemount Community Center, Pfarr stopped talking and apologized to a visitor.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “This is a really good game.”

Earlier that afternoon, as the PI team practiced, it was easy to see why Pfarr was just as pleased with her team as Grothe was with his this season.

There is a rule in the PI divisions that prohibits players with use of their legs from running and jumping, which is designed to make the game fairer for those in manually powered wheelchairs. Despite that, the PI team practiced at a fast pace, with the offensive players hustling to and battling for the ball and the defensive players moving quickly to get in position to stop the attack.

“We have a young team,” Pfarr said. “We lost a big position to graduation. At the beginning of the year, it was a question of who was going to step up and be a leader.”

Pfarr got some of that leadership from a couple of her younger players. Eighth grader Grayson Nicolay (Rosemount Middle School) is one of the team’s leading scorers.

“He brings motivation to our team,” Pfarr said.

Hastings High School freshman Liz Kimnes has played forward, defense and goalie this season.

While Kimnes, Mathiowetz and the rest of the Hawks know the importance of things that are keys in all team sports—like defending and good communication—they also realize that there are things that set them apart.

“We talk about things a lot of other teams don’t talk about,” Mathiowetz said.

Like how they will get to and from practices and games.

District 196, which many of the players attend school, in recent years cut after-school activity buses, putting more pressure on families, Pfarr said.

But there has been some good news on the transportation front.

The Hawks travel to games on one short school bus, and a coach bus designed to comfortably transport wheelchairs. The nine wheelchair players are the most Pfarr has had in her six years with Dakota United.

“It’s one of those things,” Mathiowetz said. “We finally get what we deserve.”

Members of the PI team from Apple Valley schools are Drew Ockwig, Anthony Vervais, D.J. Masso, Armette Damon and Lantz Estep of ; Kevin Johnson of and Arun Jadanujadan of .

Members of the CI team from Apple Valley schools are Ben Harmon, Austin Harmon, Michelle Bodourtha, Joe Sandey and Hunter Patrick of Apple Valley High School; Travis Marsh of and Nick Andrus of Falcon Ridge Middle School.