September 9, 2025 • 9 mins
UND Soccer Head Coach Henrik Sohn reflected on the team’s defeat against Iowa State and looked ahead to their upcoming clash with Boise State.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Back your towntown Grand Forks for a five oh six pub.
I'm Paul Ralston. Now we're moving into soccer, fresh off
the pitch of Bronze and Field in one of their
final preps before heading west. It's a brand new head coach, Henrick.
Soon everybody Hedrick Zone and here we're gonna We're gonna
dive into a couple of things with Henrick before we
(00:23):
even ask him. So I know, Henrick that sometimes the
S in German is pronounced with a Z. So is
it zone?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Then? Yeah, yeah, it is. You're spot on right there.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
I actually so I should do it that way, I guess,
but I was so nervous about it. I wasn't certain.
So it is more of.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
A Z sound. Yeah, okay.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
So, by the way, if you don't know where he's from,
he's like Homburg, Germany, which is like the palace of
like all the German table tennis players. They have so
many great tennis table tennis players in that part of Germany.
I don't know if you know that.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I was not aware of that.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Now and then if I say Verder Brahman, Yeah, okay,
what do you think of That's right? They're green and
white white squad. So I know the green and white squad.
If you were to find a Bundesliga squad, who.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Do you cheer for? Are you Byron or Dortmund?
Speaker 1 (01:17):
You're the yellow and black and the crazy people in
that stage. Yeah, it's pretty impressive. Okay, So this is
Henrik Ze and everybody he's from originates from Germany. He's
been in the States for a long time. He's a
first year head coach. He was with our program last
season as well and certainly now into the head role.
You guys have gotten up to such a great start
(01:38):
this season. Then you upped the challenge basically of kind
of the type of teams you were playing in the
last couple and you kind of got to see how
how your team responded. And against Santa Barbie almost pulled
the rabbit out of the hat. They had a lot
of possession, they had the chances. You got them a
little bit early, tried to hang on. Tough call against you,
But I thought the resolution of your team, how resolute
(02:02):
you were in that game, I thought that showed more
to me than maybe people just looking at a score.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Is that fair? I think it's very fair. You know,
It's it's about the effort and we stuck to the
game plan and we we played really tough against a
team that is going to be in the NCAA tournament
again they weren't last year. So it was really pleased
with that, and that's a result to be proud of,
you know, in the end of the day, like we
didn't quite pull it out, but that death soccer sometimes,
you know, you got to work through that and we
(02:28):
got to learn from that, and that's why you played
these games in non conference to prepare yourself for the
conference games when it actually matters and it's for a championship.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
It was a long trip down to Ames and maybe
a bit of an exhale on the turnaround. Didn't have
a great opening forty five, You challenged your team to
have a better forty five and you said, what was
neat about that? In your press conference you said, I
was really just looking for how would we respond when
I said we need to be better the second forty five?
(02:56):
And they just took that to heart and had a
good forty five against the Cyclones on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
I agree, you know, we kind of shut ourselves in
the foot a little bit with two penalties down there
and you know, that's stuff we need to learn, like
when to tackle, when to just you know, take it
easy and making smarter decisions. So I think that was
kind of what hurt us down there in the first half.
You know, you go down two nil. We had kind
of like a frantic moment. It was I think that
(03:20):
scored the two first goals within nineteen seconds, so we
literally got scored on kickoff and escored again. So that
can really deflate the team. And we came out of
half and I looked at the stat line in the
second half, we out shut them ten to nine, and
I got the report today. We out possessed them throughout
the entire game, actually fifty one to forty nine. It's
called a small margin, but we still did out possess
(03:41):
a big twelve team. So there's the positive in it.
You know, at this stage, you gotta be positive what's
going on. You got to stay with it and stay
with the plan and try to find the things what
worked and what didn't work, and you got to be
positive about it and use what works and put it
all together once conference rolls around.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
So you have a player who's in her second season
on San Diego, number one, she came back when you're
from San Diego. Sometimes I worry about those if they're
gonna come back to Grand Forks or not. But Charlie
Bassinat started the season on a tear scoring and you don't.
I just she's one of those players that doesn't shout
like gonna just have this, you know, doesn't shout goalscorre
(04:20):
to me. Then you watch her kind of calmness or
just whatever comes over her when she's on the ball
and it just happens, and there's something to be said
about that, and that's exciting to see her kind of
grow into into the score.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Yeah, Charlie is as pure instinct and what she does,
you know, sometimes we feel like I don't even know
if she knows what she's gonna do next, but she's
gonna do it, you know. She she's one of these players,
she says, as a soccer instinct, so it's natural to her.
She gets the ball. She knows the basic tactical approach
you want to have, but she still does. Charlie thinks
and we love that. You know, it's a very special
talent and a gift that you can't coach, and she
(04:54):
has that. You know, she's a phenomenal athlete.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
You know.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
She, like I said, she does crazy things and those
are good things typically, so we're really happy with that
and she's a very special player for us.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Charlie things. I love that you're heading west. You're gonna
go to Boise Physical athletic program. I think we saw
him here last year. We seen in Idaho State over
the years from the Big Sky, and they came through
last year as well. I think they're having a pretty
solid season in Pocatello. I think elevation there is about
four thousand and five hundred feet or something like that,
(05:24):
so a little elevation game for you as well. So
this is gonna be And here's the thing. You want
to be playing teams like this with the summer league
calendar just around the corner.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Yeah, one hundred percent. You know, we want those challenges,
and I think it's exciting for us to go out
there and then compete and be ready and be challenged.
And I'm excited about it what we can do. And
I feel very confident in the team, and that's what
it's about. We gotta believe in ourselves, you know. I
think we got to bounce back from from the past.
Where we on the perform because we do have good players.
(05:54):
We do have a lot of talent. We just need
to put it together and you know, install that belief
because as a habit and so it was losing. So
we need to get out of that. And I think
we had a good start with the five wins right
away and then right now we're kind of in a down.
But that's part of the process. It's a process, So
how are we getting out of it? And I think
the trip to Idaho is going to really challenge us
again and it gives us the opportunity to continue to
(06:17):
grow as a program and as a team. So we
already so I'm excited for that and the challenges. You know,
it's every trip has a challenge. I don't know if
you realize in Iowa that had set the band right
behind us. I couldn't hear myself the band hackled o
all players when they warmed up. Hey, that's a different atmosphere.
And now we got to battle the altitude. So there's
always something in soccer. Well that's okay, that's part of
(06:38):
the process. So we got to fight through that.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Because you have players like Amy Leffler and you know,
obviously Make uh. You know, these are veterans, Alicia Make.
They can do a lot of work themselves as far
as working the room and kind of getting everybody pointed
in the direction. Sometimes that's part of Aoull being the
(07:00):
the head coach too, is realizing you've got some veteran
leaders that can do a lot of the steering for you, right. Oh.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Absolutely, they've been fantastic ever since it took over. They
were really clear and direct with what they wanted day.
They were tired of losing. They wanted to win, and
they've been pushing that. You know. There they have a
no nonsense approach which I share. We we hear, we
mean business once we're on the field, and that's what
we've been doing. So they've been fantastic, and they've been
nothing but supportive and they played fantastic on the field.
(07:26):
So they've been great stepping up. You know all our
captains actually Amy and Alicia and Avery Toms are captains
and and they've been nothing but great. Like they've been
leading this team very well.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Who has got just a great touch almost like Velcrol
where they can get the ball to settle almost immediately,
like it's just they they almost have mind control over
the ball. Who's that player on this team basically there too,
it's Yui Okay.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Yui Fuji and Paula Mareno Diaz.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Okay, and they just basically have this ability to almost
it's almost like the balls on a string form.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Yeah, Aly so clean, it's it's it's crazy. It's fantastic
to see like they're they're they're true football players. You know,
they get it. They're rarely soccer smart and to touch
this phenomenal.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
I think it's almost artistic sometimes when you get to
watch a player like that have that type of control exhibited,
if you watch them at practice, sometimes you just are
like wow, I mean just how much time they've spent
working with the ball and and and just having this
almost ability to for lack of a better term, use
a Star Wars term, use the force on it. It's incredible.
(08:30):
And you do have players like that. That's why I
wanted you to bring them up as well. Coach. We
wish you save travel number one, number two two great
outings here out West and really prime the pump here
for the h the Summit League season ahead. I hope
you get what you want on your team They've been
so exciting so far here early in the season. Good
luck the rest of the way.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Thank you, thank you for having me, Henrik.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
So and everybody really enjoyed it, as you. Ady women's
soccer just around the corner to opening up the Summit
League season. Chris Crounch will be our guest here upcoming.
He's brought a special guest, Senior. I can't believe it already,
Emerson Walker, one of his players, going to be able
to join us as well. They'll join us, we'll talk
some U in d women's golf.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
They're heading west as well, and we'll talk to him next.
As Hawktok continues from the five h six pub all
across the Fighting Hawks Radio Network
Back your towntown Grand Forks for a five oh six pub.
I'm Paul Ralston. Now we're moving into soccer, fresh off
the pitch of Bronze and Field in one of their
final preps before heading west. It's a brand new head coach, Henrick.
Soon everybody Hedrick Zone and here we're gonna We're gonna
dive into a couple of things with Henrick before we
(00:23):
even ask him. So I know, Henrick that sometimes the
S in German is pronounced with a Z. So is
it zone?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Then? Yeah, yeah, it is. You're spot on right there.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
I actually so I should do it that way, I guess,
but I was so nervous about it. I wasn't certain.
So it is more of.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
A Z sound. Yeah, okay.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
So, by the way, if you don't know where he's from,
he's like Homburg, Germany, which is like the palace of
like all the German table tennis players. They have so
many great tennis table tennis players in that part of Germany.
I don't know if you know that.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I was not aware of that.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Now and then if I say Verder Brahman, Yeah, okay,
what do you think of That's right? They're green and
white white squad. So I know the green and white squad.
If you were to find a Bundesliga squad, who.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Do you cheer for? Are you Byron or Dortmund?
Speaker 1 (01:17):
You're the yellow and black and the crazy people in
that stage. Yeah, it's pretty impressive. Okay, So this is
Henrik Ze and everybody he's from originates from Germany. He's
been in the States for a long time. He's a
first year head coach. He was with our program last
season as well and certainly now into the head role.
You guys have gotten up to such a great start
(01:38):
this season. Then you upped the challenge basically of kind
of the type of teams you were playing in the
last couple and you kind of got to see how
how your team responded. And against Santa Barbie almost pulled
the rabbit out of the hat. They had a lot
of possession, they had the chances. You got them a
little bit early, tried to hang on. Tough call against you,
But I thought the resolution of your team, how resolute
(02:02):
you were in that game, I thought that showed more
to me than maybe people just looking at a score.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Is that fair? I think it's very fair. You know,
It's it's about the effort and we stuck to the
game plan and we we played really tough against a
team that is going to be in the NCAA tournament
again they weren't last year. So it was really pleased
with that, and that's a result to be proud of,
you know, in the end of the day, like we
didn't quite pull it out, but that death soccer sometimes,
you know, you got to work through that and we
(02:28):
got to learn from that, and that's why you played
these games in non conference to prepare yourself for the
conference games when it actually matters and it's for a championship.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
It was a long trip down to Ames and maybe
a bit of an exhale on the turnaround. Didn't have
a great opening forty five, You challenged your team to
have a better forty five and you said, what was
neat about that? In your press conference you said, I
was really just looking for how would we respond when
I said we need to be better the second forty five?
(02:56):
And they just took that to heart and had a
good forty five against the Cyclones on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
I agree, you know, we kind of shut ourselves in
the foot a little bit with two penalties down there
and you know, that's stuff we need to learn, like
when to tackle, when to just you know, take it
easy and making smarter decisions. So I think that was
kind of what hurt us down there in the first half.
You know, you go down two nil. We had kind
of like a frantic moment. It was I think that
(03:20):
scored the two first goals within nineteen seconds, so we
literally got scored on kickoff and escored again. So that
can really deflate the team. And we came out of
half and I looked at the stat line in the
second half, we out shut them ten to nine, and
I got the report today. We out possessed them throughout
the entire game, actually fifty one to forty nine. It's
called a small margin, but we still did out possess
(03:41):
a big twelve team. So there's the positive in it.
You know, at this stage, you gotta be positive what's
going on. You got to stay with it and stay
with the plan and try to find the things what
worked and what didn't work, and you got to be
positive about it and use what works and put it
all together once conference rolls around.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
So you have a player who's in her second season
on San Diego, number one, she came back when you're
from San Diego. Sometimes I worry about those if they're
gonna come back to Grand Forks or not. But Charlie
Bassinat started the season on a tear scoring and you don't.
I just she's one of those players that doesn't shout
like gonna just have this, you know, doesn't shout goalscorre
(04:20):
to me. Then you watch her kind of calmness or
just whatever comes over her when she's on the ball
and it just happens, and there's something to be said
about that, and that's exciting to see her kind of
grow into into the score.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Yeah, Charlie is as pure instinct and what she does,
you know, sometimes we feel like I don't even know
if she knows what she's gonna do next, but she's
gonna do it, you know. She she's one of these players,
she says, as a soccer instinct, so it's natural to her.
She gets the ball. She knows the basic tactical approach
you want to have, but she still does. Charlie thinks
and we love that. You know, it's a very special
talent and a gift that you can't coach, and she
(04:54):
has that. You know, she's a phenomenal athlete.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
You know.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
She, like I said, she does crazy things and those
are good things typically, so we're really happy with that
and she's a very special player for us.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Charlie things. I love that you're heading west. You're gonna
go to Boise Physical athletic program. I think we saw
him here last year. We seen in Idaho State over
the years from the Big Sky, and they came through
last year as well. I think they're having a pretty
solid season in Pocatello. I think elevation there is about
four thousand and five hundred feet or something like that,
(05:24):
so a little elevation game for you as well. So
this is gonna be And here's the thing. You want
to be playing teams like this with the summer league
calendar just around the corner.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Yeah, one hundred percent. You know, we want those challenges,
and I think it's exciting for us to go out
there and then compete and be ready and be challenged.
And I'm excited about it what we can do. And
I feel very confident in the team, and that's what
it's about. We gotta believe in ourselves, you know. I
think we got to bounce back from from the past.
Where we on the perform because we do have good players.
(05:54):
We do have a lot of talent. We just need
to put it together and you know, install that belief
because as a habit and so it was losing. So
we need to get out of that. And I think
we had a good start with the five wins right
away and then right now we're kind of in a down.
But that's part of the process. It's a process, So
how are we getting out of it? And I think
the trip to Idaho is going to really challenge us
again and it gives us the opportunity to continue to
(06:17):
grow as a program and as a team. So we
already so I'm excited for that and the challenges. You know,
it's every trip has a challenge. I don't know if
you realize in Iowa that had set the band right
behind us. I couldn't hear myself the band hackled o
all players when they warmed up. Hey, that's a different atmosphere.
And now we got to battle the altitude. So there's
always something in soccer. Well that's okay, that's part of
(06:38):
the process. So we got to fight through that.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Because you have players like Amy Leffler and you know,
obviously Make uh. You know, these are veterans, Alicia Make.
They can do a lot of work themselves as far
as working the room and kind of getting everybody pointed
in the direction. Sometimes that's part of Aoull being the
(07:00):
the head coach too, is realizing you've got some veteran
leaders that can do a lot of the steering for you, right. Oh.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Absolutely, they've been fantastic ever since it took over. They
were really clear and direct with what they wanted day.
They were tired of losing. They wanted to win, and
they've been pushing that. You know. There they have a
no nonsense approach which I share. We we hear, we
mean business once we're on the field, and that's what
we've been doing. So they've been fantastic, and they've been
nothing but supportive and they played fantastic on the field.
(07:26):
So they've been great stepping up. You know all our
captains actually Amy and Alicia and Avery Toms are captains
and and they've been nothing but great. Like they've been
leading this team very well.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Who has got just a great touch almost like Velcrol
where they can get the ball to settle almost immediately,
like it's just they they almost have mind control over
the ball. Who's that player on this team basically there too,
it's Yui Okay.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Yui Fuji and Paula Mareno Diaz.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Okay, and they just basically have this ability to almost
it's almost like the balls on a string form.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Yeah, Aly so clean, it's it's it's crazy. It's fantastic
to see like they're they're they're true football players. You know,
they get it. They're rarely soccer smart and to touch
this phenomenal.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
I think it's almost artistic sometimes when you get to
watch a player like that have that type of control exhibited,
if you watch them at practice, sometimes you just are
like wow, I mean just how much time they've spent
working with the ball and and and just having this
almost ability to for lack of a better term, use
a Star Wars term, use the force on it. It's incredible.
(08:30):
And you do have players like that. That's why I
wanted you to bring them up as well. Coach. We
wish you save travel number one, number two two great
outings here out West and really prime the pump here
for the h the Summit League season ahead. I hope
you get what you want on your team They've been
so exciting so far here early in the season. Good
luck the rest of the way.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Thank you, thank you for having me, Henrik.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
So and everybody really enjoyed it, as you. Ady women's
soccer just around the corner to opening up the Summit
League season. Chris Crounch will be our guest here upcoming.
He's brought a special guest, Senior. I can't believe it already,
Emerson Walker, one of his players, going to be able
to join us as well. They'll join us, we'll talk
some U in d women's golf.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
They're heading west as well, and we'll talk to him next.
As Hawktok continues from the five h six pub all
across the Fighting Hawks Radio Network
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.