Mitchell Leap ’12, a health and physical education major, followed in the footsteps of his parents, Bill ’86 and Renee Kreider Leap ’85, and attended 91短视频 after a successful soccer career at Eastern Mennonite School in Harrisonburg, a city he 鈥渁lways liked.鈥� His mother has worked in 91短视频鈥檚 financial aid office since 1986. 鈥淚鈥檇 been around 91短视频 all my life, and I thought it would be a good place to continue my education and play soccer.鈥� 

During his four years as a forward under head men鈥檚 soccer coach Roger Mast, Leap was a two-time All-ODAC First Team honoree, earning the distinction in 2009 and 2011, and made the Second Team in 2008. He received VaSID All-State First Team honors in 2011 and VaSID All-State Second Team honors in 2008 and 2009. One of the most prolific scorers in 91短视频 men鈥檚 soccer history, Leap ranks fourth all-time in the Royals鈥� record book for career goals (35) and fifth for total points (80).

Leap looks back fondly on the tight-knit campus community at 91短视频. 鈥淭here鈥檚 value in attending a place where you feel like you know everybody and everybody knows you.鈥� His connection to 91短视频 Men鈥檚 Soccer continued after graduation: his brother, Parker Leap ’16, also played forward for the Royals, and his cousin, Justin Carey MBA ’21, has served as head coach since 2022. 

Today, Leap lives in Lynchburg, Virginia, with his wife of nine years, Amber, and their three children鈥擱ory (6), Rhema (3), and Mesa (1). He works in full-time ministry with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, serving as area representative for the City of Lynchburg and Amherst County. 

Leap will be honored at a ceremony on Saturday, Oct. 11, at 10 a.m. in the MainStage Theater (University Commons 170) during Homecoming 2025. For a full schedule of Homecoming events and activities, visit emu.edu/homecoming.

presented the awards, which are based on academic achievement, athletic contribution, Christian commitment, leadership, campus involvement and service, as the culmination of the evening.

Richter, a major with a 3.64 GPA, was a four-year pitcher for the baseball team and plans to work in a sales or marketing position.聽 He was consistently on the Old Dominion Athletic Conference All-Academic Team and 91短视频鈥檚 Dean鈥檚 List.聽 Besides baseball, his campus life was filled with leadership on , 91短视频 Royals Society and the .聽 He also volunteered at numerous places off campus.

鈥淵ou are not an athlete just when you鈥檙e in season 鈥� you鈥檙e an athlete year round,鈥� Richter explained in how he balanced his demanding schedule at 91短视频.聽 鈥淏aseball provided me with the discipline I needed to enjoy a busy, but incredibly rewarding college career.鈥�

Young, a captain with the women鈥檚 basketball team, was also on the Dean鈥檚 List and ODAC All-Academic Team, holding a 3.71 GPA with a major in and minor in .聽 She was a four-year member of Royals Society, helping with prospective students, as well as being a member of the .聽 Young was also a youth leader at her church and volunteered with a local food bank and the fall back-to-school backpack drive.

鈥淏eing a student-athlete has taught me to be mentally and physically strong in seemingly impossible situations,鈥� said Young, who suffered a long-lasting shoulder injury her freshman season.聽 鈥淕od used basketball as the framework that I could grow in my relationship with Him, share my talents with others, and now go on to pursue a career in physical therapy.鈥�

The Athletic Department staff also voted for Athlete of the Year winners.聽 Mitchell Leap (Harrisonburg, VA/Eastern Mennonite) claimed the men鈥檚 honor with Bianca Ygarza (Conestoga, PA/Penn Manor) taking the women鈥檚.

Leap led the men鈥檚 soccer team in scoring for the fourth straight season, netting ten goals, which was also third-best in the conference.聽 He had five game-winning goals and was named All-ODAC First Team.聽 Leap graduates fourth in 91短视频 history with 35 career goals and fifth with 80 career points.聽 Ygarza was a dynamic presence as a power forward for the basketball women, earning a spot on the All-ODAC First Team as a sophomore.聽 She led 91短视频 with 14.5 points and 7.3 rebounds per game and was second in the ODAC in field goal percentage and free throws.

Also at the banquet, Newcomer of the Year Awards were given to Jenessa Derstine (Harleysville, PA/Christopher Dock) in field hockey and Justin Rodriguez (Miramar, FL/Pace) in baseball.

Derstine, an attacker for the Lady Royals, led the team with 29 points this year.聽 She scored ten goals and assisted on nine others.聽 Her speed helped ignite 91短视频鈥檚 offense and landed her on the All-ODAC Third Team.聽 Rodriguez batted .374 with 28 runs and team highs of four homeruns and 41 RBIs.聽 His RBI total was third in the ODAC during the regular season and the third baseman was named All-ODAC Second Team.

As part of the dinner and banquet, four seniors gave short reflections on their time playing a sport at Eastern Mennonite: Valerie Landis (Quakertown, PA/Quakertown) from field hockey, Justin King (Lititz, PA/Warwick) from baseball, Pete Nelson (Harrisonburg, VA/Christopher Dock) from track and cross country, and Brent Yoder (Sarasota, FL/Sarasota Christian) from soccer.

King uniquely talked about playing four years of a collegiate sport even though the experience was not living up to the ideas he had beforehand.

鈥淚 have learned a lesson I would have not chosen to learn on my own, because it was painful,鈥� said King.聽 鈥淭hrough the ups and downs, the wins and losses, I have had to rely on God as my source of hope and strength when I was weak, discouraged, or overwhelmed.聽 The Apostle Paul says it best in 2 Corinthians 12:8-9, 鈥楾hree times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.聽 But he said to me, 鈥楳y grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.鈥欌�欌��

Landis was the lone senior on the field hockey team this fall and stepped into a leadership role which was not natural to her.聽 She said that will help her as she leaves college.

鈥淚 recognize that I am going to be a new member of a completely different team after graduation,鈥� Landis explained. 聽鈥淲hat I have learned over the past four years is that I can鈥檛 let my age or lack of experience hinder me from being responsible or taking initiative. 聽God has granted each of us the experience of being part of a team and it is my hope that we are able to leave this community as an athlete and a graduate and apply those interpersonal skills learned on either the court or field and apply them in the next stage of life, appropriately and meaningfully.鈥�

Dr. Ronald Stoltzfus, Faculty Athletic Representative, and Dr. Nancy Heisey, Undergraduate Academic Dean, presented the Academic Achievement Awards to each team鈥檚 individual with the highest GPA.聽 Those awards went to: Richter and Brad Billings (Selinsgrove, PA/Selinsgrove) in baseball, Jennifer Blankenship (Bassett, VA/Bassett) in women鈥檚 basketball, Owen Longacre (Telford, PA/Christopher Dock) in men鈥檚 basketball, Nels Akerson (Harrisonburg, VA/Eastern Mennonite) in men鈥檚 cross country, Alli Eanes (Harrisonburg, VA/Westmont Hilltop) in women鈥檚 cross country and track, Jenna Longenecker (Lancaster, PA/Conestoga Valley) in field hockey, Bryce Shank (Harrisonburg, VA/Eastern Mennonite) in men鈥檚 soccer, Erica Detweiler (Hickory, NC/Fred T. Foard) in women鈥檚 soccer, Aaron Sloan (Ooltewah, TN/McCallie School) in men鈥檚 track, and Kendall Garber (Lancaster, PA/Lancaster Mennonite) in men鈥檚 volleyball.

The evening included a special mention of , a senior student worker with the athletic events staff, who had passed away from cancer just a week prior to the banquet.

Forward (Harrisonburg, VA/Eastern Mennonite) earns his first All-State First Team award after being named to the Second Team in both 2008 and 2009.聽 The senior scored 10 goals this fall, which was third-best in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, and had 23 total points, tied for second in the ODAC.聽 He had five game-winning goals during the regular season, which led the league. 聽Leap leaves the 91短视频 program fourth in Career Goals with 35 and fifth in Career Points with 80.

Fellow senior (Harrisonburg, VA/Eastern Mennonite) dominated the midfield to earn his All-State First Team nod.聽 Chico had three goals and one assist.聽 He also scored the game-winner in a 1-0 victory over Virginia Wesleyan, which was the men’s first win over the powerful Marlins since the 1998 ODAC Championship Game.

(Harrisonburg, VA/Eastern Mennonite) was named First Team as a defender.聽 The junior was a key ball-controller in the back line and routinely beat opposing forwards to long passes before pushing the ball up on offense.

All three players were also named All-ODAC First Team earlier this fall.

In 2009, 91短视频 put two men on the All-State First Team.聽 In 2008, four Royals were honored by the VaSID, with all of them on the Second Team.

The Royals tied with Roanoke for the best ODAC record during the regular season and also tied the program mark for most ODAC wins in a season with seven.聽 They were upset in the conference semifinals by Lynchburg, 2-1.

Christopher Newport University swept the top player awards with the release of the 2011 College Division Men’s Soccer All-State Team, as voted on by the Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID). Senior forward Brian Lybert earned the Player of the Year honor for the second straight year and his teammate Jalon Brown was voted Rookie of the Year. Voted the State Coach of the Year was Randolph College’s Bryan Waggoner, who led the WildCats to the round of 16 in the NCAA Division III tournament.

Lybert, the 2011 USA South Player of the Year, led the Captains to a 17-1-1 record and a No. 1 national ranking in the polls during the regular season for the third straight year. Lybert finished his career at CNU as the program’s all-time leader in assists. This past season he ranked third in the nation in assists per game and sixth in the nation in total assists with 13.

Brown started every game for the Captains in his first season and earned first-team USA South honors. He scored 11 points during the season on four goals and three assists.

Waggoner led the WildCats to an 18-5 overall record and the college’s first-ever NCAA tournament appearance in any sport.聽 Randolph advanced to the NCAA round of 16 in just the fifth year of the program’s existence.

Christopher Newport led the voting with seven picks on the All-State team, including four First-Team choices. Eastern Mennonite, Hampden-Sydney and Randolph College placed three players each on the All-State team. Lybert and Hampden-Sydney’s Nick DeProspero were repeat selections on the First Team.

COACH OF THE YEAR, Bryan Waggoner, Randolph
PLAYER OF THE YEAR 鈥� Brian Lybert, Christopher Newport
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR 鈥� Jalon Brown, Christopher Newport

FIRST TEAM
F 鈥� Brian Lybert, Christopher Newport聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽
F 鈥� Corey Sindle, Randolph
F –聽 Mitchell Leap, Eastern Mennonite
M 鈥� Jalon Brown, Christopher Newport聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽
M 鈥� Nick DeProspero, Hampden-Sydney聽聽聽聽聽聽聽
M 鈥� Drew Claytor, Roanoke
M 鈥� Kevin Chico, Eastern Mennonite
D 鈥� Sean Moriarity, Christopher Newport
D 鈥� Ryan Eshleman, Eastern Mennonite
D 鈥� Curran Blackwell, Hampden-Sydney聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽
GK 鈥� Justin Wolfe, Christopher Newport

SECOND TEAM
F 鈥� Winston Mattheisen, Christopher Newport
F 鈥� Brian White, Roanoke
F 鈥� Josh Smith, Southern Virginia
F 鈥� Bryan Wharton, Hampden-Sydney
M 鈥� Nick Cornell, Randolph
M 鈥� Kevin Gorman, Bridgewater
M 鈥� Brian Sims, Mary Washington
M 鈥� Steven Farmer, Christopher Newport
D 鈥� Josh Thrower, Averett
D 鈥� Basil Richter, Washington and Lee
D 鈥� Will Wolf, Randolph
D 鈥� David Hass, Christopher Newport
GK 鈥� Michael Releford, Lynchburg
(tie in voting for final forward and defender spot)

Daryl Bert, vice president for finance, opened chapel by praising the tireless efforts of Bruce Emmerson, food services director for Pioneer Catering, which operates 52 kitchens nationwide.聽 Emmerson, who was named Pioneer鈥檚 “rookie of the year,” in 2007 and “director of the year,” in 2011, has continuously improved the quality of services that are offered to the students, faculty, staff and visitors of 91短视频, said Bert.

“I have appreciated how seriously Bruce takes feedback from our community by personally, wittily and publicly responding to feedback cards in the cafeteria,” said Bert. “I am always amazed at how quickly Bruce implements themes from the survey forms into the food service experience in the cafeteria…

鈥淚 believe this attention to quality is validated by the large number of faculty and staff that join students in the cafeteria for lunch on a daily basis.”

Byron Peachey, associate campus pastor, said: “Anytime I’ve needed to work with Bruce or Ramona [Lantz] with special catering needs or events, they are adaptable and easy to work with, willing to take on special events such as the Late Night Breakfast鈥� The food is always consistently delicious and varied.”

91短视频 routinely hosts outside groups, conferences and youth camps over the summer which adds to Emmerson’s schedule. LeDayne McLeese Polaski, program coordinator for the Baptist Peace Fellowship also praised the work of Emmerson and Matthew Hunsberger, Lehman Auditorium facility technician, in a written statement to Bert.

After stating that her Fellowship puts 91短视频 at the top of the list, Polaski added: “I would be remiss if I did not mention the excellent work of Matt Hunsberger and Bruce Emmerson… They are true professionals who go above and beyond the call of duty to provide excellent service.”

Below is a list of students who were honored at the chapel ceremony for academics, athletics and community service.

Fall Season

Men鈥檚 Cross Country:

Dan Nafziger:聽ODAC Athlete of the Week (Sept. 1-5), All-ODAC Second Team, All-South/Southeast Region First Team, NCAA National Championships participant

Field Hockey:

Nicole Bencsik: All-ODAC Second Team

Jenessa Derstine: All-ODAC Third Team

Valerie Landis: ODAC All-Tournament Team, All-ODAC First Team

Adriana Santiago: ODAC All-Tournament Team, All-ODAC First Team

Men鈥檚 Soccer:

Barkot Akalu: All-ODAC Third Team

Kevin Chico: ODAC All-Tournament Team, All-ODAC First Team

Ryan Eshleman: ODAC All-Tournament Team, CoSIDA Capital One Academic All-District Team, All-ODAC First Team

Mitchell Leap:聽ODAC Player of the Week (Sept. 19-25), ODAC Player of the Week (Oct. 3-9), ODAC Player of the Week (Oct. 24-30), All-ODAC First Team

Brent Yoder:聽聽聽 All-ODAC Third Team

Women鈥檚 Cross Country:

Katie Eckman: All-ODAC Second Team

Women鈥檚 Volleyball:

Tabitha Bowman: CUA Guetle All-Invitational Team

Brittany Childress: 91短视频 Hampton Inn & Sleep Inn All-Invitational Team

Winter Season

Men鈥檚 Basketball:

Owen Longacre: Marymount Tip-Off Tournament All-Tournament Team

Women鈥檚 Basketball:

Raiven Patterson: 91短视频 Tip-Off Classic Most Outstanding Player

Kala Yoders: All-91短视频 Tip-Off Classic Team

Intensive English Program

Fanty Polanco

Maria Pena

Jihoo Park

Academic Support Center-Tutors

Stacy Kinkaid

Haleigh Hershberger

Lyubov Slashcheva

Kennedy Center/American College Theater Festival nominations

Elizabeth Gannaway

Julia King

Justin Rittenhouse (alternate)

Jamie Hiner (stage manager)

Pastoral Assistant Recognition

Mitchell Stutzman 鈥� 1.5 years as pastoral assistant

Nursing Department Outstanding Service Award

Rebekah [last name omitted on request]

Student Government Association

Hannah Patterson, Senator

Joel Choi, Senator

Louise Babikow, Senator

Brittney Wenger, Senator

Katrina Goering, Senator

Daniel Sigmans, Treasurer

Nels 脜kerson, c0-President

The senior was involved in both game-winning goals last week as the Royals took over first place in the ODAC standings.聽 In Wednesday’s dramatic win over Hampden-Sydney, Leap assisted on ‘s (Ashburn, VA/Stone Bridge) game-winning goal in the 69^th minute.

Then on Saturday, Leap scored the game-winner in the 77^th minute on a breakaway shot from the 18.

He is tied for second in the ODAC with eight goals and is second with 18 points.聽 Leap also tops the league with five game-winning goals.聽 The forward is on top of all three categories in ODAC-only games.

With the goal at Guilford, Leap took over sole possession of fourth place on 91短视频’s Career Goals list at 33, ahead of Jeff Shank (1990-93).聽 His 75 career points has him fifth on that list, behind Shank’s 86.

Eastern Mennonite grabbed first place in the ODAC standings last week with wins over Hampden-Sydney and Guilford.聽 The Royals, 5-1, have as many wins in ODAC play as they have had since going 7-1-1 in 1998, which is the last time they won the conference tourney.

The men, now 7-6-1 overall, are off until they host Virginia Wesleyan Saturday night as part of 91短视频’s Homecoming.

The game was light on shots in the opening minutes as the teams established the flow of play.聽 Starting in the 14^th minute, the Royals started to take over and fired five shots in the span of four minutes.聽 (Mt. Jackson, VA/Stonewall Jackson) put a pair on goal and the men had a few looks sail wide off breakaways.

After play evened out, Hampden-Sydney struck first in the 36^th minute.聽聽Chris Whiteside聽sent a long pass ahead to Tiger teammate James Lawrence.聽 As 91短视频’s defense stuttered and hoped for an offsides call, Lawrence punched in the shot for a 1-0 lead.

The Royals nearly got an equalizer in the closing seconds of the half, as (Lancaster, PA/Lancaster Mennonite) zipped a shot past HSC’s keeper, but it sailed inches wide of the goal.

After a quiet start to the second half, (Addis Abeba, Ethiopia/Lycee Guebre Mariam) triggered an explosion in the 67^th minute.聽 The speedy forward made a move at the top of the box and fired a shot which went through the keepers hands and tied the score.

Less than two minutes later, the Royals took the lead.聽 With a mess of players in the box, (Harrisonburg, VA/Eastern Mennonite) shot a loose ball which (Ashburn, VA/Stone Bridge) deflected into the net with his heel.

With 22 minutes still to go, 91短视频 had some time to hold off the Tigers.聽 The defensive line did well to bend and then send back long clears, while the offense dribbled off the clock.聽 A hustling (Vienna, VA/James Madison) nearly scored in the final minute, but the men settled for the 2-1 win.

Eastern Mennonite had a 22-12 edge in shots, including 10-4 on goal.聽 (Virginia Beach, VA/Kempsville) played all 90 minutes in goal and collected three saves.

The Royals improve to 6-6-1 with the win.聽 More importantly, they tightened their grip on second place in the ODAC standings with a 4-1 mark.聽 Next up is a date at Guilford this Friday, which is 2-2 in the league after a win 2-0 win over Virginia Wesleyan Tuesday.

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91短视频 sophomore forward Mitchell Leap heads a ball during practice Monday in Park View. Photo by Nikki Fox

Mitchell Leap isn’t ashamed of it, no matter how much grief his friends or 91短视频 soccer teammates give him. Leap is proud to be an unabashed fan of Real Madrid winger Cristiano Ronaldo.

Where teenage girls have posters of the Jonas Brothers on their walls, Leap has a poster of Ronaldo on his.

Leap has not one, but two Ronaldo jerseys, he watches all of the Portuguese player’s games on television (and records the ones he can’t watch live), and uses Ronaldo highlights to pump himself up before games.

“He has some of the fastest feet in the world; watch his stopovers,” Leap said in awe Monday after practice. “He can shoot right- and left-footed, he’s so fast. He hardly has a weakness in his game.”

While the 5-foot-10, 150-pound Leap, obviously, isn’t as flawless as his pin-up hero, the sophomore’s numbers for the Royals this season have been Ronaldo-esque: In 13 games, Leap has scored nine of 91短视频’s 16 goals and assisted on two others. He was named Old Dominion Athletic Conference Player of the Week after scoring twice and assisting on two goals last week. (See Leap’s roster page)

“One thing I’ve been doing well is taking advantage of the chances that I do get,” Leap said. “I’m getting more opportunities. I don’t know if it’s anything I’m doing or getting better balls from my teammates, I’m just finding myself in better places to score.”

Royals coach Roger Mast has been particularly impressed with the forward’s “competitive nature.” Leap said that losses – even ties – simply put him in a bad mood, and when he’s in that mood, he plays with ramped-up aggression, tackling more often and taking out his frustration on opponents.

Monday at practice, the Royals were broken into two teams for a competitive drill. Leap’s team lost the exhibition, but before the team regrouped for the next drill, the Harrisonburg native and former Eastern Mennonite High School standout shouted, “Best out of three?”

Mast obliged, calling for a rematch, and Leap’s team, at last, came away victorious.

Except from Leap, the Royals’ offense has not produced points this season, resulting in a 3-5-5 overall record and 1-2-2 mark in ODAC play. With one offensive power source so much more efficient than the rest – Leap has had his foot in on 69 percent of 91短视频’s goals – the team’s strategy has become clearer.

“We want to get the ball into his feet as much as we can,” sophomore forward Muoka Musau said. “If we can get the ball into him as much as we can, that’s probably our best chance. Our offense doesn’t generate as many shots that we’d like, but day in and day out, he’s producing and capitalizing. He makes the most of what he gets.”

As a freshman last year, Leap had nine goals, and he will likely surpass that number in the Royals’ five remaining regular-season games. Senior captain Jared Troyer said teams underestimated Leap in 2008, allowing him to have success, while this year, teams are keying on him, and he’s still producing.

“Some freshmen, it’s too easy for them the first year, they don’t work as hard; they assume it’s going to be easy their next year,” Mast said. “Mitchell has been pretty motivated to not just make it a one-year impact, but wanting to get consistently better and better.”

Leap’s offseason training regimen consisted of flipping tractor-tires, swinging sledgehammers and sprinting while holding sandbags, all under the watch of assistant coach Mike Martin.

Nagging injuries that he suffered last year have not popped up this season. “I feel like, going into the second half of the season, I’m much stronger,” Leap said.

To develop creativity with the ball, Leap plays in a 3-on-3 turf league with friends and often fools around on blacktop to increase his feel for the ball.

Anything to get closer to Ronaldo’s level.

“I watch clips of him over and over just to figure out exactly what he did,” Leap said with a smile. “Before practice I try out new moves. Basically just watch whatever he does and come out and try to do that.”

So far, not a bad effort.

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Mitchell Leap used to plan his goal-scoring celebrations back when he was at Eastern Mennonite High School. He’d combine dances from rap-music videos and poses he’d learned from his idol, Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, a star for Manchester United of the English Premier League.

Mitchell Leap

Considering that Leap amassed 26 goals in 22 games as a senior with the Flames, he could always count on another score to celebrate.

College soccer, the 91短视频 freshman figured, wouldn’t be anywhere near as easy, so planning celebrations seemed like a pointless idea.

"Usually in high school, I would expect to have plenty of chances and hopefully finish," Leap said after practice Monday. "Here, I’m not expecting to go in and score every game, so I’m more surprised when I score, so I don’t really know what to do."

That might soon change.

Leap, a backup forward, has four goals in his first six games with the Royals, ranking second behind fellow former EMHS star Junior Kamandua, who has five. He also has two assists, which puts him second to Kamandua in total points with 10. See Leap’s roster…

His contributions are a big reason why 91短视频 is 6-0 for the first time in school history and why they’ve outscored opponents 17-2. Those victory and goal numbers have already surpassed the Royals’ totals from last season, when they finished 4-10-2 and were outscored 31-15.

"It’s so huge to have the depth that we have, to have a guy as talented as him coming in off the bench," senior goalie Jackson Maust said of Leap.

So why is a player who scores this much coming in off the bench? In part because no one – not even Leap – expected the freshman to make this much of an impact this quickly.

Leap’s phenomenal senior season, in which he led the Flames to the VISAA state title, was quite visible to the Royals, considering that most of it happened just down the hill from where they practice. 91短视频 coach Roger Mast, who played baseball with Leap’s father in college, saw more than enough to know he could contribute for the Royals, but he figured Leap’s 5-foot-10, 145-pound frame would need some work before it was truly ready for the much more physical game of college soccer.

"I’m not sure if I anticipated him getting off to a start like he’s gotten off too," Mast said. "… I wasn’t sure physically how he’d adjust to this."

Said Maust: "I watched a lot of his games at EMHS. He scored a lot at that level and I wasn’t sure why. He’s not a huge big and strong guy."

Leap figured he’d have to get bigger to excel in college, so he worked over the summer to put on about five pounds of muscle with hopes of adding another 10 next year. Even after the addition, his expectations were still modest.

"Coming into the season, we always do preseason goals," Leap said. "My goal was to get five goals for the season."

He’s almost there already, because his skills have made up for his size.

Teammates marvel at his ability to put himself in the right place at the right time, finding holes in defenses that make for clean looks at the goal. He’s used his entry from the bench as an advantage, studying defenders from the sidelines, then using his fresher legs to outrun them.

"He just makes great runs off of the ball," Kamandua said. "Obviously, he can be at the right place at the right times, but it also takes knowing what you’re doing. I definitely think Mitch makes a lot of good runs, which is why he’s open a lot of the time and at the right time. He’s able to finish it, too, which is also a plus."

Said Maust: "For his age, he’s got a great eye for getting into the right spaces and being available, plus making good passes. … I was really impressed with his lack of hesitance, just going in and being ready to hit the ball when he had an open chance. That’s going to be very valuable."

And it might get him drawing up celebrations again.