Adam Cloe spent more than three years on Carmel’s varsity boys soccer team, but if he had his way, it probably wouldn’t have been that many.
After his sophomore season, Cloe faced a decision many of the state’s best high school players must make — whether to play club soccer or stick with his high school team. The Pioneer Press Player of the Year tried out for club teams, and he said he really wanted to play club year round.
“A lot of my club coaches would pressure me, saying, like, ‘You’re not going to play Division I if you play high school soccer — that’s garbage soccer, and you know it,’ ” said Cloe, a Drake commit who lives in Wadsworth.
Cloe wanted to play club soccer, but his parents had other ideas. Cloe said one reason his parents, Bryan and Margaret Cloe, insisted he continue playing at Carmel was to help mold his leadership ability.
Their intuition was on target, and Adam Cloe was a captain and the Corsairs’ best player this season. The midfielder led Carmel with 21 goals and 13 assists, and he helped the Corsairs turn their season around.
Carmel lost to St. Viator 8-0 on Sept. 10, but ended the regular season on a seven-game unbeaten streak. Carmel, the No. 14 seed in the Class 3A Mundelein Sectional, then stunned St. Viator with a 3-1 victory in a Carmel Regional semifinal. Adam Cloe scored what turned out to be the winning goal.
Carmel went on to beat Fremd 1-0 for the Carmel Regional title. It was the program’s first regional championship during Cloe’s high school career. The Corsairs fell to Buffalo Grove in a sectional semifinal.
“I felt like I’ve really left a mark on Carmel soccer,” Adam Cloe said. “Turning the season around, that’s a story you’ll remember forever — beating Viator after they smacked us. That’s a heck of a story to tell.”
