After three years at Brown, senior midfielder Anders Kelto returned this year to his home state for his final year of collegiate soccer.
The Traverse City native graduated from Brown last December, but still had one year of eligibility. So he moved back home to start his graduate studies and finish his collegiate athletic career.
“I wanted to be closer to home so my parents and family would be able to come to a lot more games,” Kelto said. “I do a lot of coaching up in the Traverse area. I thought it’d be cool for a lot of the kids I work with to be able to come down to games.”
Coming out of a program that went to the NCAA quarterfinals his senior year, there was a distinct possibility Kelto would be disappointed with the Spartans and their historical absence from the postseason.
But the team has posted a 9-3-1 record so far this season and the intensity has been comparable to his memories of Brown, Kelto said.
“I’d say the overall level is about the same,” he said.
“MSU vs. Brown would be a very good game. We, at Brown, were a little more compact and organized defensively, but not as dangerous offensively.”
In his three years at Brown, Kelto had collected six goals and nine assists including two goals and two assists in his senior year as co-captain of the team.
Kelto brings that leadership and a variety of other skills to the team, senior midfielder Steve Arce said.
“His smarts for the game are probably the best on the team,” he said.
“He knows how to read the game well and in terms of set-pieces he gives us an extra option. You know he’ll make the right decision on the ball which really helps us out.”
But the integration of Kelto into the lineup was not immediate.
Kelto’s first start for the Spartans came in the team’s 1-0 win against Northwestern in October, seven games into the season.
But an injury to co-captain senior defenseman Scott Babinski left a need for a new setup in the midfield, Arce said.
“It’s funny how things happen,” he said. “We were kind of juggling around the lineup a little bit and then Anders comes in and
