COLLEGE SOCCER … Evergreen’s Tyson Woodring, shown here with his parents Todd and Anna Woodring, signed a national letter of intent to further his academic and athletic career at the University of Findlay. (PHOTO PROVIDED)
By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
METAMORA – For four years Evergreen’s Tyson Woodring has been an integral piece of a team that has won 53 games, three sectional titles, a district title, and NWOAL championship and has not lost at Pifer Field in over three years.
His attitude has always been according to many, team and winning first, personal accolades second.
Thanks to that kind of mindset and those team distinctions, Woodring signed a letter of intent to take a soccer scholarship, along with his championship demeanor to the University of Findlay.
“I started off early on playing club and getting into the rhythm of playing faster pace soccer along with the experience of playing against really good players from all over the country,” Woodring explained of what it takes to take an athletes’ game to the next level.
“But really it all comes down to putting in work behind the scenes, doing extra things when that many other people don’t do. It comes down to taking the time to do what needs to be done to be better on the field.”
Woodring also talked about the process in his selection of Findlay rather than a number of Division I schools who he had been contracted by.
“My whole goal was wanting to play in college, play for four years. I have a lot of teammates from club that are either at Findlay or have picked Findlay and I went to their ID camp over the summer and that’s really how it all started. I made a lot of great connections and now it evolved to this.”
During his career with the Vikings, Woodring scored 84 goals, including 29 his junior season and 28 this past season in which the Vikings were undefeated in the league and posted an 18-2-1 record on their way to a berth in the Division III regionals.
The fleet midfielder was District Player of the Year and first team All-Ohio after being a second team All-Ohioan the previous season.
Woodring was also picked to the All-Great Lakes Region team, an honor which only some 570 players make in the entire nation.
“His teammates have developed a sense for how Tyson wants the game to flow,” Viking coach Dave Skoczyn said of Woodring. “His soccer IQ is very high and he manages our speed of play depending on the match.”
“Tyson is also a calming force for our team. When we aren’t playing at our best, he is the first one to get the boys together and relay what needs to change.”
“We have regular meetings with our coaching staff and captains and Tyson generally has already watched our opponent and set up a plan how to be successful in that match.”
Woodring, who is a 3.93 student in college prep and honors classes, also said that Findlay had what he wanted in the academic sense as well.
At Evergreen, he is also the President of SADD, an elementary school mentor and a member of the National Honor Society.