Defending back-to-back state champ Seven Lakes looks to sustain dominance with inexperienced roster

Having graduated 17 players from last season, Seven Lakes' bid for a third consecutive state title begins.

Having graduated 17 players from last year's historic state championship team, Seven Lakes, pictured here celebrating a goal during a scrimmage Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, in Katy,, begins its quest for a third straight state title with a lot of young, raw talent. / Photo by Ben Simiskey

KATY—Seven Lakes senior Noah Peterson heard coach Jimmy Krueger like he’d never had before during halftime Monday.

Krueger’s words bit. His pointed, animated delivery stunned.

It was a demonstrative speech that Krueger afterward wished he hadn’t wasted on a scrimmage.

“Never heard him talk like that,” said Peterson, a three-year varsity letterman and starter on the back line. “Talking about battling. He knows what we need to build us up.”

The season has yet to officially start—that comes Thursday—and Krueger has long been operating with a sense of drastic urgency, imploring his boys to get their, uh, stuff in order.

They are heeding the call.

Indeed, Monday’s match against Kingwood, a regional semifinalist last season, was just a scrimmage, but in name only. The emotions and competitive vigor implied otherwise in what could very well be a playoff preview come spring.

Seven Lakes fell behind by two goals at halftime before dramatically rallying for a 4-3 win on a penalty kick in the 38th minute.

Krueger loved the response. His players needed it.

“There’s definitely a lot of pressure,” Peterson said. “We’ve always talked about a target on our backs. This year, it feels like the target’s even bigger. Everyone wants to tear us down. They want to see us fail. We take that as motivation. We want to prove them wrong.

“We don’t need a rebuild year. We’re Seven Lakes.”

That is, they’re champions.

Last season, Seven Lakes became the first University Interscholastic League boys soccer team to win back-to-back Class 6A state titles.

The Spartans have been to the state tournament each of the last three seasons and are the first Region III boys soccer team in 33 years to three-peat as champions. They have won their district five consecutive years and are unbeaten in 54 of their last 55 games.

This 2025 version is an inexperienced team with raw potential. The Spartans graduated 17 players from last season, including dynamic phenom Kortay Koc, who opted to graduate early instead of play his senior year.

But Krueger is asking, needing, all the new faces to expedite the growth process and find their way sooner than later.

It might not be a reasonable request. But these aren’t necessarily reasonable times.

“There’s a lot of weight on their shoulders to carry the torch of what’s been done in past years,” Krueger said. “At the same time, with that, there has to be an understanding that it’s a new group, a new chapter, and they have to be able to do the dirty work and battle for one another for us to continue to have success.”

How do kids go about doing so?

“You stick to the standard,” Krueger said. “The standard has been set, and my job is to make sure these players don’t let it drop down. The whole goal is to get your team to the ceiling. And there are different ceilings and different floors for each team, but if you can get your team to its ceiling, you’re going to be successful.”

Only five returners dot this season’s roster. Peterson and junior Josh Taylor started on defense during last season’s state tournament. Sophomore midfielder/forward Kanishk Baviskar, junior goalkeeper Tomas Garcia and junior midfielder Gael Gonzalez saw quality time as reserves.

“With the past, it’s about forgetting all of it and trying to move on and start a new legacy,” said Gonzalez, who dons No. 10 as the team’s attacking midfielder. “It starts with putting in 100% hard work in everything we do to try and get another state championship.”

Seven Lakes junior midfielder Gael Gonzalez (10) will play a leading role for the defending state champion Spartans this year as one of only five returners. / Photo by Ben Simiskey

The Spartans do not have the physicality, size or experience of previous seasons. But they are dangerously quick.

This year’s team plays with more pace, more explosion. Everything has been done with speed in mind, such as Krueger moving Taylor up from the back line to take better advantage of his athleticism and quickness.

The midfield, considered the strength of the team early on, is not the most athletic, but it is scrappy and impressively technical on the ball.

And the Spartans fight. They do not run from adversity.

“We’ve had very technical players the past few years,” Peterson said. “This year, I just think we need to be the battlers.”

Krueger has a team that will push back. He saw it against a quality Kingwood side.

Now he just needs everything else to prosper organically.

“The brotherhood and family mentality my previous groups have had is irreplaceable,” Krueger said. “Building that bond, and that significance of playing for each other, is the most important thing to any successful team. The biggest thing is for them to develop that chemistry and enjoy the process of getting better week by week.”

The Spartans will have no choice but to do so. They will get each opponent’s best shot night in and night out. It’s what they’ve earned.

“It’s a bull’s-eye,” Gonzalez said. “You have to embrace it.”

Because of the considerable loss of talent, Krueger said this year’s team has a chip on its shoulder. The balance with that is to not fall back on any thought of a rebuilding campaign.

“It’s just picking up where we left off and competing every single time the lights are on,” Krueger said. “The target is on their backs. When you’re on top, everyone wants to knock us off. It’s human nature.”

OK, so no rebuild.

A reload, perhaps?

“Reloading?” Krueger pondered, taking a moment to consider. “I will accept that.”