NDC Men's Soccer and the Swedish connection
Notre Dame College Men's Soccer team members have a small text under the NDC logo on their game shirts that says: Facta Non Verba. Center Midfielder Lukas Hackaa explained what it means:
"This basically stands for our culture, which is that we do the work and just don't talk."
Hackaa told me that he moved to the United States from Sweden when he was 20 years old. "I got help from an agency in Sweden and it was them that got in contact with NDC, after that our coach (Carl Nolan) emailed me and we started taking from there. The location of the school being close to a big city and getting a good opportunity is what drew me here,"Hackaa said.
Hackaa talked about the first time that he met his teammate, and fellow Swede Filip Sparavec:
" I met Filip for the first time the beginning of my freshman year. It was at the stadium at Mueller Field. We did not know each other before that. When I saw him I noticed he had a Swedish national team soccer shirt on. We had a meeting with the coaches there, and after the meeting he came to me and we started to talk. Today we are very close friends."
Sparavec talked about the first time he met Hackaa:
"The first time I met Lukas was in the fall of 2020. Lukas and I became good friends immediately and the first thing that I noticed was that he was very serious when it came to futbol (soccer) and outside of the game he was very genuine. We did not know each other prior to NDC, I am from the South and Lukas is from the North so we did not play in the same league in Sweden."
Teammate Jordan Akins recalled the first time that he met Hackaa:
" My first encounter with Lukas was a great and funny experience. We lived across the hall from each other at Providence Hall freshman year. We also relate to lots of things in our lives even though he is from a whole different country than me."
Sparavec talked about what makes Hackaa such a great teammate:
"What makes Lukas such a great teammate is that he always wants to win and tries to push the team in training everyday and outside training to get better as a team. He makes demands of the players."
Akins agreed:
" What makes Lukas such a great teammate is he always wants the best out of people no matter what. He is always thinking about his teammates before himself. What makes him different from my other teammates is his mindset for the games that he plays in. I just feel like when he is in control of the game no one can stop him offensively and defensively."
Hackaa talked about his rituals:
" I usually go onto the field 45 minutes to an hour before our practice to work on my free kicks, shots, and technique."
He then told me that he has always been both a midfielder and a winger rotating between both positions, but recently has been playing as a center midfielder.
One area that has been really helped in his game Hackaa told me since he arrived on campus and being a center midfielder has been that he is now by his own admission in much better shape than when he arrived. This is imperative with the amount of running that is done on the field from game to game.
Hackaa is in the top half of both the MEC and all of Division II when it comes to assists. He gives the credit to his teammates for that:
" I excel at getting assists because we have the best goal scoring team in all of Division II. I would say this is thanks to my teammates who are really good at scoring goals."
Akins gave his analysis of why this is the case:
" Lukas makes sure he knows his surroundings and is scanning the pitch at all times, so he knows where everyone is before the ball even gets to his feet. Another thing is when he has the ball at his feet he is calm and does not make mistakes."
"The casual soccer fan does not know what it means to get a ball to a player's feet so Sparavec explained:
"When talking about getting a ball to a player's feet it is to save time for the player. The faster the ball gets to your teams' player, the more time the player has to make a decision. Then it is not always about getting the ball on the feet but the depth of the pass, but usually you pass the ball on the feet so that player has more time with the ball once it gets to his feet."
Akins simplified it by explaining what this means in soccer:
"What this means is making a pinpoint pass to your teammate's correct foot at a fast pace."
Hackaa told me that the biggest thing that he has learned that he did not know about college soccer is how the qualifying for the NCAA tournament works and how complicated it is. "When it comes to soccer I would say there is more attacking in the game than in Sweden. We always want to score and play forward almost all of the time, instead of having patience and slowing the game down a bit before attacking, "he said.
He told me that he thinks the biggest difference between soccer in Sweden and America is that Soccer in Sweden is more tactical and the players have better technical abilities.
Sparavec told me that Hackaa gives 100 percent in training sessions and matches. But also that he has an eye for futbol (soccer) and he also noted that his technique is very good.
The respect that NDC soccer coaches Nolan, Lewis Dunne, Tyler Wicham, and Sion Chamberlin get is very evident. Hackaa said:
" Our coaches are passionate to the sport and they always try to get the best out of their players."
Akins explained how the coaches are different:
" Our coaches are very different from many coaches in the area and throughout our conference with the tactics they do, the training sessions, and making sure we are having fun on the pitch doing what we love."
Akins told me that Hackaa is a very humorous guy. "And if you ever want to make him happy, he loves chips, "Sparavec said with a chuckle.
Hackaa told me that the one thing he learned from his mom was to be nice to other people. "My dad said the same thing but he also taught me to never let people step on me and always standup for myself,"he continued.
Hackaa started playing soccer when he was six years old, and was 11 when he started playing organized soccer. "I have a lot of friends today from my time in high school. I went to a soccer high school where we practices soccer twice a week in the morning and had lessons after that,"he explained.
Sparavec told me that he and Hackaa play well together for several reasons. "The first is that we are very close friends and understand each other. The second is that Lukas is very good at finding me in depth with his passing foot and his understanding of the game. I also find Lukas (with passes) which helps him to shoot outside the box. Both Lukas and I want to win at any cost, and that makes us push each other when we play."
Hackaa was realistic with his expectations:
" We still have a chance to win the conference tournament."
Akins added his take on the team's tournament chances:
"We are looking to go into the conference tournament and take it game by game so that we can take home a MEC trophy for the team. Making the national tournament is a goal as well. We need to believe in ourselves and keep winning games so we can qualify for both the MEC Tournament and nationals. It is important to make sure we have a positive mindset at training so that we work with pace and intensity so we are sharp come game time."
Hackaa spoke of how fun it is to play with this group:
" It is a lot of fun playing on this team, I get to spend time and compete with my friends. At the same time we are always trying to help each other get better. Sometimes we argue but that is because we want to win so badly."
Akins gave his thoughts on the team:
"The amount of fun I have playing on this team is honestly amazing. I say that because the players you train with day in and day out make it fun and enjoyable at a competitive level. No matter what they are always there for you at any cost."
Sparavec gave this final thought:
"I think we have a very good shot to make the NCAA Tournament. We had some ups and downs this season with injuries and Covid but our goal is to play in the tournament. Anything short of that is a failure."
The Falcons will start their quest to a MEC Title on Wednesday at Shoenbaum Stadium at the Welch Athletic Complex on the campus of the University of Charleston. The Falcons (9-4-2) are the third seed in the conference, while the Golden Eagles (15-1-1) are ranked fifth nationally and are seeded second. Kickoff time is set for 6 PM.
Hackaa in action.
Men's Soccer Prepares For Battle.
Another Hackaa.
Sparavec with the ball at his feet.
Akins on the pitch.
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