AOTM: PETER LARCHEVEQUE

Following in the footsteps of his father and siblings, the DB senior found his calling on the soccer field.

AMELIE LEE

Senior Peter Larcheveque was named First Team All-League two years in a row.

Ingrid Chan, Asst. Photo Editor

When almost everyone in your family has been a soccer player, it is almost inevitable that you will one day follow in their footsteps and kick the ball down that same beaten path. This no doubt applies to Diamond Bar High School senior Peter Larcheveque.

Because his father was a soccer coach, Larcheveque stepped into the world of soccer at the young age of six. His future as a soccer player was only reinforced by the fact that his older brother and sister, both of whom he admired, played for DBHS soccer teams until they graduated. With the guidance of his father, his early participation in youth soccer programs and the inspiration from his siblings, Larcheveque matured into one of the school’s top players.

“He’s a three year varsity starter, intelligent, and he knows the game,” head coach Kemp Wells said. “Even when we don’t have the opportunity to tell him what we need on defense, he’s smart and experienced enough to know what we expect of him.”

Larcheveque began playing  for clubs in his freshman year. His goal was to work his way to varsity. Whenever high school soccer wasn’t in season, he played for Legends FC as well as AYSO in order to keep his skills sharp.

His efforts weren’t in vain as Larcheveque made varsity in his sophomore year. This year, Wells selected Larcheveque as captain.

“There are times he has to make up for other people’s mistakes and cut his own to almost zero,” Wells said. “So he definitely has a lot of responsibility.”

But being captain isn’t all that Larcheveque has achieved—the midfielder has racked up an impressive list of accolades over these past three years. In his freshman year, he won Best Offensive Player in Frosh, as a sophomore, he won Rookie of the Year and was named to First Team All-League, and as a junior, he was named Best Defensive Player and First Team All-League yet again.

Although the varsity team’s season has just recently ended, Larcheveque is planning to resume club activities soon. While he wasn’t fully satisfied with the team’s performance this year, Larcheveque knows what he has to improve on and pay more attention to.

“Looking back on it, I think the intensity level this year was not as high as it should be,” Larcheveque said. “In my sophomore year, the intensity was sky high. But this year, it felt like the entire league in general had its skill level diminish, therefore the pace slowed down, which was a really big hit for us.”

Larcheveque doesn’t plan on pursuing soccer in college, but he does have interest in intramural.

Since he only applied to colleges for academics, he will most likely try to play soccer as a walk-on to see how far he can go.

“The meeting for [First Team] this year isn’t for another week and a half, so when we get to that, I’m almost positive he’ll be First Team again,” Wells said. “If he’s not, I’m going to probably destroy the world.”