By Lucas Sullivan for the Springfield Sun

For 11 days, North’s Nick Candia was a member of the Columbus Crew. The Columbus Crew International soccer team, that is.

After several tryouts and evaluations last year, Candia, a junior forward for the Panthers, found out he made the team and flew into London on July 23 with dozens of other teenagers from around the country to compete against 400 other teams from 20 different countries.

“It was unbelievable,” said Candia, whose father Ramon coaches the North boys team. “It was so much fun. Hands down the best trip I’ve ever taken.”

It was an elimination format, with Crew International making it to the semifinals before losing to the Celtic Juniors of Ireland. The loss wasn’t that hard to take for Candia. He was too busy trying to soak up the whole experience.

“Soccer is unbelievable there,” said Candia, of London. “Manchester United (ManU) is the team there. Everyone is a soccer fan. Grandmas and grandpas even like soccer. You can even have your ashes buried on the ManU field.”

Candia, who started three of the team’s seven games at midfield, and his teammates got to do some sight seeing. But all he remembers is the atmosphere around the game, something that doesn’t exist in the United States.

“When you die, they give your family the ticket to the ManU games it’s that serious,” Candia said. “Every game over there is like the Super Bowl.”

The trip was amazing for Candia, but it’s back to reality now.

“The experience was great because it gave me more respect for the game,” he said. “I definitely look at soccer differently and I have told my teammates about it.”

The Panthers (0-2) are sort of an international team themselves.

Ramon is from Paraguay, while goalkeeper Jose Campos is from Mexico, along with Antonio Vasquez.

“We lost 13 seniors from last year’s team, so that was basically our starting lineup,” Nick said. “We have some good players. It is going to take some time.”

Coach Candia can win

But if anyone can get the Panthers winning again, it’s head coach Ramon Candia.

A former News-Sun Coach of the Year, Candia played professionally while in Paraguay before blowing out his knee. He was the Panthers’ coach back in the late 1990s before leaving to focus on his family.

“I was actually going to go play for Catholic Central,” son Nick said. “But North needed a coach and he told me he was going to coach and I would rather play for my dad than anybody.”

Ramon has the tools, but said he realizes it may take some time to rebuild.

“It’s going to be a struggle,” he said at the start the season. “We are going to work hard to be competitive. That’s all we can hope for.”

Stat leaders
There were a limited amount of schools that reported statistics this week, but here are some early leaders: Greeneview’s Ryan Hartman and Graham’s Jordan Current lead the boys in goals with eight. For the girls, Graham’s Jill Muffley has nine.

Graham’s Scott Persinger leads in assists with five, while Shawnee’s Kara Gregory paces the girls with five.

Hot start
Greeneview has gotten off to a 3-0 start, thanks in large part to a stellar defense that includes goalkeepers Martin Ellis and Andrew Frye. The Rams have not allowed a goal in their three contests and Ryan Hartman is leading the area in goals with eight.

Tecumseh is also 2-0 thanks to solid play from Noah Mehaffie (two goals) and goalkeeper Ricardo Fiscal, who has allowed one goal in two games.

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