COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - Evan Siefken was nine years old when he first took up soccer, and playing in goal seemed like the quickest route to getting on the field.

"I tried out for travel soccer and made the top team," the Lakeville native recalls. "It was pretty competitive, and no one was volunteering to play goalie. I thought if I wanted to play right away, that seemed like a good spot.

"I went in there, and I must have done a good job because they've never let me come out."

Indeed, the 6-foot-4, 220-pounder continued to excel in net, first at Lakeville North High School, where he was named to the Minneapolis Star Tribune's All-Metro first team as a senior. 

Then at SJU where he earned the starting job as a freshman in 2021 and has held it ever since.

"Goalie is a position where there's a ton of pressure," said Siefken, who begins his senior season when the Johnnies open play at home against non-conference foe Wartburg (Iowa) at 5 p.m. Friday.

"If you play well, you get to be the hero. If you don't, all eyes are on you. But I like that feeling. I want the high expectations."

Siefken's first college start didn't go the way he'd hoped. The Johnnies fell 2-0 to St. Scholastica in the 2021 season opener. But he rebounded to finish that season with a 1.13 goals-against-average and a save percentage of .798, earning United Soccer Coaches All-Region IX third-team and All-MIAC honorable mention honors.

He then went on to earn All-MIAC first-team honors each of the next two years.

"Getting the chance to start right away as a freshman was eye-opening," Siefken said. "It happens a lot in Division III athletics where guys who were the top players on their high school teams come in and expect everything to go their way from the start. You don't realize that you're now in a setting where everyone is just as good, if not better than you are.

"That can be frustrating, or you can use it as motivation to work even harder and not settle for staying at the level you're at."

Siefken has chosen the latter route, while at the same time taking on more and more leadership duties in the program. Nowhere has that been more evident than this preseason as he and his teammates have adjusted to an interim head coach.

Noel Quinn – a former player and assistant at SJU who went on to a successful coaching career at the high school level – took over the job just before the start of practice this month, replacing John Haws '99, who stepped down in July after 14 seasons.

"It's been different, but Noel has done a great job of focusing on the goals he has for this season," Siefken said. "That's made it an easier adjustment than I thought it was going to be. It helps that this is a close-knit group. We're a family and we're able to handle anything that's thrown at us.

"There have definitely been some new tasks I've picked up," he continued. "Noel is still commuting from the Twin Cities, so there have been organizational things away from the field I've tried to help out with. I've been playing here for three years now, and I want to chip in any way I can."

Quinn – who led St. Thomas Academy to a Class A state title in 2016, coached in MLS Next and served as the Minnesota United FC's Director of Youth Development from 2020 to 2023 – said having a veteran of Siefken's stature on hand has been incredibly valuable.

"His temperament and demeanor is that of an experienced guy, and that's great for a person like me coming into this job," said Quinn, who was an assistant coach at SJU in 2005 and '06, then again in 2019 and during the 2020-21 academic year.

"He's a great barometer into how things are going and how players are feeling. He's been helpful with things both on and off the field. It's almost like having an extra coach. He's really been my conduit to the rest of the team."

Siefken doesn't just excel on the field. The global business leadership major maintains a 3.57 GPA and was a CSC Academic All-District selection in 2022 and an Academic All-MIAC pick a year ago.

He is in his third year as a representative on SJU's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and studied abroad in London during the spring 2024 semester – completing an internship in data analytics.

"That was an amazing experience," Siefken recalls. "I was able to spend four months living (in the Kensington area of London) and working in an area that tied into my major. It was a great chance to live on my own and see what it's like living outside the U.S."

But he's back home now and focused on leading the Johnnies to a successful finish in his final season of collegiate soccer.

"My goal has always been to play in an NCAA tournament game here," Siefken said. "That's something that hasn't happened in this program since 2005, but even with all the changes, we still feel like it's something we have a shot at this year.

"We lost a couple of key pieces, but we're bringing a lot of guys back. Our goal is to stay healthy and be playing our best soccer at the end of the season when it matters most."