As senior captain Danny Decker gets ready for his team’s last regular season game against rival Benilde-St. Margaret’s on Oct. 6, he reflects on his final year on the boys’ soccer team.

“I’ve been proud of the guys playing without me, and coming together as a team and playing more cohesively,” Decker said. “They’re starting to see the mistakes and have been changing them. A lot of guys stepped up to take spots on the field left open from unfortunate injuries.”

Decker, who said he pulled his hamstring running to clear the ball behind the defense in the final third of the Bloomington Kennedy game Sept. 13, has not let his injury affect his duties as captain.

“Against Richfield we did something different that we normally don’t do to spark a change in the way we were playing, because we were not playing well,” Decker said. “I led a meditation before the game to get everyone focused and help them visualize what they were going to do in the game. I thought it was pretty effective because we played really well starting the game which is something we normally don’t do well at.”

Sophomore Ben Klepfer said he appreciated Decker’s exercise.

“Last home game we did a mental visualization exercise that Danny Decker worked us through,” Klepfer said. “Sort of a meditation thing to keep us focused before the game, and I think that was a big help.”

According to Klepfer, the team should face the Benilde game as any other game, but with added focus.

“I feel like we need to approach it like any other game,” Klepfer said. “We’re going to have a good opponent and we need to stay focused, but obviously we’re going to have to give a little extra. Everybody wants to beat Benilde but it’s important to stay focused.”

Decker said many of the boys feel nervous about the game, as the game impacts the rest of the season.

“I know a lot of the guys, especially Ian Lockhart, feel pretty nervous about it,” Decker said. “This game is really important, because it’s the last game we play as a regular squad before sections and we want to enter the important part of the season on a high note.”

Park plays Benilde-St. Margaret’s at 5 p.m. Oct. 6 at the high school stadium.