Forest Hills Northern’s ‘scary dude’ named Michigan’s Mr. Soccer - MLive.com

Forest Hills Northern’s ‘scary dude’ named Michigan’s Mr. Soccer - MLive.com

Forest Hills Northern soccer coach Dan Siminski didn’t mince words when describing senior center back Aidan O’Connor.

“He’s 6-foot-4, 200 pounds of pure muscle. He is just a scary dude to go up against,” Siminski said.

That’s scary, as in scary good.

O’Connor was named Michigan Gatorade Player of the Year last season, and this fall, he helped the Huskies earn their first state championship.

Add Michigan Mr. Soccer honors to O’Connor’s list of achievements, and he’s going to be honored Saturday during the annual Michigan Intercollegiate High School Soccer Coaches Association’s All-State/Hall of Fame Banquet in Lansing.

“Aidan has been such a boss here for a long time,” Siminski said. “The last couple of years, our defense gave up nine goals back-to-back years. I did some stats, and we played 4,040 minutes of soccer the last two years, and we only trailed for 38 minutes total combined.

“Aidan is the leader on the d-line, and he is universally known as kind of a black hole for offenses. Every time he is on the field, teams tend to go away from him for a reason. He is a major reason why we have had this success. He built a resume and worked his way up from a freshman varsity player all the way here. It is well deserved.”

FHN defeated Melvindale 2-0 in the Nov. 2 Division 2 state championship game in Novi. O’Connor scored the game’s first goal with 10:53 remaining in the first half on a penalty kick for his 12th goal of the season.

The Huskies finished the season 23-0-1, and the title was especially sweet after FHN came so close in the past. FHN was runner-up in 2015 and again in 2018, losing in the state finals a year ago in a shootout.

“He is kind of a quiet kid and he leads by example,” Siminski said. “Last summer, in particular after losing in the state finals on penalty kicks, everybody was heartbroken – what are we going to do different and how are we going to take the next step? He was one of the kids who really pushed the group into off-season conditioning.

“He and the other captains were running up and down the stairs with the kids at the stadium all summer to get them into shape and get them ready. I think all of that made a difference coming in. They were amped up from day one, they were not just coasting until the playoffs. They were focused and definitely took charge of that with the other captains. I’m very proud of them for that.”

O’Connor has one more high school game to play. He and Unity Christian’s Kadin Shadin have been selected to play for the West Team in the Dec. 7 High School All-American Game in Orlando, Fla.

Siminski said O’Connor didn’t strike him as a potential Mr. Soccer candidate when he arrived on FHN’s campus his freshman season. Hard work paid off, though.

“We did not see that coming,” Siminski said. “He was a really good athlete. We have had a history of good center backs. We saw potential, but we didn’t think he was going to develop this way. His sophomore year, he started getting after it physically, getting in shape and working hard. He started opening our eyes and we started saying he is in a different trajectory. Last year we really saw it."

O’Connor is undecided over where he wants to attend college.

2019-11-12 12:00:00Z
https://www.mlive.com/highschoolsports/2019/11/forest-hills-northerns-scary-dude-named-michigans-mr-soccer.html

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