Munster's Huard makes up for slow start

Munster's Anthony Huard is the 2008 Post-Tribune Boys Soccer Player of the Year.
(Scott M. Bort/Post-Tribune)

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MUNSTER -- His season didn't exactly begin ideally.

But he ended it in style.

But he ended it in style.

After missing the first four games with a pulled groin, Anthony Huard quickly hit his stride. By the postseason, the Munster junior was absolutely brilliant.

After missing the first four games with a pulled groin, Anthony Huard quickly hit his stride. By the postseason, the Munster junior was absolutely brilliant.

"I'm very proud of him with what he did with the season, then really taking it to another level in the postseason," Mustangs coach Jim Prasopoulos said of Huard, the 2008 Post-Tribune Boys Soccer Player of the Year.

"There's no doubt he had a great season, he did a phenomenal job. He just does things other players cannot do. The first thing you fall in love with is his speed -- it's so hard to imagine how fast he is. But it's more than that, it's deeper. He knows how to play, he understands the game, understands the situation, understands how to share the ball. He also knows when to take it upon himself to make a big play."

Huard had 13 goals and eight assists this season as the Mustangs advanced to a semistate final for the first time. He had eight goals and three assists in six postseason games, scoring at least once in all but one.

"Everything just really clicked," Huard said. "My teammates did a great job getting me the ball. It meant so much, we all just played as hard as well could."

Huard used his speed and skill to create all kinds of havoc from his left midfield spot. But he also saw time at forward, as well as some at center midfield.

And he realizes he still has aspects of his game to develop, including relying on his wicked left-footed shot a little less. "I have to get used to my right foot more," he said. "Players eventually catch on I'm going to my left. Coach has been bugging me, and I've been doing it, and it's worked. I just have to keep getting used to it."

Huard played a major role as Munster won its second regional title in program history with a 3-0 victory over Lake Central, setting up the game's first goal with a free kick then scoring two insurance goals in the final 15 minutes as LC was pushing forward. In one of the four games Huard missed, the Indians had beaten the Mustangs 2-0. In Munster's 2-1 overtime victory over West Lafayette Harrison in a semistate semifinal, Huard scored the game's first goal and his corner kick deflected off a defender in OT for the game-winner. In the semistate final against Mishawaka Marian, an eventual 3-2 loss for the Mustangs, he had scored to push their lead to 2-0.

"He might've surprised some teams," Prasopoulos said. "We preach a team concept at Munster, we always have. At times, he shared the ball when he didn't have to. At times, we had to tell him to look for his shot more. But he stepped up when he had to, and that's the mark of a good player.

"He's open to us moving him around. We've never had a situation where Anthony wasn't coachable, or open to what I had to say or what we wanted to do."

If Huard might have caught out-of-area opponents slightly off-guard, he certainly didn't against area ones.

"If he plays up top all year, he scores 30-something goals," Andrean coach Pete Reist said. "With him on the field, it's just a different ballgame. He commands two people. He killed us in the last game of the regular season (Munster's 4-3 victory over the 59ers in the de facto Northwest Crossroads Conference championship game). He ate us up.

"If you pull one kid away from Munster, one kid from any team in the region, I don't know that Munster wouldn't have been hurt the most without him."

Contact Michael Osipoff at 648-3137 or mosipoff@post-trib.com. Comment on this story at www.post-trib.com.