Two months ago Stuart Aeschliman didn’t know there was a high school All-American soccer game.
West Salem senior Stuart Aeschliman was named the MVP of the High School All-American game.
Then he became the MVP of it.
The West Salem High School senior made his first trip to the East Coast a memorable one as he was named the West team’s MVP after scoring two goals in the final 17 minutes of the Dec. 3 match in the High School All-American Game at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh, North Carolina.
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“It was surreal, for sure,” said Aeschliman, the Gatorade Oregon player of the year as a junior. “It kind of happened so fast I just heard about it and it happened, and played in the game, MVP, game over and it kind of took a while to process.
“Looking back now, it was a cool thing. It was awesome.”
Aeschliman came into the game as a four-time first-team all-league player for West Salem and two-time first-team all-state player.
But where many of the players competing in the game knew each other, Aeschliman knew no one on the team – he later figured out he had played against one player – before he showed up for the game.
The night before the All-American game, though, he and the rest of the players went to North Carolina’s 1-0 win against Providence College in the Elite Eight game of the NCAA tournament.
“It was fun,” Aeschliman said. “We went to the game because it was like 20 minutes away.”
He didn’t start the All-American match, but came in with a shift change of players 22 minutes into the match, then did the same thing in the second half.
West Salem senior Stuart Aeschliman plays in the High School All-American game.
But when he came into the match in the second half, the East team led 4-2.
“I was like, great, we’re going to lose this game,” Aeschliman said. “I wasn’t expecting to score or anything because I didn’t get the ball much in the first half so I didn’t think they were going to pass it to me.
“A couple opportunities came my way. I was kind of surprised, myself. We ended up tying the game.”
For sparking the West team’s rally to a 4-4 draw with the East, he was named the team’s MVP for the game.
Previous to going to North Carolina for the game along with his father, Jeff – West Salem head coach Eddy Soboll and assistant coach Salvador Gutierrez also flew to attend the game – the farthest east Aeschliman had ever been was Goshen College.
He’s about to spend a lot more time there.
Aeschliman has committed to play in soccer in college at Goshen on the same team as his brother, Spencer, a sophomore midfielder, and cousin Oliver Wisseman, a junior goalkeeper.
“I’m going to Goshen with him as of a week ago,” Aeschliman said. “I kind of made it final. I decided not to play D1, bunch of reasons. I don’t want to put all my time in soccer.
“Had interest from D1 schools and probably the top one was University of Portland. They offered me. I just decided I’d fit in at Goshen. I know people, know the area. I decided to take it.”
bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com or Twitter.com/bpoehler
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West Salem senior Stuart Aeschliman goes through pre-game warmups for the High School All-American game.