By Steve Svetovich

Andrew Haser is taking his soccer goalie skills with him to Penn State.

Son of Gary and Renee Haser, Dunmore, Andrew is the all-time saves leader as a goalie for the Dunmore soccer team.

A recent Dunmore graduate and member of the National Honor Society, he recorded close to 500 career saves in his four years as a soccer goalie at Dunmore.

He will now take his goalkeeper skills just a few miles away to Penn State Scranton where he will study Information Technology, a four year program at the local Dunmore campus.

“One of the reasons I chose the local Penn State,” he said, “is because it gives me an opportunity to play four years of soccer while pursuing a degree of my choice without needing to go to the main campus. It’s a perfect fit.”

Well-spoken and articulate, Andrew graduated from Dunmore this past June with a 3.8 academic average. His best academic subject was Math.

His soccer coach at Dunmore was Tom Clark. “Coach Clark taught us how to work together as a team,” he said. “He preached working together as a team.”

The soccer stalwart said John Joseph, the assistant goalkeeper coach at Dunmore, played a big role in his training.

“He was very instrumental in my development.”

Andrew, 18, said his parents are always an inspiration. “They are always there for me. My mom always tells me to do my best with everything. My dad always helps me to get better with every sport. He helped me a lot with soccer.”

The scholar-athlete talked about what it takes to excel as a goalie.

“You need to be mentally up for the challenge,” he said. “It can be very strenuous both mentally and physically. You just need to be up for the challenge. “Just one mistake can make or break a game.

“You need to be alert physically and mentally at all times. You need to be able to see and read the activity all around you every single second.”

Robert Denney will be Andrew’s soccer coach at Penn State. Christian Pane is the assistant coach.

“I want to continue playing soccer for four more years,” said Andrew. “That’s why I chose Penn State locally. I know they have a four year degree in my major where I could play soccer right here at home for all of my college years.”

He talked about his future goals.

“I want to compete and have success as a soccer goalie on the collegiate level. I might want to continue on the amateur level after college. I want to do well in college and graduate with a good paying job. I want to work with computers.”

The standout goalkeeper recorded over 100 saves in each of his soccer seasons at Dunmore. He received two academic scholarships to Penn State Scranton.

The Dunmore soccer team lost only four games this past season, losing in the district quarterfinal game to Scranton Prep. “We were very strong up the middle and up front,” Andrew said. “We were successful this year because we all put in the work and worked well as a team.”

The hard-working goalie said he enjoys listening to music in his spare time and would like to see the pop group, One Republic, in concert.

He is enthused to begin his college career at Penn State Scranton this month.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” he said. “It’s going to be a good feeling playing soccer. I never expected to be playing soccer in college.”

Andrew said he enjoyed his four years at Dunmore.

“Dunmore is like being with family. It’s a small school and you get to know everyone. Going to school and playing soccer at Dunmore is one of the best feelings there is in this world.”