A Busy Fall for Minnesota’s Second Family of Soccer, the Kallmans

Kassey Kallman playing at Florida State University

I have long called the Lagos family the first family of soccer in Minnesota for obvious reason. I have recently started calling the Kallman family the second family of soccer in Minnesota, which also should be obvious if you follow the game here in Minnesota. Remarkably, 5 of the Kallman children have played Division 1 college soccer and all for very good programs. All the children have won awards at the high school and collegiate level and one has spent time with a US U-20 National Team and another is an NASL Champion.

Krystle Kallman played for West Virginia University from 2005-07 before transferring for her senior season to the University of Minnesota. She is now an assistant coach for the Gopher soccer program.

Her sister Kylie Kallman graduated from the U of M last spring after four seasons playing for the Gophers.

Kassey Kallman is a sophomore defender at FSU who has also been called up to the US U-20 Women’s National Team. Her FSU team made it all the way to the College Cup finals this fall and was defeated on Friday in the semifinals losing to the new national champions, Stanford.

Brother Brian Kallman was a Creighton graduate and played 3-years at Jacksonville University then transfered to Creighton in his senior year. He played for the Minnesota Thunder and then the Minnesota Stars. He just finished his second year with the Stars and as a starter on the back line, helped his team achieve a national Championship by winning the NASL Soccer Bowl trophy.

Younger brother Brent is presently helping his Creighton team in Omaha, Nebraska make a run at the 2011 NCAA College Cup.

All this activity has meant a very busy fall for the Kallman parents, Rich and Laura, who have been traveling from the Twin Cities to Florida to watch Kassey, back to Minnesota for Gopher and Stars games and to Nebraska for Brent’s games. I suggested to the Star Tribune staff that they pursue the story because I thought it was an interesting one – and they did.

From the article that was published on Sunday:  “Rich and his wife, Laura, went to their hometown of Bellevue, Neb., for Thanksgiving. They left Bellevue on Thanksgiving night at 5:30 for Tallahassee, Fla., where they watched Kassey score a goal for the Seminoles in the NCAA Elite Eight victory against Virginia. After taking Kassey out for dinner, they left Florida for Omaha to see Brent play Sunday in the Sweet Sixteen. Creighton won that game 2-1, meaning the Kallmans would be on the road again this weekend.”

Kassey’s team lost on Friday but Brent’s team won. So the Kallmans will have one more trip to Regions Park in Hoover, Ala. for the NCAA Men’s College Cup this weekend.