Sophomores Ataniel Claremond, Kenlove Solon and Busquets Jeudi scored all the goals in North St. Paul’s 4-2 victory over East Ridge Tuesday night at North St. Paul High School. 

But scoring isn’t the only commonality these three share. They speak little to no English, and they’re not the only ones.

Nearly every Polars player, whose home countries including Mexico, El Salvador, Haiti and more, considers English as a second language, said North St. Paul coach Casey Holm, who added that the communication barrier makes for a fun experience.

“They are very soccer smart, so that part’s fine. It’s just higher-level things as a team that we want to work on,” Holm said. “It takes time and I think we’ll be really, really good eventually.”   

The Polars’ heady play passed a big test almost immediately against East Ridge (2-1), ranked No. 2 in the Class 2A coaches' poll. Claremond used his speed to get around several Raptors defenders and notch the game’s first goal in just the 2nd minute. 

Jeudi scored in the 16th minute off a cross from Claremond, and Solon netted two goals in the second half, scoring one on a penalty kick and the other off a misplaced ball by East Ridge junior goalie Sam Richardson. 

Junior captain Robert Anigbogu said it’s not difficult to get used to the team scoring goals and winning games, but the defender said it’s a challenge getting through the language barrier.

“(Y)ou don’t know if you’re telling them to do something,” he added. “Are they understanding what you’re saying? 

“You’ll tell them to do something and they’ll say, ‘Yeah. Yeah.’ Just to get you off your back, but then they wouldn’t do it.”  

The No. 13-2A Polars (2-0) rely on players to translate Holm’s instructions from English to one of the several other languages spoken by their teammates.   

Anigbogu plays club soccer with two of the three Haitians who are members of the North St. Paul team, and he said they teach their teammates words and phrases from their native language while other teammates correct the Haitians on their English. 

Senior captain and goalie Malchy Zamacona, who learned Spanish in school, said he’s picked some phrases from the Haitians which makes for a very enjoyable atmosphere surrounding the team. 

Even though the environment was lively, communication -  whether it was in English or another language, was the biggest problem for the Polars on Tuesday night. 

Holm contributed that lack of communication for the Raptors goals in the first half. As the second half rolled on, Holm told the back line to talk more. The result, Zamacona said, was a defense that thrived.

“In the first half, none of us were talking. It was bad communication,” Zamacona said. “In the second half, I was yelling a lot, (Anigbogu) was yelling a lot and Johnathan (Guevora) was yelling at lot in Spanish.”   

Zamacona said the biggest obstacle for North St. Paul this season isn’t the language barrier but playing as a team.

“We’ve got a lot of individual players,” Zamacona said. “We’re very talented, but were just an individual team.”  

No matter if the player speaks English or Spanish or Creole, a goal is a goal. If the Polars can continue scoring, they’ve got a good shot at a successful season and a deep playoff run.