Photos by Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times

Emmanuel Nicofaine participates in a soccer drill at the Ben Freakley soccer camp.

William Fleming High School soccer players (from left) Shangler Joseph, Nathaniel Scere and Janni Mirco participate in soccer drills at the Ben Freakley soccer camp held at Hollins University.

Clarens Cheridieu looks out across the field and yells encouragement to his friend.

"Come on Mohammed!"

Mohammed Mohammed gives the soccer ball two quick touches, tap-tap, the second sending it over to Clarens, who taps it crisply back to Mohammed who has sprinted up the field. That's the drill: sharp passes and hard running.

Clarens, from Haiti, recently graduated from William Fleming High School. Mohammed, who was born in Somalia but grew up in Kenya, will be a Fleming junior next year. Both are soccer players.

Although football and basketball have long dominated the sports landscape at the Northwest Roanoke school, soccer coach Landon Moore has been quietly building a competitive squad with players plucked among refugee and immigrant students. His players come from Haiti, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Liberia, Jamaica, Honduras and Mexico, among others.

This week, 14 of them are staying at Hollins University to take part in a five-day intensive soccer camp to work on their skills and to gel as a team. Moore got fundraising commitments for $4,000 from Roanoke Valley businesses and individuals in order to send his players to the camp.

Foreign-born soccer players are also on the roster at Patrick Henry High School, Fleming's Southwest Roanoke rival. But soccer would be less than an afterthought at Fleming were it not for the international players.

"There's not very much interest at all among the American population at William Fleming in soccer," said Moore, adding that 17 of his 21 players last year came from 10 countries. "I knew that to have any success I'd have to target this group."

One of the few Americans on the team is John Wallace, the goalkeeper. He hadn't played much soccer until Moore recruited him. But because he also plays receiver for Fleming's football team, Moore figured he knew how to catch a ball.

This week's camp is run by Ben Freakley, the head men's soccer coach at Virginia Military Institute. He blows his whistle with authority and speaks in a loud, commanding voice. He insists that his campers, roughly 90 of them mostly from schools across the region, drink water every 20 minutes or so.

He runs them through passing drills that get progressively more complicated and that culminate in shots on goal. Unless the passes are precise and the players are attentive, the drill falls apart.

"Come on Charlie, put it in the old onion bag," Freakley shouts.

Eventually, the cleats dig into the turf, the passes hit their target and the booming shots find their way into the back of the nets.

One of the strongest kickers is Nathaniel Scere, a senior at Fleming. He's from Liberia and said that someday he'd like to go back to his country, so recently ravaged by years of civil war. And do what? "Settle everything," he said.

Nathaniel also likes to joke around with his teammates in English, the one language they have in common.

That's fine with Mohammed. "I get to learn more English," he said.

Still, some words from other languages creep in.

For instance, Clarens said, when the team scores a goal, players, no matter where they're from, will spontaneously shout "Uno mas." One more, in Spanish.

Later, over a lunch of sandwiches and chips at the Hollins cafeteria, Mohammed shares some of the other Spanish words he's learned from Spanish-speaking players. "Hola" and "amigo." Hearing Mohammed speak Spanish cracks up his teammates, who are sitting at a table nearby.

Many of the players arrived in the United States three or four years ago, having played soccer since childhood but never on an American school-based team.

"All of us come from different countries, all of us have got our different style of playing, and it's great to play with everybody. It's a new challenge," said Alrick Allen, a senior from Jamaica.

Four years ago is also when Moore took over the team. Before that, he said, the Fleming soccer team had gone four years without winning a game. His first task was to arrange for his players to get transportation and to solicit donations to buy them equipment. He had little trouble finding benefactors.

"As soon as they hear what's going on, most of the time they're willing to contribute what they can," he said.

The team lost 15 games and tied one his first year. Then they started winning. Three games in his second year, 10 games in his third. Last year, Fleming moved into a more difficult division and the team won four games.

He's confident in his players this year.

"I think we have a chance to be very competitive."

Lunch is about to wrap up. The Fleming players are among the last to leave the cafeteria. Seven of them walk, single file, into the sunlight, dribbling their soccer balls. Off their feet, off the heads and chests, walking straight ahead.

Until: "Oh no."

"We're lost."

They've somehow wandered into a grassy quad, ringed with red-brick buildings. Groundskeepers stop what they're doing and look at the teens with soccer balls.

Nathaniel, at the head of the line, turns left.

It was the right move. The seven lost soccer players of Fleming find their way back to the camp.