CHESTER, Vt. – The Green Mountain (GM) boys soccer team took home the Division III state title on Saturday, Nov. 2, when midfielder and senior Andrei Solzhenitsyn scored the team’s third and winning goal in overtime. They finished their incredible 2024 season with a record of 17-1.
Head coach Jake Walker said this year’s team was close-knit, and had become like a family, which was key to their success. “We were excited to go to practice. We had a great deal of respect for one another, and learned to trust each other,” Walker remarked. “And the players trusted [my coaching] and how I wanted to play the formations.”
Walker said his philosophy is not to be “the boss, or a drill sergeant,” but to connect with his players and form a relationship with them. “You get on them to motivate them, not by yelling and screaming, but by treating everyone equally.”
“I remember what it was like to be in high school,” Walker stated. “How did I want a coach to talk to me when I was that age? What can I say to get the best out of this athlete? You have to know your players.”
In recognition of his triumphant season, the Vermont State Coaches Association (VSCA) honored Walker as Small-School Coach of the Year, and Overall Coach of the Year.
Walker began as GM head coach in 2020, and is thrilled to bring a state championship back to his high school alma mater. He graduated in 2012, after playing the position of goalkeeper for the boys varsity soccer team. Walker’s father Scott, GM graduate, Class of 1982, also played goalie for the team, and was named Best in State that year. A soccer coach himself, Scott Walker coached his son during Jake’s junior and senior years, and now works alongside Jake as goalkeeper coach for the team. “We’re very lucky,” Jake remarked, “there are a lot of schools that don’t have the opportunity to have these specialized positions.”
Jake credits his father with instilling in him the passion he has for the game, and recalled the early mornings when he was a teenager, and they would get up at 5 a.m. to practice and spend time talking about sports and teamwork.
The Walker family and GM soccer have a long, shared history. “My grandfather was a teacher there, and my uncle was a great soccer player,” said Jake. Walker said his grandparents, now 85 and 87 years old, are team “superfans.”
Walker owns his own house-painting business, and his wife Kali is a teacher at Chester-Andover Elementary. Jake and Kali met while they were students at Keene State College, where they each played soccer.
Although Walker lettered in basketball and baseball as well, soccer was the sport that stuck. “I still play in men’s leagues,” Walker commented. “Soccer is something that was always there for me.”
Green Mountain’s 2025 soccer season begins the second week of August, and, with four graduating senior players named to the all-state team, Walker’s winning coaching strategy could bring GM back-to-back championships. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.