Nicholas Mahrle '20 Recruiting Profile

I didn’t really take up soccer until 8^th grade, but since that time, I've worked extremely hard and earned various awards.  I had been a field player until my club coach recognized qualities he felt were a good fit for a goalkeeper.  From that point on, I started at the keeper position and have never looked back.

I was actively playing on our local travel team but felt the need to compete at a higher level. I tried out for the Louisiana Fire Red team and played 2 years as their keeper. This is the elite team in Louisiana and it was a terrific experience. The level of play was much stronger and it allowed me to grow and improve significantly. I now know what they mean when they say you need to play with and against top competition in order to improve. I do not live near the practice facilities, so I needed to travel 2 hours round trip, 3 days a week, in order to attend practices. This was often challenging, as I attended the premier academic high school in my hometown, but I was dedicated to expanding and improving my game.

In the off season, I worked on a weekly basis with a goalkeeper coach named Danny Free. Coach Free was a 4 year starting keeper at Appalachian State and is now head soccer coach at Nicholls State University in Louisiana. His technical training as well as his advice on how to mentally approach the game were a great help in my development. I feel my strengths are my positioning and ability to play the angles, my instincts, reflexes, aggressive approach to keeping, strong leg, vocal leadership and mental toughness.

My greatest experiences to date were receiving the Most Outstanding Player Award at the State Championship Game for the 2017/2018 season and helping my team to the state semi-finals in the 2018/2019 season and state finals in the 2019/2020 season, also, being selected to first team All-State for my junior and senior years and being selected as a Louisiana High School All-Star player.  Perhaps my proudest accomplishments are my GAA (0.49) and Save % (97.2) in my senior year.

 To be even further involved in the game, I received training and passed the assessment tests to become a registered soccer official in Louisiana. I have also attended college ID camps and assisted with youth soccer training camps run by my high school during the summer. I enjoy being around the sport and staying active in it any way I can. I envision always serving in some capacity---coaching, training, or playing ---to advance the game of soccer.