GREENFIELD — The voting spoke volumes.
Even without a full season this year, the name Abe Buescher held substantial weight once the tallies were compiled during Indiana Soccer Coaches Association’s District 3 selection process.
And, it led to another ISCA All-State distinction for the Greenfield-Central senior goalkeeper, a year after being tabbed second team all-state as a junior.
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“A kid who only essentially plays a third of a season, and in a season that we really didn’t play as well as we’ve had the past few and had hoped to do, and he was the highest vote-getter as a goalkeeper,” Greenfield-Central coach Matt McConnell said.
“To put that in perspective, the kid from Plainfield (Kolton Crouch) had only let in three goals all regular season. And they play a killer schedule, and one of them was to us. He was second team. Abe on reputation, he was the top vote-getter in the district.”
The respect for his game led to a 2020 all-state honorable mention for Buescher and as voted upon by the area coaches, netted the standout the award of 2020 All-Hancock County Boys Soccer Player of the Year.
“Anytime somebody watches him play and know how goalkeepers should play; he’s just a textbook goalkeeper,” McConnell said. “He’s so good. So athletic and so smart.”
Once again an All-Hoosier Heritage Conference selection, Buescher owns two career school records in total shutouts (22) and for goals allowed average, which is a minuscule 0.99 per game.
For good measure, he tied the single-season record for shutouts as a junior with 10, and if not for an unfortunate illness to start the 2020 campaign, he might have challenged for that mark once again.
Out through the Cougars’ (5-8-1) first nine games, Buescher was diagnosed with mononucleosis during the preseason, and despite hoping to get back sooner, he was forced to sit out until mid-September.
“It was definitely tough having to sit back the first half of the season and just watching the team because there was so much I wanted to contribute on the field and not just off of it,” Buechser said. “Being able to only to do half of what I was wanting to contribute was hard.”
Yet, despite not being able to assist his team on the field or statistically at first, Buescher shared what he had learned from Cougars coach Bobby Holden, coach and former Cougars star keeper Colin Kleckner, his youth coach and mentor Dean Suddarth and club coach Dan Kapsalis.
The direct beneficiary was senior Ben Polster, a hockey goalie for the Westfield club team, who filled in for Buescher in what unexpectedly became a role reversal.
“Not enough good can be said for the kid that played for him when he was out. They’re both seniors and have been such an asset to the team, and Ben stepped right in and played what we felt was really good,” McConnell said.
Polster kept the Cougars competitive until Buescher was cleared to return as the defending HHC champions battled to tie for runner-up placement this season.
While not exactly the vantage point Buescher wanted initially, he made the most of it as he bided his time.
“Ben did an amazing job for the whole beginning of the year. He really stepped up and was really one of those guys that we were looking at, and he really hit that,” Buescher said. “He was always in training, asking questions and I was always trying to help him and give him the best answers I could and tips and get him ready for the starting role.”
Buescher held the role all four years of his high school career, which emphasizes the significance of his goals allowed average, especially when considering the Cougars’ run of four straight sectional championships from 2016-19 — three of which he played a part.
“That command and leadership is really good with Abe. He’s not one to yell at you, but he’ll get after you if he needs to because he’s all about everyone around him getting better. And, that’s the hallmark. That’s the difference between a good goalkeeper and a great goalkeeper, especially at this age,” McConnell said. “A player like Abe just makes everyone around him better.”
Once he resumed activity, Buescher had some rust to shake off, but he immediately lived up to his name with 50 saves, six goals allowed and a crucial penalty-kick shootout win, 4-3, against Yorktown on Sept. 23 to seize the HHC’s traveling Bell trophy.
It was only his second game back, and second straight shootout challenge after the team lost to eventual HHC champion Shelbyville, 4-3, on Sept. 21.
“His first game back against Shelbyville, I think he’d even tell you, we thought he was kind of rusty, and he had some plays he would normally make and he couldn’t yet. That game, of course, went to a shootout, and he had a little bit of a rough time,” McConnell said.
“Yorktown, too, went to a shootout, and Abe just cleaned house in that shootout. He really did well. He was a little rusty, but he definitely knocked that rust off pretty quick.”
His ability to get back up to speed so rapidly was partly because of the extra work he added to his regimen after practice, his coaches providing additional reps and his past.
First picking up the game as a recreational youth player, Buescher started with FC Strikers Academy and moved up to USF Real and eventually learned from Suddarth, a Greenfield graduate and club coach, as a sixth grader.
“I think that’s where things started taking off and I was actually starting to fall in love with the game,” Buescher said. “It’s one of those things where coach Suddarth, you could see his passion for it, and you could take it for yourself. Seeing that and how much he was invested in it and his players made you love it even more.”
Buescher says the same about Holden and Kleckner, who set the single-season shutout record at Greenfield before heading off to IUPUI.
Their influence and advice over the years steered him to high-level club soccer through Indiana Impact Soccer Club and ultimately Indy Phoenix FC.
“Coach Holden has been my coach since U14. I had him as my club coach. Coach Holden and coach Kleckner they worked with me all the time. Always inviting me to work with the older keepers and getting me good reps where I could jump in my freshman year and perform with those starters,” Buescher said. “I think they all had an instrumental part in how my game was played.”
His game echoed his reputation as a stonewall.
It also gave him the opportunity to compete with his friends on varsity for four seasons, while establishing a string of postseason dominance that came to an end against rival Mt. Vernon in the sectional, 1-0, on Oct. 5 despite a valiant effort.
“Granted, it did come to an end, but it was always going to end eventually. But, it was nice seeing everyone working hard and fighting until the end,” Buescher said.
“The team these past years, we always looked at (sectional) and it kind of became a tradition almost. It was kind of one of those things when we were younger, we were all playing with each other and seeing all of that progress all just payoff was amazing. Being able to play in those big-time games with really good players in the regional and sectional finals was something that I won’t ever forget. It was really cool.”
He intends to build more memories at the collegiate level. Undecided at the moment, Buescher is considering several options with a focus on majoring in business and accounting.
However, he won’t ever ignore his roots or the impact he was able to make for the Cougars.
“As a kid you dream about going out and playing all four years varsity. I think the team we had all four years is really kind of how I was able to reach what I was because you look at the back line and midfield, they stopped so much,” Buescher said.
“I think the tradition that we built up is something a lot of the G-C soccer future is going to look at and even maybe take some of the things we did when we were younger and going up into high school and implementing that. Maybe someday there will be a team that even surpasses what we were able to do.”
With 52 wins for the program over the past four seasons and 250 goals scored for the team, it won’t be an easy task for the future Cougars.
And neither will be the intangibles players such as Buescher brought daily.
“The great thing about Abe is he plays just as well with his feet as he does with his hands, so he’s like another field player, so it was a big boost for our team,” McConnell said. “When he started training when he came back, it was a big lift. That was probably the biggest thing. When he was sick, he couldn’t even train. He had to stay out, but when you put him back into practice, he instantly brought the level up with him.”
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Aden Cappelletti, Mt. Vernon
Taylor Lorsung, Mt. Vernon
Noah Whitehouse, Mt. Vernon
Zach Johnson, Mt. Vernon
Brady Nichols, Mt. Vernon
Jackson Findley, Greenfield-Central
Abe Buescher, Greenfield-Central
John Halvorsen, Greenfield-Central
Carson Jones, Greenfield-Central
Derek Owen, Greenfield-Central
Garrett Canova, New Palestine
Colby Sharp, New Palestine
Honorable Mentions: New Palestine — Elliott Canova, Blake Bobrow, Ethan Windham. Greenfield-Central — Bryce Kinnaman, Logan Masters, Drew Davidson, Benjamin Polster. Mt. Vernon — Brennan La Belle, Jordan Small, Tyler Webb, Jaden Price.
Coach of the Year: Matt Mayhew, Mt. Vernon
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