Athlete of the Week – Ryan Anderson, Byron Boys Soccer

BYRON, Minn. (KTTC) - The puzzle is finally coming together for the Byron Bears.

It took some time, but Head Coach Dave Bahr always knew they had the right pieces.

“I envisioned it when they were ninth graders that this group was pretty good and to actually make it happen was phenomenal,” Head Coach Dave Bahr said.

What he might not have known was that one piece just needed to be turned to the left for the perfect fit.

After three years on varsity as a backup fullback, Senior Ryan Anderson made the change to goalkeeper.

“There was also an opening and I knew that in order to really fight for that starting spot I was going to have to try something new and ended up loving it. With that passion came a lot of determination to get better and provide the goalkeeper this team needs,” Ryan Anderson said.

In his first full year at the position, it was Anderson’s penalty kick save that punched Byron’s ticket to its first state tournament in school history.

“I shot right up to the ground had my hands in the air and ran to the rest of my team and we jumped. It was instantly just relief.” Anderson said.

It was proof that all the all the hard work was for something.

“At first I did not see myself being in the starting goalie spot, leading our team to state, but as the season went on that reality became a lot more clear with every win since that 0-3-1 start we had.”

Now he’s a state bound starting goalie.

“This is all Ryan, this is kind of a story of how a lot of players should approach the sport their in. If they’re not going to make it where they’re playing, they got to be versatile and transform themselves,” Bahr said.

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