When a student looks to study abroad, destinations such as Scotland, Ireland, Germany, the United Kingdom, or Canada might peak the interest of some, but for eight men, Baldwin City sounded better.
After experiencing some frustration in his first year at the helm of the Wildcats, head coach Alan Koch, a native of South Africa, set out to improve his team. Koch scoured the globe to find the talent he felt his team needed to become a national contender once again.
Already on his roster were seniors Ryan McAloon from Glasgow, Scotland, and Gerard Grehan from Dunboyne, Ireland. Koch added freshmen Andrew Harrington, Heidelberg, Germany; Carson Gill, Kelowna, B.C., Canada; and Tom Lowndes, Undy, United Kingdom; sophomores Sebastian Koepf, Ippingen, Germany; and Luke Haidarovic, Bromsgrove, United Kingdom; and junior Al Watts, La Romain, Trinidad and Tobago.
Koch said his goal was to get a solid mix of American and foreign-born players. After an 8-3 start, Koch said he had been extremely pleased with the cohesiveness of his team.
“Our foreign kids have done a great job for us,” he said. “Our American kids and our foreign kids have continued to come together as a team on and off the field. It’s a great thing to see as the team grows.”
Harrington said it took time for the international players to adjust to America’s brand of soccer.
“American soccer is more fast-paced than European soccer,” he said. “They kick the ball and chase after it. In European soccer, the game is more focused on the skills of individual players.”
Koch used varying techniques to get the men to play for him in a small town in Kansas.
For Koepf, Baker’s close-knit community helped make his transition easy.
“I like it a lot at Baker, especially since it’s a small and very familiar university,” he said. “These things helped me a lot to integrate fast because you can get in contact with everybody very fast, and the professors try to help me where ever they can.”
During the summer, Koch’s players helped him recruit Gill.
“Coach Koch found me through my coach back home and the four guys that came up and played in Canada with me in the (Pacific Coast Soccer League) over the summer,” he said. “He had never really seen me play, maybe once at a camp when I was about 15, but he basically went on the word of Travis (Moore), Ryan, Elliot (Harvey), Aaron (Williams) and my coach Morgan Mars.”
Koepf said he was amazed by the pride and passion of the Baker population.
“I was really surprised by the community here at Baker,” he said. “I think it is amazing to see how all the Wildcats stand together, especially for me, because it is different in German universities.”
With all the distractions of a new country, the performance of foreign athletes can suffer while adjusting to new surroundings, but that hasn’t been the case.
On the field, the impact of these foreign-born players has been obvious. Koepf leads the team with six goals through 11 games, Gill and McAloon have each been honored with Heart of America Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors and Lowndes scored four goals in a three-game span.
