Huntington North High School senior Kolton Foster put pen to paper on Wednesday afternoon, making his decision to cross town official to attend Huntington University next school year to continue his academic and soccer careers as a Forester.
Foster was a big part of the Huntington North boys soccer team’s success over the last four years, playing in a key role for the varsity squad for all four years of high school, capped off by a Northeast 8 Conference (NE8) crown.
Former Huntington North boys soccer head coach Steve Saddington believes Foster’s game will adapt to the college level and knows the Vikings will sorely miss Foster’s presence on the field next season.
“Kolton consistently made smart decisions on the field that made our team better,” Saddington said. “He has great touch and ball control, good awareness situationally on the field, anticipates well defensively and is the ultimate team player. He has good offensive and defensive skills. He maintains possession of the ball well, creates space for himself in order to make a through ball or pass to maintain possession and can score if given the opportunity. Defensively, he uses his body well and defends with a low center of gravity. He knows when to contain, and when to attack defensively, which resulted in him routinely taking balls off opponents’ feet. Although college soccer players are bigger, faster and stronger than high school players, Kolton should be able to smartly adapt his game to the collegiate level.”
Throughout his career as a Viking, Foster accumulated 19 goals and 22 assists, highlighted by a senior season of 12 goals and 11 assists, both of which placed second on the squad.
Foster’s performance on the field throughout high school earned him a number of awards, including NE8 First Team All-Conference honors as a sophomore, junior and senior, Top Team Player honors as a sophomore and junior and All-District First Team honors as a senior. Foster was only the second player from Huntington North to ever be named to the All-District First Team list.
However, Foster did not just excel on the field; he also excelled in the classroom. Foster was a Huntington North scholar athlete all three years of his eligibility as a sophomore, junior and senior and was named to the Academic All-State list in his two years of eligibility as a junior and senior.
Being across town, Huntington University is certainly not a new place on Foster’s radar, but he is eagerly anticipating trading in red and black for green and white.
“It’s local; I like that,” Foster said at the signing. “When I went on campus, everyone, the staff, the teachers and everyone, were really welcoming and they seemed like they really wanted to help. It’s really exciting. I’m really happy to go to HU. I think it will be a good fit for me.”
Foster plans to study electrical engineering and mathematics at Huntington.