It seems as though all the school is able to talk about is soccer. Both the boys and girls’ teams have had an immense amount of success this season, with the boys even making it to the state tournament. While it is obvious that this success is due to a team effort, a lot could not have been done without junior Sam Dokken. Dokken typically plays forward for the school team, but is a versatile player and can adjust to any position, as he plays defense for his travel team. Dokken has scored many goals for the team, leading to victories over highly ranked teams, like rival Washington-Lee, but he manages to stay modest and give credit to the team as a whole, proving his dedication to the sport and the team.

Q: When did you first start playing soccer?

A: I’ve played soccer for as long as I can remember, most likely starting at age 4.

Q: How does the Yorktown team differ from travel soccer?

A: Travel is much more intense while high school is more fun and relaxing.

Q: What has been your favorite moment of the season?

A: My favorite moment of the season was beating Washington-Lee in the conference tournament.

Q: What have you learned throughout the season?

A: Throughout the season I have learned that our team gets better every game we play together because we play so well as a team.

Q: What have you had to overcome to become a better player?

A: To become a better player I have had to overcome a lot. This includes many injuries as well as the time commitment.

Q: How do you get pumped up for games?

A: I have to listen to my playlist on Spotify before every game to get really pumped up for our games.

Q: What is in store for the team in the future?

A: In the future, I hope that our team is able to stick it out for two more games and win the state championship, which I hope will be against Washington-Lee.

Q: The team has been extremely successful this year… What do you think helped contribute to this?

A: The team has been successful because we play as a team. By this I mean we do not lean on one or two really good players in order to win every game.

Q: How do you balance soccer and school?

A: Balancing soccer and school is very difficult, but I have been playing for so long that I have gotten accustomed to working on school work late at night if necessary.

Q: Do you plan on playing soccer after high school?

A: I hope to play soccer after high school because I feel like that would be a great experience to be on a collegiate soccer team and it would get me really involved in the school.