Concordia boys’ soccer star Tumi Malatse will play soccer at the University of Saint Francis. The news was made public when Saint Francis’ men’s soccer program posted the news to Twitter on Thursday night. Malatse will join fellow Cadet Braydon English who signed his letter of intent for USF in February.
“Saint Francis had my program that I wanted to major in [which was] Film Production,” Malatse said. “And also, staying at home felt like a great fit for me.”
“Tumi has come a long way from [when I watched] him play in middle school to his senior year at Concordia High School,” Cadets’ head coach Kevin Macke said. “He loves the game of soccer and his passion for the game is contagious.”
Saint Francis is coached by first-year head coach Jake Essig. He is a graduate of Huntington University and has served as an assistant coach at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Malatse has garnered a good impression of Essig.
“He seems like a really nice guy. He really cares about his players,” Malatse said. “He’s always texting us to make sure that everything is okay. I feel like he’s built great chemistry with these players with the small amount of time that he’s already had with them. So I feel like he knows exactly what he’s doing for this team. He’s signing great players. He’s motivating everyone, even with the stay-at-home, giving us workouts. So I think that Coach Essig is doing a great job, and I think he’s the perfect coach for St. Francis.”
Malatse was able to visit Saint Francis and meet the coaches before Indiana’s shelter-in-place took effect. He wasn’t able to practice with the team but does appreciate being given the opportunity to play for the Cougars.
“The coach was not able to evaluate me through, any footage through games or anything,” Malatse said. “But he took a chance with my stats and my achievements, and I guess God just put everything through, and He just had a plan for everything.”
Malatse was Concordia’s leading scorer in 2019. He finished his senior season with 17 goals scored and picked up three assists as well. He was part of a Cadets’ team that went 14-3-1 on the year.
“I didn’t really expect to be the top goal-scorer, but I have to give credit to the coaches for developing me and working hard with me,” Malatse said.
Malatse’s goal total went up from his sophomore year to his senior year. He scored just two goals as a sophomore in 2017. Then as a junior in 2018, he scored nine goals. That led up to his 17-goal campaign as a senior. But Coach Macke has noticed growth and improvement in more areas than just goal-scoring.
“He led by example of continually doing his best, which was a growth process,” Macke said. “He definitely matured in understanding the time to have fun and a time to prepare for the next game.”
