The Muhlenberg Weekly

Issue date: 9/13/07 Section: Sports

Jonny Kliewer is more than your average senior varsity athlete. His teammates will do more than bid him a fair adieu when he is finished with his final season, they will do more than congratulate him on his accomplishments, and they will do more than hand him a plaque at the end-of-season barbeque.

Instead, they will all remember him for his tenacity, capability, and domination of the soccer field, for while other athletes are being rewarded for their points per season, Jonny is being rewarded for other things.

"I guess sometimes you get rewarded for your work on the field - not scoring the most goals or having the most assists, but for having a big presence," said teammate, junior Greg Leischner. "Jonny is a defender who also attacks for us…he is extremely dangerous when he goes on offense, and other teams have a really hard time stopping him. He is also one of our best defenders. It will be really hard to replace a player like him."

In recent years, Jonny has secured all-Conference honors for his success on the Muhlenberg Men's Soccer Team, and also received Defensive Player of the Year in his high school conference during both his junior and senior years. Additionally in high school, he was named an all-conference player and won two state championships with his club team.

"Jonny is one of our more talented players on the team," commented head coach Sean Topping. "He is very good at attacking from the back and creates a lot of problems for the opposing teams. He is a tenacious player that has a little bite to him, and he likes to get down and tackle. We have moved him to the back to give us a little more experience back there. I think he is one of the best backs in the Conference."

Perhaps most laudable is that he has started in every single game since he began at the 'Berg his freshman year. "This is one statistic that I am extremely proud of," commented Kliewer.

Before competing at the collegiate level, the talented midfielder-slash-defender played soccer for many years on various teams. "I started playing soccer…I want to say, at least 15 years ago, and I have loved it since day one," he recollects. "I played for Ephrata High School and won three letters, and started all of my games from sophomore through senior year and played for club teams since I was ten. I played for Leeds United premier team, which was based out of Lancaster, since I was thirteen. For six years, we played all over the world; we played in Dallas, Florida, and Virginia and overseas in Scotland and England in different tournaments."

Continued...

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