By Evan Sandel
The Scene staff
The Lady Archers will begin soccer season without accomplished Head Coach Juergen Huettner for the first time since in six years.
He’s taking over the Blue Storm women’s soccer program at Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville this fall, and several St. Louis Community College players are going with him.
“I live here in Belleville,” said Huettner, 51. “That’s why I made the transition. I’m pretty good friends with the athletic director (Jay Harrington) at SWIC, so that may have had a little bit of an impact. But mostly, it was the convenience factor.”
Huettner led the Archers to a District XVI championship the last two seasons and the Forest Park Highlanders to the championship in 2009, before the college merged campus sports teams in 2011. He was twice named district coach of the year.
Before STLCC, Huettner also had significant success coaching boys’ and girls’ Crusaders soccer at Althoff Catholic High School in Belleville. He led the girls to an undefeated season and state championship in 2010, when ESPN ranked the team third in the nation.
Huettner’s departure prompted six Lady Archers, including five sophomore soccer players and one new recruit, as well as Assistant Coach Alex McDonald, to follow him to SWIC.
“He’s not only a coach,” said Joann Miskovic, 20, a defensive back who is transferring to SWIC to study biology and play for the Blue Storm. “… He’s willing to help us players out if we need it, as if we were his own daughters.
“We all know we could turn to him if we ever needed anything, and he will do anything and everything in his power to help us out.”
These sentiments were echoed by former STLCC student Taylor Tosovsky, 19, a center midfielder who’s transferring to SWIC.
“Not only on the field is he a great coach, but off the field, he’s like a second dad to me,” she said. “I couldn’t be more thankful to have him as a coach.”
Huettner will be replaced by Erin Hesselbach, 32, who spent the last four years as head coach at Incarnate Word Academy in St. Louis. She competed against Huettner’s Crusaders at the high school level.
“I’ve only heard good things about her, and I think she’s very competitive,” Huettner said. “She was herself a good soccer player. She’s pretty hungry, which is what I’ve seen from her coaching at Incarnate Word.”
Hesselbach played for Indiana University from 2000 to 2004 and was named a member of the Academic All Big Ten for student-athlete excellence.
Before coaching at Incarnate Word, she served as an assistant coach at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
“For the most part, we’re starting from scratch (at STLCC), which is great,” Hesselbach said. “I get to build the program, and I’m excited to start developing the players I’ll be coaching for the next two years.”
Unlike Miskovic and Tosovsky, Archers second-year defenseman Hannah Wisnewski decided to stay at STLCC and play for Hesselbach.
“I think she’s great,” said Wisnewski, 20, a general transfer student on the Meramec campus. “… She has a passion for the game, incredible knowledge and hard work ethic. It makes me very excited for the upcoming season.”
STLCC Athletic Director Sharon Marquardt recognizes that the loss of Huettner is significant but is encouraged by the Hesselbach hire.
“She brings college-level experience from Indiana University that I believe will be a great bonus to our program,” Marquardt said. “… She’s young. She’s energetic. She’s enthusiastic about bringing players in.
“She’s just a well-rounded coach that we feel will help us replace the coach that we just lost in coach Huettner. Those are some pretty big shoes to fill, and I think she’s heading in the direction that will help us fill those shoes.”
The college considered other candidates for the coaching job, but Marquardt declined to identify them. She acknowledged that an attempt was made to retain Huettner.
“When I talked to Coach Huettner, the question was asked, ‘What do you need to stay? Is there something that I can do to help you stay?’” Marquardt said.
“The decision that he made was a personal decision, and there’s nothing that STLCC could have done to keep him here. I support his decision, and I wish him well in his program at SWIC.”
Looking back on his time with the Lady Archers, Huettner has fond memories.
“Two years ago, we won the last game of the season to qualify for nationals, in Heartland, a minor league baseball stadium,” he said. “That was a great feeling. I thought it was neat, seeing all the kids we recruited that year celebrating.”