Moving to the United States and leaving behind his family and friends was tough for new FC Tucson men’s goalkeeper Casper Mols.
But late in his freshman year in Fall 2022 at the University of Kentucky, the 6-foot-4 Dane had to give a speech and realized the Wildcats were like his new family.
“So I’m hoping that (FC Tucson) will be too, it kinda seems like it,” Mols said.
On the pitch, the goalkeeper wowed, earning first-team All-America honors.
Mols got to Tucson on Monday night; he said so far, his Old Pueblo experience has gone well, but he has to adjust to the heat.
The Men in Black feature seven college All-Americans, including a pair of NCAA Division II first-team players in Colombian midfielder Duvan Canchila (University of Charleston) and Brazilian forward Kainan Dos Santos (University of West Florida).
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New-look FC Tucson will open the season on Friday at 7 p.m. when it hosts a friendly with Guanajuato Selección XI. The Men in Black have transitioned from USL League One to League Two and amateur status.
FC Tucson goalkeeper coach Victor Verdugo said goalkeepers are extra important early in the season, and both he and FC Tucson head coach Mark Biagi said Mols got here ready to go.
“He came in great, he came in fit,” said FC Tucson goalkeepers coach Victor Verdugo of Casper Mols. “Again it’s just getting him to understand the little details of our system of play and expectation of how we’re gonna build.”
“He came in great, he came in fit,” Verdugo said. “Again it’s just getting him to understand the little details of our system of play and expectation of how we’re gonna build, how we’re gonna incorporate how Mark wants our team to play and he’s very important to understand every little detail, especially when we’re combining so many different players from different styles.”
The Aabenraa, Denmark, native had a 0.76 goals against average, 0.700 save percentage and seven clean sheets in his freshman year to earn All-American honors.
“What a great accolade,” Biagi said, “but obviously he’s well deserving of it with the performance he put out through the season and the amount of minutes he logged and the amount of saves and shutouts and all the objective data very well deserving of it. So I think it’s a massive to put on your wall and it’s really good for him and I’m really proud of him.”
The Wildcats earned the No. 1 overall NCAA seed but were upset in the third round to Pitt for their first and only loss in a 15-1-5 season.
“It was a good season, like the coaches had big words for us, it was our best season, like ever because we went undefeated in the regular season,” Mols said. “Because of all that it was still pretty disappointing to only make it to the Sweet 16.”
Before going to Kentucky, Mols made his senior debut for SC Weiche Flensburg 08 in the German fourth tier, playing with guys who had played in the German top flight, the Bundesliga. Although it was in another country, it was just 30 minutes from his home after he had to leave for academy.
“Germany was really fun, got to experience playing with a lot of guys that were in the fall of their career, like they’re 34, 35,” Mols said. “That year I got a lot of experience and helpful tips even though I didn’t play a lot, so that meant a lot to me.”
FC Tucson’s other goalkeepers are Nils Roth from Colorado State-Pueblo and Jordan Santa Cruz from the University of Memphis. Roth won a national championship at Pima College, and Santa Cruz is from Goodyear and played for Real Salt Lake-AZ’s MLS Next U18/19 Academy.
Verdugo said the goalkeepers have been great.
“Each of them puts themself in a situation to make it difficult for us as a staff to select who gets to go into goal come Friday and the rest of our matches but as a unit they’re supportive, they’re demanding, they’re competing and that’s all we can ask,” Verdugo said.
Pelé has been added to the Portuguese dictionary as an adjective following his legendary career.
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