Highlands grad Sam Norris among young cornerstones for budding Waynesburg men’s soccer program
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Sometimes finding the right college athletic program isn’t about finding the most successful one. It’s about finding the one with the best culture, the best sense of “team.”
That’s how Highlands grad Sam Norris arrived at Waynesburg. Currently wrapping up his freshman season with the Yellowjackets men’s soccer team, Norris got a tip from his older brother Gabe, a senior captain for the Robert Morris men’s team.
While working a camp at RMU, Gabe Norris met Treg Lunger, who, at the time, was three years into his tenure as Waynesburg’s coach. Sam said his older brother called him immediately.
When he spoke with Lunger, Sam Norris was struck by what the coach laid out as the team’s core values: strive for excellence, vision over circumstance and faith and family first.
Norris was sold.
“When I heard those three core values, I knew this was the place for me,” he said. “(Lunger) doesn’t choose soccer over personality. He chooses both. Some coaches look for a great soccer player, and some coaches look for a great personality. He looks for both. He’s very intentional with who he brings here.”
Lunger, now in his fourth season, has brought in some pretty good soccer players, too.
Last season, the Yellowjackets won 10 games overall. They hadn’t posted that many wins in a season since 2014. They also qualified for the Presidents’ Athletic Conference tournament, beating Chatham in the first round before losing to eventual champion Geneva in the semifinals.
The Yellowjackets’ overall mark of 7-6-4 gives the program its first back-to-back above-.500 seasons since 2013-14.
Norris played no small role in Waynesburg’s season. He started all but three matches at right back, and his 1,185 minutes ranked fifth on the team.
“Sam comes from a great background both in club and high school,” Lunger said. “When we were recruiting him, we knew he was a player we could plug in right away. The opportunity was on him to show that consistency and get those minutes. He has taken that and really hasn’t wavered from that.”
Norris said he came into the program with no expectations other than to work his hardest.
“The team comes first,” he said. “Obviously, I wanted to come in and start, but I knew if I didn’t, it’s OK because, in the end, the team comes first and the vision that we have.
“If someone else worked harder than me and deserved it more, then they can have it. In the end, I want what’s best for the team. I want to win the PAC.”
The team-first attitude went a long way to helping Norris succeed. Having an older brother who plays at the Division I level didn’t hurt, either.
Norris was able to get a front-row seat as Gabe went through the first three years at Robert Morris, so he knew what to expect from the college game. The two also often practiced together while playing club soccer in their youth.
“I was able to see everything he’s gone through,” Sam said. “You learn a lot of lessons while you’re going through college and on this path. … I was able to watch him and talk to him and be prepared for the lessons that I’m going to learn along the way.”
Perhaps Gabe Norris’ biggest contribution to Sam’s early success was the aforementioned recommendation to contact Lunger. Norris said his older brother never encouraged him to reach out to any specific coach until he met Lunger.
The core values might have lured Norris to the Yellowjackets, but he soon found out that Lunger had much more to offer him than catchy slogans. Norris said he appreciates the unique way Lunger approaches the game, using a combination of analytics and good, old-fashioned “feel” to get the most out of his players.
Though each player has a position listed on the roster, Norris said Lunger puts everyone in roles rather than tying them to a specific area of the field.
“There has been so much I have learned,” Norris said. “I thought I knew a lot about the game, and coach took that and he has taught me so much skill wise, how I view the game. As a right back, there’s so many ways you can play that role, and for years I learned a very specific way. … He didn’t push it away. He took what I learned, and he just added to it.
“We have to read the game and read where our teammates are at. … If I see somebody else is doing a role and their role needs filled, then I go and fill that.”
Said Lunger: “He’s really good on the ball, and so for us, he allows us to create a couple different looks in build-out … to create overloads. We trust him in those tighter spaces, so it allows him to do a lot more in terms of how we involve other players when we have the ball.”
Norris figures to only get better as he progresses. The same could be said for the Yellowjackets. While they didn’t quite match their production of 2023, the Yellowjackets have a promising future.
Five underclassmen, including Norris, have started at least 11 games. Fellow freshman Sarpong Kwabiah, whose older brother, Boastas, is a defensive lineman on the Waynesburg football team, is among the candidates for PAC Newcomer of the Year, leading the team with eight goals and 21 points.
For Norris, it goes back to Lunger’s core values that sold him on the program in the first place. He said as long as the Yellowjackets continue to do that, they can be a force in the PAC.
“We’re a family. We’re not just a team,” he said. “We’re very intentional about the way we spend our time with each other on and off the field.
“We’re a family, and that makes us dangerous. There are a lot of teams that are just teams. But if you’re a family, you’ve got that trust.”