Last week, A.J. Trobek, a member of Hubbard’s soccer team, signed his letter of intent to attend Lake Erie College and continue his soccer career with the Storm.

Trobek ended his Hubbard career with 77 goals, the record holder for most goals in a career and was a four-year letterwinner with the Eagles. Now he has his sights set on Painesville, where he’ll spend the next four years with Lake Erie.

“I’m obviously honored and really happy to be joining such a great upcoming program not only for soccer, but for the academic side as well,” Trobek said. “There were like three or four schools that I considered, but Lake Erie was always my top choice.”

There were plenty of factors that brought Trobek to this decision. Location being one of the primary reasons.

“I like that it’s not too far from home,” he said. “They’re a great team. I wanted to be a part of what I believe is the best team in the area. The coaching staff is great and I want to be a veterinarian one day, and they have a great program for that.”

The recruiting process for soccer is a lot more involved, according to Trobek. While in other sports there is still contact between coaches and recruits, college soccer coaches want more interaction between themselves and their recruits.

“In other sports, you have coaches kind of watch high school games and when you go on your visits, you’ll talk to them and that’s really about it,” Trobek said. “For college soccer, it’s a little bit different. You have to go to ID camps to these colleges. You have to stay in constant contact with them all year. You have to go on multiple visits and you have to play club soccer as well as high school soccer.”

Lake Erie’s coaching staff puts winning above all, giving Trobek the chance to see starting minutes as soon as next season. Being a staple in the lineup as a freshman is his goal.

“They have a winning mentality,” Trobek said. “They don’t care if you’re a senior or a freshman. If they think that you’re going to make a positive impact on the team they’re going to let you play. That’s my goal this season. I want to make the first team and I’m going to work my hardest to get there.”

The Eagles saw their season end in a sectional bracket final to Ursuline in a 2-1 loss, Trobek ending his senior campaign with 35 goals. In Trobek’s eyes, it still feels like yesterday that he first laced his boots up and stepped on the field for the first time in the silver and blue.

“This season felt like it was gone in the blink of an eye,” Trobek said. “It hasn’t really settled in yet. Four years went by so quick. I was injured my freshman year, and my junior and senior years just flew by.”

As to what the Storm is getting with Trobek, he says they can expect someone who is going to lay it all on the line.

“Hard work and commitment,” he said. “I’m going to try my hardest no matter what and I think they’re getting a hard worker.”