His move to the military started a little smoother. “I am in the Simultaneous Membership Program (SMP), so I am in a National Guard unit while in college,” Wilke said. “I drill with the Guard unit one weekend per month and two weeks in the summer while doing all the ROTC stuff that everyone else does. The benefit of doing both is that I get both drill pay and education benefits of being in the Guard and the stipend and scholarship from ROTC.” Just as Wilke was willing to show his commitment to his country, he made sure he put a similar commitment to soccer. “I wanted to show the team that I was ready for my junior season,” he said. “The first thing we do is the two-mile run, and I dropped my time by two minutes. I wanted to show the team that I had bought into doing this.” The early results were encouraging. Six saves in a tie with perennial powerhouse Johns Hopkins and five shutouts in the first 11 games were followed by six conference wins, setting up a semifinal appearance at Misericordia. Wilke stole the show in penalty kicks when he stopped two shots, the second of which clinched the win and sent the Warriors to their seventh conference title game since 2013. In the end, Wilke and the Warrior defense pitched a shutout of fourth-ranked Stevens before falling in penalty kicks, although Wilke made another save during that shootout. “Assistant Coach Josh Gildea prepared me well, teaching me to look at foot placement and the way they run up to decide which way to go,” he said of the three saves he made in the shootouts. “I was pretty confident after doing it a lot in practice. I just trusted myself.” It was during the offseason, though, when Wilke made his biggest save. Through the Be The Match national registry, which he signed up for at the end of his sophomore year at Lycoming, he was chosen to donate stem cells to save a woman who was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. Due to his enlistment, his donation and testing were all done through the Department of Defense. With the Army’s blessing, he donated for 4-5 hours in January, actually delaying his arrival on campus for the start of the spring semester. It took a couple weeks to get back to feeling himself, but it is an experience he said he wouldn’t trade. “It’s definitely rewarding being able to do something that will ultimately change someone’s life forever,” Wilke said. That set up Wilke’s senior season, where he teamed with one of the most talented defenses in the program’s history – three-time All-Region outside back Brayden Wise ’24 and two-time All-Region outside back Kenny Clapp ’25 – as the Warriors entered the waters of the Landmark Conference for the first time and came out of the regular season without a loss, finishing 7-0-2 in conference play, allowing three goals and making 27 saves in those games. He finished the season fifth in Division III with 10 shutouts, helping him earn First Team All-Landmark Conference honors. “It felt really good to be personally acknowledged,” Wilke said. “All the work, not just in college, but my whole life in soccer, people recognized that I was really trying my best.” Wilke finished his career with the Warriors in the top three in program history in goals-against average (1.03) and shutouts (19), all while earning two College Sports Communicators Academic All-District awards as a criminal justice major. After graduation, Wilke will be stationed in Scranton, Pa., as a military intelligence officer, with his training to begin in December. He is also applying to become a member of the Pennsylvania State Police. “I have high aspirations for myself, and if I did want to go into the CIA or FBI, the best way to do that is through military intelligence, so I am just trying to keep those doors open,” Wilke said. “I know there’s a lot of smart people who are going to challenge me every day, and what’s life without a challenge?” It’s definitely rewarding being able to do something that will ultimately change someone’s life forever 17 www.lycoming.edu
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