This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
06/21/2018 12:00 AMSoren Frantz recently put the finishing touches on a solid career as a member of the Valley Regional boys’ lacrosse team. Soren joined the squad in his freshman year and not only became a quality player, the senior captain also proved a great leader for the Warriors this spring.
Soren started off as a midfielder, but then switched to play long-pole defender the past two seasons. Last year, he helped the Warriors win the Shoreline Conference Tournament for the first time. This year, Soren scored eight goals and corralled 55 ground balls, while manning the backfield and guiding Valley back to the Shoreline final. For his high-school career, he scored 26 goals, gathered 203 ground balls, and won 135 faceoffs.
Soren’s biggest moment at Valley Regional came when the Warriors earned their 10-6 win over Haddam-Killingworth to take the Shoreline title last spring. It was a historical victory for the Warriors, and Soren was practically in shock after they won.
“We had an awesome midfield and attack, and we were locking them down on defense,” Soren says. “After we won, I didn’t know what I was doing. I’ve never been in that situation. I was just amazed, and I didn’t know what to do. I was just following everyone else at that point. I saw people running around, so I just followed them.”
This year, Soren did a lot more leading than following as a senior captain for the Warriors. He took it upon himself to acclimate the new players on the squad and get them up to speed with the way Valley plays.
“We definitely had a lot of younger players. It was my job to teach them little things beyond just passing and catching,” says Soren. “I was trying to teach them things that would let them play up to the ability that we want them to play at. Things like teaching the defense how to approach or showing the offense how to handle the ball better.”
Soren was uniquely qualified to teach his teammates how to play multiple positions since he’s a versatile athlete who’s patrolled all ends of the field. Last year, Soren decided that he wanted to move to defense on a full-time basis. Originally, he had been relied upon to handle faceoff duties for Valley.
“I used to take faceoffs before I started playing defense my junior year,” he says. “Moving to defense was really something I’d been wanting to do for a while. I’d been pushing for it a couple of years before it happened.”
With the move to defense, Soren saw his number of scoring opportunities decrease, but that didn’t matter to him. Soren gets just as much satisfaction from stopping the opposition’s offense as he does from netting a goal himself. Along with that, Soren can surprise the other team with his stick-handling skills and ability to move the ball upfield, often leading to a goal-scoring opportunity for Valley.
“I don’t mind. It’s a great feeling keeping a team’s top scorer at zero points the whole game. I play a lot of transition, so I can get up the field, too,” Soren says. “Generally, defenders are back because they don’t have the best stick skills, and it’s always a surprise to them when I can dodge past them.”
It was an adjustment for Soren to move to defense, however, the transition wasn’t as difficult as he expected. He says the most challenging part was learning where to be on the field in certain situations.
“I got my stick skills, playing short stick for so long. I knew how to protect the ball and carry it. It transferred pretty quickly,” says Soren. “There’s not a lot of difference in terms of the stick skills needed. It’s just getting used to the length and where you can be and can’t be on the field. You have to know the slide packages, which took me a while to learn.”
While Head Coach George Hudson liked having Soren play midfield and take faceoffs, he also knew that Soren could handle the move to defense. No matter where Soren was, Hudson says that he made a big impact on the field, including as an instructor at practice.
“Soren’s versatility on the field is great. He can play any position and contribute. He’s a universal, every-position utility player. He was also a second coach on the field, which is nice,” Hudson says. “He took the young guys under his wing, explained the drills, and explained the expectations of the team. He’s just a good kid and a hard worker who never took a shift off. He always set the example for the younger kids.”
As for the future, Soren is headed to Keene State College in New Hampshire, where he’s hoping to play Division III lacrosse. Soren would love to make a career in photography, although he will probably major in teaching. Soren thanks his parents, Steven and Cindy Frantz, along with Coach Hudson and his club coach, Seth Jacoby, for their support through the years; as well as Chris Lequire and Kelly Tonks for their help in photography.
“I’m going to Keene and I want to play lacrosse there. I really went there for the school first. I don’t have a guaranteed position on the team, but I’ve already talked to the coach,” says Soren. “I’m going in undecided, but I’ll major in film or teaching at this point. My goal is to be a photographer, but that’s a shaky thing to major in. So with the teaching, I can be a photographer, make films, and have a backup.”