Lightning's forecast: More reign?

Jack Teske doesn't score many goals. In fact, the defensive-minded center midfielder had only two for the entire 2012 season.

"But one of those was maybe our biggest of the entire year," Eastview boys' soccer coach Scott Gustafson said. "He has one goal all season and then scores the game-winner in the section final to send us to the state tournament."

A year ago, the Lightning started the season 4-4-2, using an inexperienced lineup that needed time to gel. By the end of the season, it was holding the Class 2A state championship trophy.

Teske's goal is a prime example of how that transformation happened, Gustafson said.

"That's the type of scoring we had last year, the type of play we had. People just stepped up when we needed it."

It's what Eastview is hoping for again this fall. The Lightning returns only four starters from last year's squad but isn't eager to give up its reign as the state's best.

"I don't think anyone on our team would be satisfied with anything less than another state championship," senior forward Pierce Erickson said. "We did it last year with the same [circumstances], and I think we have the tools and the players to do it again."

In its first two games this season, Eastview prevailed in one-goal victories over Roseville and Cretin-Derham Hall. (The Lightning also played Lakeville North on Tuesday, after this edition went to press.)

When the Lightning enters conference play, though, it will find out how close it is to its 2012 form. The South Suburban Conference features some of the metro's best teams, none more obvious to the Eastview players than crosstown rival Apple Valley.

"Our conference is great. Every game is hard," Erickson said. "When you get to the playoffs, everything is hard. Nothing comes easy. You get used to getting every team's best effort [playing in the South Suburban]."

Erickson, fellow seniors Teske and Sam Fluegge, and goalkeepers Kyle Lamott and Sean Teske — the only returners who saw signification action during the 2012 playoff run — will be leaned on heavily in the early going this season, as the Lightning works a number of players with little to no varsity experience into the lineup.

It will take a leadership-by-committee approach to do that, Gustafson said. For the past four seasons, Gustafson has selected only one team captain. This year, it's Erickson.

"The thinking is that when you have two or three or four captains on a team, when things are going wrong on the field, everyone looks to them; everyone waits for them to turn it around," he said. "We don't want people looking around. We want our players to be able to figure things out in games and in practice. We want our leadership to be spread out."

Each player on the team only needs to find his role, Teske said.

"They have the talent. It's just about making it work."

Fluegge anchors the defense. Erickson will be counted on for scoring up top. Jack Teske is what Gustafson calls his "midfield general." Maybe he'll even score more goals this year.

"That would be awesome," he said, "but it's going to have to be all of us stepping up if we're going to win again. When we see our opportunities, we have to take them."