Good luck to the 2018 Varsity Boys Soccer Team on this years season. Parents, to keep up to date with our game schedule and field locations, please refer to ciacsports.com. Please be advised that starting this season, home teams will be wearing their dark colored uniforms and white uniforms will now be designated as the away team. For any more assistance, you can contact Coach Smith at 860.695.7304 or at [email protected]
Congratulations to a our 2017 Soccer Team on the significant improvements made during this, our 1st season joining the NCCC. Although the record may not have shown it, the strides our team made from pre-season camp to the final game were astonishing. We have raised our level of play to a new height and the future looks bright for our program. With only 2 seniors graduating, The Phoenix are primed to make some noise in the NCCC in the coming years!
Asmir Klempic Leaving His Mark At HMTCA
HMTCA Senior Helps His Team Back To State Tourney
HMTCA senior midfielder Asmir Klempic has led his team back to the Class S tournament for the third straight year. He is looking to help get his team their first state tournament victory. Klempic continues a proud tradition of Bosnian players leading the way for HMTCA.HMTCA senior midfielder Asmir Klempic has led his team back to the Class S tournament for the third straight year. He is looking to help get his team their first state tournament victory. Klempic continues a proud tradition of Bosnian players leading the way for HMTCA.
Matthew ConyersContact Reporter
HMTCA boys soccer senior Asmir Klempic is well-known to opposing teams in the Capital Region Athletic League.
"He's doubled and tripled team every time we go out there," HMTCA coach Jason Smith said Friday. "Everybody in our league knows about him."
The extra attention hasn't slowed Klempic.
Klempic, who moved from forward to midfielder at the start of the season, has helped lead the Hartford school back to the Class S Tournament for the third straight year, scoring 30 goals this fall.
HMTCA, which stands for Hartford Magnet Trinity College Academy, is trying to become the first CRAL team to win a state tournament game. It lost to Cromwell 7-0 in the first round last year and 6-0 to Windsor Locks in 2014. This fall, HMTCA (12-4-1) set a school record for wins.
"We've haven't represented ourselves really well [the last three years], we've gotten blown out," Smith said. "For me, I want us to represent ourselves well. I think we're ready to represent our league and ourselves well."
HMTCA won the regular season league title and defeated Aerospace 8-1 on Monday night. The school hosts Aerospace Wednesday at 2 p.m. in the CRAL championship.
"The way the senior leadership has mixed in with the underclassmen has made it a really special group," Smith said. "The chemistry has come together really well."
Klempic is the latest player born in Bosnia-Herzegovina to lead the way for HMTCA. Since becoming a varsity program, the team has turned to Klempic, Azem Handzic and Dzenan Mujic to get the job done and set an example.
"There's been that lineage," Smith said. "[Klempic, Handzic and Mujic] were the foundation. It is not even just their soccer skill, which is clearly the best on the team. But it is their personalities and the guys that they are. They're good students, they're well-liked by everybody. They've just been great kids to be around."
Klempic, who moved to Connecticut when he was 3, is proud to follow in the footsteps of the graduated Mujic and Handzic. He brings in traditional Bosnian food and tries to keep the connection strong.
"Being known as the Bosnian player, I want to set the standard high," Klempic said.
At HMTCA, the Bosnian connection is part of the program. A few year ago, Klempic and his teammates did a Bosnian chant before their games as a form of good luck.
"I just appreciate the effort they come with all the time and the love for soccer because it is infectious among the team," Smith said.
When Klempic started playing for the academy's middle school team, the high school didn't have a varsity program. But as Klempic has grown, so has the team, going from six wins in the first varsity season in 2014 to top of the league standings.
"I remember [Klempic] as the small, tiny little eighth grader, where if the wind blew strong it was going to knock him off the ball, but every year he's grown stronger, his skill level and ability level has increased," Smith said.
Before coaching the high school team, Smith won a middle school championship with Klempic playing forward as an eighth grader. A year later, Klempic scored 10 goals as a freshman as the team played a junior varsity season. It moved to varsity the next season and Klempic stepped up his game again. He has 64 goals in three years, a school record.
"With all of the records, the goals, the assists, he's been the best soccer player here," Smith said. "I'm not really sure who the next person up is who can possibly meet the standard he has set out on the soccer field. He's the total package."
In Klempic's final season, HMTCA has looked to a new set of players to carry on what Klempic and the other Bosnians have previously established.
"We've got a bunch of freshman that are pretty good at soccer," Klempic said. "I try to help them out myself. Any skills I have, I try to teach them. I try to help them out any way I can."
The leadership role to the freshmen isn't the only change for Klempic. At the start of the season, Klempic, who played forward the last three years, switched to a central midfielder role to help his team find new ways to score. He has 14 assists this season."He's always had the leader in him," Smith said. "Even when you talk about the Bosnian kids that were here that were older than him, he always had something about him. He didn't defer to them. He always felt his skill was right there with them. He's always had the skill in him to be the leader."
HMTCA Senior Helps His Team Back To State Tourney
HMTCA senior midfielder Asmir Klempic has led his team back to the Class S tournament for the third straight year. He is looking to help get his team their first state tournament victory. Klempic continues a proud tradition of Bosnian players leading the way for HMTCA.HMTCA senior midfielder Asmir Klempic has led his team back to the Class S tournament for the third straight year. He is looking to help get his team their first state tournament victory. Klempic continues a proud tradition of Bosnian players leading the way for HMTCA.
Matthew ConyersContact Reporter
HMTCA boys soccer senior Asmir Klempic is well-known to opposing teams in the Capital Region Athletic League.
"He's doubled and tripled team every time we go out there," HMTCA coach Jason Smith said Friday. "Everybody in our league knows about him."
The extra attention hasn't slowed Klempic.
Klempic, who moved from forward to midfielder at the start of the season, has helped lead the Hartford school back to the Class S Tournament for the third straight year, scoring 30 goals this fall.
HMTCA, which stands for Hartford Magnet Trinity College Academy, is trying to become the first CRAL team to win a state tournament game. It lost to Cromwell 7-0 in the first round last year and 6-0 to Windsor Locks in 2014. This fall, HMTCA (12-4-1) set a school record for wins.
"We've haven't represented ourselves really well [the last three years], we've gotten blown out," Smith said. "For me, I want us to represent ourselves well. I think we're ready to represent our league and ourselves well."
HMTCA won the regular season league title and defeated Aerospace 8-1 on Monday night. The school hosts Aerospace Wednesday at 2 p.m. in the CRAL championship.
"The way the senior leadership has mixed in with the underclassmen has made it a really special group," Smith said. "The chemistry has come together really well."
Klempic is the latest player born in Bosnia-Herzegovina to lead the way for HMTCA. Since becoming a varsity program, the team has turned to Klempic, Azem Handzic and Dzenan Mujic to get the job done and set an example.
"There's been that lineage," Smith said. "[Klempic, Handzic and Mujic] were the foundation. It is not even just their soccer skill, which is clearly the best on the team. But it is their personalities and the guys that they are. They're good students, they're well-liked by everybody. They've just been great kids to be around."
Klempic, who moved to Connecticut when he was 3, is proud to follow in the footsteps of the graduated Mujic and Handzic. He brings in traditional Bosnian food and tries to keep the connection strong.
"Being known as the Bosnian player, I want to set the standard high," Klempic said.
At HMTCA, the Bosnian connection is part of the program. A few year ago, Klempic and his teammates did a Bosnian chant before their games as a form of good luck.
"I just appreciate the effort they come with all the time and the love for soccer because it is infectious among the team," Smith said.
When Klempic started playing for the academy's middle school team, the high school didn't have a varsity program. But as Klempic has grown, so has the team, going from six wins in the first varsity season in 2014 to top of the league standings.
"I remember [Klempic] as the small, tiny little eighth grader, where if the wind blew strong it was going to knock him off the ball, but every year he's grown stronger, his skill level and ability level has increased," Smith said.
Before coaching the high school team, Smith won a middle school championship with Klempic playing forward as an eighth grader. A year later, Klempic scored 10 goals as a freshman as the team played a junior varsity season. It moved to varsity the next season and Klempic stepped up his game again. He has 64 goals in three years, a school record.
"With all of the records, the goals, the assists, he's been the best soccer player here," Smith said. "I'm not really sure who the next person up is who can possibly meet the standard he has set out on the soccer field. He's the total package."
In Klempic's final season, HMTCA has looked to a new set of players to carry on what Klempic and the other Bosnians have previously established.
"We've got a bunch of freshman that are pretty good at soccer," Klempic said. "I try to help them out myself. Any skills I have, I try to teach them. I try to help them out any way I can."
The leadership role to the freshmen isn't the only change for Klempic. At the start of the season, Klempic, who played forward the last three years, switched to a central midfielder role to help his team find new ways to score. He has 14 assists this season."He's always had the leader in him," Smith said. "Even when you talk about the Bosnian kids that were here that were older than him, he always had something about him. He didn't defer to them. He always felt his skill was right there with them. He's always had the skill in him to be the leader."