NMC's Bosscher to play soccer at Cornerstone

McBAIN — It turns out that Northern Michigan Christian senior soccer standout Barrett Bosscher received some excellent advice back in the fall from Athletic Director Trey Reed and jumped on it.

Reed is in his first full school year at NMC but served previously as the assistant athletic director at Cornerstone University and so was very familiar with the Golden Eagles’ soccer program and the coaching staff.

After watching Bosscher play soccer in the fall and use his educated foot to score goals time and again while helping the Comets to their best season on the pitch in 27 years, including a third straight district championship and a berth in the regional finals, Reed believed Bosscher would be an excellent fit at Cornerstone.

And it turns out Reed was right on the money.

Bosscher did contact Cornerstone assistant coach Bruce Pobocik while the fall season was still going and arranged to participate in a scrimmage for high school prospects in Grand Rapids. Bosscher admitted to feeling a little intimidated at first during the scrimmage but he quickly acclimated to the higher level of play.

Coach Pobocik took note, liked what he saw of Bosscher on the field, and followed up. Pobocik also liked what he learned subsequently about Barrett’s character and his Christian faith and his academics.

On Thursday afternoon in the NMC gym, Barrett made it official. He signed his letter-of-intent to play on the pitch for the Golden Eagles with parents Mark and Jodi by his side and with NMC coach Taylor Mulder looking on along with Coach Pobocik and Cornerstone Head Coach Steve Herdsman. Trey Reed was a happy observer as well, of course.

“It’s a great relief,” Bosscher said with a smile after the signing ceremony.

“Trey told me to check out Cornerstone because it would be a great fit for me and I’m so grateful for that. I wanted to continue to play soccer at a Christian college and when I went to Cornerstone for the prospects practice it felt very comfortable to be there. The more I talked to the coaches and learned about the school and everything they had to offer, the more excited I was about going there.”

Bosscher said his later visit to the campus solidified his decision.

“The people were great and the campus and so was the Christian atmosphere,” he said.

Pobocik is pleased to have Bosscher coming to fill a forward role for the Golden Eagles, who compete in the Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference and finished with an overall .500 record this past season.

“We definitely like his soccer skills but it goes much deeper than that,” Pobocik said. “Our three criteria are faith, academics, and athletics and Barrett was a great fit for all three. We’re thrilled to have him as part of the program.”

Bosscher honed his skills as a young man growing up in Iowa playing for a club team of 11 and 12 year olds that won a state title two years in a row.

He continued to play soccer as he was able during two years living in Paraguay where his parents served as missionaries.

After the family relocated to McBain, where Barrett’s dad Mark is from originally, part of the reason Barrett chose to attend NMC starting his sophomore year was because he could play soccer.

Coach Mulder acknowledged Thursday how much Bosscher has developed as a player during his three seasons playing for the Comets, especially the last two years as the team’s top goal-scorer.

Mulder commended Bosscher’s ability to see the field and make the players around him better.

It was Bosscher’s perfect pass to fellow forward Tucker Tossey that led to Tucker scoring the lone goal in NMC’s tense 1-0 victory over perennial rival Buckley in the district championship game in late October.

Bosscher also developed the knack for finding ways to get the ball past the opposing goalie and into the enemy net, something which happened frequently the past two seasons and hopefully will continue at the next level as Barrett competes for Cornerstone.