The senior-laden Alpena High boys soccer team hopes its experience can lead to success throughout the 2016 season.

Already five games into the season, the Wildcats hold a 2-3-1 overall record, having already hosted their annual Sunrise Side Soccer Challenge Cup tournament and began Big North Conference play.

Alpena has been competitive in each of its games, but Alpena soccer coach Tim Storch feels his team can be much better than what they have shown early on.

“The goals are high for this season. We are an experienced team with a group of seniors that are very talented. I feel that this year we need to take that next step forward in becoming a better and more complete program and our seniors are going to play a big role in that success,” Storch said.

The Wildcats have 10 seniors on the roster that will look to lead the way in 2016. Senior goalkeeper Levi Goebel will play a huge role in the team’s success. Goebel has already put together a few solid games early on and has the ability to keep Alpena in each game it plays. Senior Evan LeTourneau will look to build off of an impressive junior campaign as he was one of the team’s top goal scorers. Tommy Hein, Kyle Supiran, Aaron Diamond, Frank Hnup, Spencer Kraft, Jared Blumenthal, Hunter Tolsdorf and Alec LeTourneau make up the rest of the seniors on the roster and all will be looked upon to lead on offense and defense.

“We have a great group of seniors, but nothing is going to be given to us and we have a lot of work to do. We are talented, but as we have already seen early on, we need to come out with the same intensity each game and execute if we want to take that next step,” Storch said. “I feel we have already let a few games slip away because of mistakes mentally and physically and we can’t allow that to happen.”

The Wildcats have already been tested early on as they play in a competitive soccer conference, along with already seeing and competing against some of the top soccer teams in the state in their annual tournament.

“Playing in the Big North, we know we are always going to be tested and it’s our goal to not only be able to compete with some of the top teams in our conference, but be able to beat them as well,” Storch said. “I believe having already played some great competition early on in the season will go a long way in helping us achieve our season and conference goals. We are looking to take that next step as a program with a senior laden group and we are going to work hard to be as good as we can be this year.”

Jonny Zawacki can be reached via email at jzawacki@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5690.