Anthony Tessein feels that Nelson Guerra is such a great team-first guy, that he might sometimes overreact when discussing what his player would do for the cause.
For instance, the Steinert boys soccer coach remarked that “If I told him, ‘Nelson, we need you to ride the bench hard today for 80 minutes because that’s how we’re gonna win,’ he would do it. He wouldn’t complain about it at all. There’s something to that.’”
When told of Tessein’s statement and asked if that might be an exaggeration, Guerra smiled and said “Uhh, yeah.”
Not that it matters, because there is no way that Guerra would ever sit the bench for 80 minutes. In fact, Tessein doesn’t want him sitting out at all.
The senior forward/midfielder has come a long way in just over a year. After lighting it up as a goal scorer for the freshman team, Guerra joined the rest of the country in sitting life out when Covid hit in 2020. When he showed up for preseason last year, the result was obvious.
“I don’t know that it was necessarily laziness; it was kind of a societal thing,” Tessein said. “He just wasn’t honing his skills as much as he could have been and should have been. He’d been on our radar since he was a freshman, but last year, he didn’t come in in great shape.”
Guerra went from a projected starter to a guy that had to earn his way into the lineup. While some guys might get upset at Tessein’s criticisms, Nelson took it to heart.
“I wasn’t mad,” he said. “I knew I wasn’t in shape and I had to get back into it. I remember last year, I just kept working hard to get back in shape and compete with others.”
It paid off. “By the time the season ended,” Tessein said, “you couldn’t not put him on the field.”
Guerra played the role of distributor, picking up five assists as a junior while playing on a senior-laden squad.
“I learned a few things from our seniors from last year,” he said. “It’s always good to be playing with people who have more experience than you. There’s always things that you might pick up from them.”
This year, Guerra is taking on his own leadership role, starting with reporting to camp the way he should have.
“He took that criticism I had of him as a junior,” Tessein said. “He was fit this year, he was one of the fastest guys; had the most endurance. He was a unanimous choice for captain, and he just means a lot to the team.”
Just as his new role means a lot to Guerra.
“He does all the stuff you expect out of a captain,” Tessein said. “He still plays like he’s trying to earn a spot on the team. That’s how he acts. He’s a great leader, he leads by example but he’s also got the talent to back it up. He’s a guy every team would like to have.”
Guerra started his career in Pennsylvania as he grew up in Fairless Hills before moving to Hamilton at age 10. He joined the Mercer United travel team and began showing his versatility.
“When I was growing up I pretty much played every position,” he said. “I even played goalie, plus I could play defense, midfield, striker.”
Steinert freshman coach Jim “Jules” Giglio put him up top with Sebastian Strama for the 2019 season, and the two combined for over 20 goals. It was a promising start for Guerra until Covid hit.
“Obviously sophomore year was a lot different, being out of school,” he said. “During Covid you stayed home on the computer for classes. I was inside most of the time.”
Thus, the engine was not running smoothly early last year. But the problem was solved with the oldest remedy in sports.
“A good motivator is the bench,” Tessein said. “When he wasn’t getting time, it turned around and he started to work his butt off again. He earned every minute he had and made it so we never wanted to take him off the field.”
This season, Guerra had two goals and two assists through the Spartans 7-1 start. He is the classic stats-don’t-matter guy, as the things he does without putting up numbers often leads to goals.
“It’s the contributions you don’t see,” Tessein said. “He’s active up top. A lot of guys will be, ‘Hey that was my assist,’ or ‘Coach did you get my assist?’ You never hear that out of him.”
Guerra admits he would like to score a bit more. It almost looked like he didn’t care about it all after tallying a late goal in a win over Hamilton Sept. 22. The game had long been decided when he banged one in and then just turned and walked back toward midfield, expressionless.
“Everyone on the team asked me why I reacted that way,” he said with a laugh. “I had some chances at the beginning of the second half and didn’t get them. I knew I wanted to score, it was something I hadn’t done this year a lot. Inside I was happy, but it was more of a relief for me.”
An even bigger relief for the Spartans is the way they have survived heavy graduation losses. Steinert lost 13 seniors, including their top three goal scorers. And yet the only blotch on their record as September neared an end was a loss to Allentown.
“We did lose a lot of guys, but he was a constant,” Tessein said. “We knew that Nelson was gonna be back and I was crossing my fingers he was gonna come in fit and he did. We had Anthony Durling back as well and that helped. But Nelson is a senior, this is his year.”
And rest assured, Guerra likes hearing about helping the team by playing for 80 minutes more than he likes hearing about sitting the bench for 80.
Steinert soccer captain Nelson Guerra is hailed by coach Anthony Tessein as a team-first player. (Photo by Rich Fisher.),
