Senior soccer team captain Luke Stringer learned to be a leader from the guys he looked up to when he played JV. “C.H. Farmer, Alex DeCosta, Austin Forney – the guys from that group – they were all good players with good attitudes. They had fun playing together and they made me want to be a better player.”
Luke plays forward for the Wildcats and for his club team FC Dallas. He credits club coach Chas Bradley with teaching him the game. “He knows a lot about soccer, he’s been around a long time.” Luke, nicknamed “The Bean” by the team (a derivative of String Bean), says he misses the chance to watch Wildcat basketball and cheer with the Rowdies since soccer is played on the same nights, and he appreciates the fans who come out and support the team. “It’s really fun when the students come – we can hear them cheering and it gets us pumped up. (Girlfriend) Rachel (Peters) comes to all my games – we appreciate everyone who comes to cheer for us.”
Luke is the last kid in the house, since sister McCallan graduated from NYU and brother Dan graduated from Purchase College in New York State, but he’s kept company at home by Gus, his year-old 65-pound white bulldog. “Gus won ‘Best Trick’ at Bulldog Night at Unleashed dog-park for rolling over,” Luke told me. “He’s great.” Also at home, of course, are Luke’s parents, Peter and Sheridan. Sheridan, you’ll recall, was featured here on the blog in November for winning WFAA’s Eco-Educator Award.
Next year, Luke plans to major in engineering at UT or A&M, where he’s hoping to play a little intramural soccer for fun. Until then, Luke’s focus is winning soccer games and making it to the playoffs. “We have all the right people, and everybody gets along with no drama. We have several returning seniors, plus Emmet is a superstar and we’ve got some sophomores making big contributions,” said Luke. “I think we can go pretty far.”
