Lorain County Leviathan holds soccer tryouts

VALLEY VIEW — With a name, coach and home field already in place, the Lorain County Leviathan is now working on piecing together its 2026 roster. The Leviathan took the first step Sunday when it held open tryouts at CAPS Fieldhouse for players looking to be a part of the team's inaugural season in the USL2. Over 70 players, nearly a quarter of whom have ties to Lorain County, took to the field in hopes of catching the eye of coach Blake New and his staff. "I've said before sometimes when your dream becomes reality it's hard to know where you are in the process," Leviathan chairman Andrew McDonnell said. "Look at some of the other tryouts that were in the region over the past week, we have about three times the turnout." Among the local players hoping to earn a spot on the team was Avon resident Dakota Jonke. Jonke, who played high school soccer at St. Edward, where he was also a member of the Eagles 2021 state championship football team, has previous USL2 experience as well as collegiate experience at Cornell and Duquesne universities. Jonke is hoping to play his summer soccer close to home next year before he heads to Syracuse University for his senior year. "I would say this team coming into this part of Ohio is very exciting and extremely helpful for the next generation of college athletes that will be coming through the system," Jonke said. "It's very big for the local community. They already have baseball at Crushers stadium, so to be able to add soccer is very exciting." McDonnell said he expects the Leviathan to add around a half-dozen players to its 25-man roster from Sunday's tryout with collegiate players from outside the area and international players expected to fill the rest of the team. "We want a majority of the roster to be from Lorain County and the surrounding area. If we get all 25 players to be Lorain County-based in some form or fashion, that would be the ideal way to go," McDonnell said. "But we're also focused on giving the citizens of Lorain County a winning team, so it's just a matter of balancing those goals." The man making those final roster decisions will be Leviathan coach Blake New. New, a North Olmsted native, has coached at Oberlin College for 30 years, including the last 26 as head coach of the Yeoman men's team. "It's really exciting. When you have something new and it provides opportunities for different kinds of players," New said. "People are excited about it. If we knock down some of the barriers for kids to keep chasing the game. That's what we're looking to do." "Roster construction is different here," New said. "It's recruiting in a way. I was just saying, it's a little bit of a fishing expedition. It's using a lot of my contact on different Division I schools in the state of the Ohio, even outside the state, and letting them know I am looking for a center back, and we'd love to have their guy come play for us. We hope to add a lot of talent from the local area as well because that's what people want to see." A three-hour tryout isn't a lot to make long-term decisions, but New said he and his staff know what they what to see. "What you're really looking for is a demonstrated soccer IQ," New said. "Things like seeing space, understanding space, knowing when to arrive in space and then do they have the technical ability to pull it off?" After they digest the data from Sunday's tryouts, the next steps for the Leviathan will be setting a schedule with their six Great Forest Division foes and getting ready for their opening season at ForeFront Field. "Season tickets have been flying off the shelves," McDonnell said. "You hope there will be this much excitement but to see it come to fruition, I wouldn't say it shocking because a lot of work has gone into it, but it's been rewarding." One player who was trying out Sunday, goalkeeper William Busse, thinks the Leviathan are coming on the scene at just the right time. "We've got the World Cup coming in 2026 and the Olympics coming in a few years. It's the perfect time for this sport to grow and get even bigger," Busse said. "It's nice seeing the growth at the lower-tier professional level. It shows that soccer is growing and getting better." The Leviathan also made news off the field Sunday with McDonnell confirming the organization will also field a women's team beginning in 2027 that will compete in the USLW Division. Contact Todd Shapiro at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.