Montrose High School’s varsity boy’s soccer season ended with an overall record of 7-9 after a loss in the first round of postseason play on October 28 in Denver. The boys fell short of their team goal to become league champions but did get to play one postseason game.

For three players, Adriel Huizar Martinez, Iker Ayesta, and Adriel Encarnacion, October 28 was their last game playing for MHS. Senior caption Adriel Encarnacion has loved his previous years of playing soccer and hopes to continue.

Encarnacion fell in love with the sport at a young age when he started playing soccer at 5 years old with the Montrose Rec Center. When Adriel was 10 years old his former soccer coach, Matt Imus, recommended the Avalanche soccer club. After playing for a few years with Avalanche he began playing for the Fire Club team, a motor competitive team out of Grand Junction.

Encarnacion has had many great memories with the Avalanche soccer club and is grateful for the experience which has helped him improve in the sport.

“When I was younger I played center back so my best friend and I at the time would never get scored on and we were just an amazing dynamic duo and I will never forget that,” Encarnacion said.

Encarnacion’s favorite memories with the Montrose High School soccer team have been his freshman year when he scored the last minute game winner from half field against ridgeway, his sophomore year and junior year he loved being part of both teams that won the Southwestern League Title, and this year his favorite memory was scoring the game winning goal against Eagle Valley in double overtime.

During Encarnacion’s soccer career he has looked up to many professional soccer players including Erling Braut Haaland, Robert Lewendowski, and Sergio Aguero because of their skills and playing style which Encarnacion hopes to accomplish.

“Adriel is a funny dude, he was fun to play with. He’s my brother! He has always been quick and for some reason only scored important goals and never simple goals haha,” former teammate, Diego Vargas, said.

“Adriel is great, he always keeps things positive. He’s a great example of a true teammate, you can always count on him giving 100% effort at all times. It’s been an honor to play with him for the last three years,” junior Quincy Cooling said.

After High school Encarnacion plans to try out for either California State in Los Angeles or Marshall University, he doesn’t plan to make the team his freshman year so he plans to redshirt his first two years just for the opportunity to practice with the schools and hopes to break into the teams his junior and senior year.