“He’s very athletically inclined, strong, fast and a keen goal scorer.” – coach Mike Williams

Senior Michael Tillman almost immediately identified soccer as his favorite sport after playing for the first time around age four. He has continued to pursue his passion through high school.

Since his sophomore year, Tillman has been a member of the boys varsity soccer team, progressing each year as a player with increasing game experience. All of his hard work and preparation has led to his being selected as one of three team captains at the beginning of the season as well as helping the team earn a number four ranking in The Washington Post.

Tillman’s soccer career does not only include his participation in the WJ boys soccer team. He first played in the Maryland Region One Premier League as a member of the Bethesda Arsenal from 2002-2009, and then he joined the Potomac Cougars, winners of the 2010 Maryland State Cup Championship.

During the summer, Tillman quickly realized that he had only one more year left of high school, only one more year as a member of the WJ soccer team. While he continues to enjoy every minute of his high school soccer career, Tillman decided early on that he did not want the excitement of playing soccer to end with high school.

“I began to seriously look at colleges this summer,” said Tillman.

Being offered a scholarship to play soccer at Coastal Carolina University inspired Tillman to train harder than ever before in the offseason.

“I trained a lot this summer and attended a camp at Coastal Carolina University,” said Tillman. The knowledge and advice that those coaches shared with him helped him become a better, more complete player.

Williams believes that this year’s team is one of the strongest he has coached while at WJ. Due to the constant attention that Tillman receives from opposing teams, he continues to open up opportunities for teammates to flourish and significantly impact games.

Williams and Tillman agree that this year’s team is not only talented, but very deep, having multiple capable players at each position. Both admire the team’s craftiness and creativity when presented with offensive scoring opportunities.

While Tillman has verbally committed himself to Coastal Carolina, he is still very focused on the season at hand.

“My number one goal for this season is to bring back a state championship title to WJ,” said Tillman. “It’s been a dream of mine since coming here, [which was in] the year following the last time boys soccer won states in the 2006-2007 season.”

The team will look to secure the number one seed in the 4A West region before playoff brackets are announced on Oct. 25.