kirick@mavs.coloradomesa.edu

CMU men’s soccer’s starting goalkeeper Micah Conrads has had to learn a lot about balance this year. Conrads has played 11 games and over 900 minutes on the field this season while still attending school, involving himself in the Army Reserves and planning his wedding.

Conrads is a junior pursuing a degree in Criminal Justice with a minor in Environmental Science. However, he did not start playing soccer until his second year at CMU last fall. Because college athletes have four years of eligibility to play, he is now considered a red-shirt sophomore in soccer.

When it comes to planning out his day, soccer takes the front seat in many ways, “with practices almost every day and lots of time traveling,” Conrads said. For example, he shared that this past week, the team returned from one game Sunday only to turn around and leave Tuesday night. They were back by Wednesday evening, spending a few hours at home before heading out Thursday to play a couple of games. They returned Sunday after winning both.

“I miss a lot of classes,” Conrads said. “But the teachers are really good about working with student athletes.”

There are times, Conrads said, that he has to miss practices to catch up on homework, but this doesn’t seem to have affected his play. Conrads has only let nine goals past this season, more than making up for it with 30 saves, which gives him an overall save percentage of .769.

When not playing soccer or studying, Conrads is focusing on an exciting event in his personal life: a wedding at the end of the month.

“Thankfully my fiancé is doing an awesome job of planning,” Conrads said. “But when I’m free, I’m taking dancing lessons and pre-marital counseling.”

Conrads also is involved in the Army Reserves. This takes up one weekend a month and two weeks out of his summer, but, as he says, it “adds another fun aspect to life.” He enlisted three years ago and now works in advanced individual training as a heavy equipment operator. Conrads has six years left in the program and “could be called up to be deployed at any time.”

Conrads did have to give up a few things in order to keep up with everything else. He shared that his social life is “kind of spontaneous,” but hopes things will settle back down as the soccer season ends.

“The biggest thing I do is try to prioritize what needs to be done first and what can wait so I don’t get too stressed,” Conrads said when asked how he balances his time and energy.

So far, it has seemed to work. Conrads has so far succeeded in each activity this semester and is looking forward to what lies ahead, including a game against Colorado School of Mines on Friday.