Men's Soccer | 09/26/23 | 3:51 PM

HELENA, Mont. - Carroll College Athletics is proud to present another installment of a monthly celebration of our outstanding Fighting Saint student-athletes who model excellence in all they do, embodying the NAIA Champions of Character values of integrity, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship, and servant leadership. Student-athletes from each program will be recognized as our Fighting Saints Champions of Character throughout the year. We are excited to partner with Intrepid Credit Union to sponsor this recognition of our student-athletes. Intrepid Credit Union is a corporate champion of Carroll Athletics, supporting our 15 sports and 400-plus student-athletes.

September's first Champion of Character is Michael Klooster.

Michael is a Sophomore Defender on the Men's Soccer team from Belmont, Michigan, majoring in Health Science with a minor in communications.

As a valued community servant, Michael enjoys participating in Church-sponsored food drives and volunteers at food pantries both in Helena and back home in Michigan.

Michael offers unmatched positive energy to the locker room, and is always willing to help a teammate out. He can be found doing extra workouts at all hours, and gives 100% at every practice.

"Every coach has a vision of a model athlete. For me it is a young man that is hard working, dedicated, faithful, kind, and athletic. Michael is that model athlete. He is not your boring run of the mill strong athlete but a young man who is the glue in the locker room and the center of our culture. He is a joy to be around and is genuinely the best human spirit I have had the pleasure to coach." Said head coach Austin Shick, speaking of Klooster.

"Mike is such a positive force on the team. He is completely committed to the program and to his teammates, on top of being a very talented player. He's earned the love and respect of all of us, and we're proud to call him our teammate" Said Blake Waldmann, one of Klooster's current Carroll teammates.

Academically, Klooster carries a 3.5 GPA into this fall semester.

Emily Funseth is the Carroll Women's Soccer Champion of Character.

Funseth is an attacking midfielder from Great Falls, Montana.
The senior is majoring in Sociology (Criminology) and double-minoring in both Psychology and Gender Studies.

Funseth is Team Captain, an active Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) Member, and Servant Leader who helped to set up the End Alzheimer's Walk earlier this year, as well as participated in the walk.

"Emily represents the best of our program in every aspect of life as a Carroll College student athlete. She leads the team in service hours in the Carroll community as well as the Helena Community every year. She goes to as many Carroll Athletics events as she can, making sure to support her fellow student athletes whenever she can. She holds an overall GPA of 3.97 to set the standard academically for the team. On the field, she not only leads the team in goals and points but is an unselfish leader who is willing to do whatever needs to be done for her teammates to be successful on and off the field. Her work ethic and competitive drive every day at practice and in our games fuels her teammates and is why she has achieved success. Her others first mentality, leadership, work ethic and humble spirit is why she was also chosen as one of our SAAC representatives. We feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to coach such an incredible leader and teammate like Emily on the Carroll College Women' Soccer team." Said head coach David Thorvilson of Funseth.

"Emily is such an incredibly talented soccer player. She leads our team in goals and points, but most importantly she lifts everyone else up around her. On and off the field, she is everyone's biggest supporter. The rare times she's on the bench, she is nothing but positive and helpful to her teammates. She lifts our teams positivity and culture up while also holding us accountable in times of need. She makes everyone around her a better person and athlete. I am so thankful she is my teammate." Said Jaymee Sheridan, a teammate of Funseth's.

During her time at Carroll, Funseth has been named CCC Academic All-Conference in 2021, All-CCC Honorable Mention in 2022, CoSida Academic All-District Team in 2022, CCC Academic All-Conference in 2022, Voted Team Captain 2023, Leading scorer 2023, and most recently has been named  Cascade Conference Offensive Player of the Week the past two-consecutive weeks.

Visit www.carrollathletics.com to stay up to date with everything going on in Carroll Athletics, and to learn more about all of the Carroll Champions of Character.