Soccer returns as club sport

Tyler Horning/Collegian
Sean Lanigan, L, and Thomas Burke, class of 2004, worked to keep a soccer team at Hillsdale.

By Sue DePassio
Collegian Reporter

Soccer is back.
Following several conferences last spring, Athletic Director Mike Kovalchik and former varsity players Thomas Burke, ‘04, Sean Lanigan, ‘04, and Joel Hall, ’04, worked out the details for a club soccer team competing this fall.
After an unforeseen end to men’s and women’s varsity soccer programs in January 2003, players returned disappointed by the abrupt close to their season. Burke and Hall proposed to establish a club soccer team as a way to keep soccer alive on Hillsdale’s campus.
“We want to continue the tradition of soccer here at Hillsdale College,” Burke said. “Although we had an unfortunate setback with the termination of the team as a varsity sport, we want to provide the opportunity for guys to continue to play soccer and look forward to the possibility of varsity reinstatement in the future.”
Burke and Hall had an overwhelming interest by students. Sixteen players officially will be on the team. The actual roster has not been decided, as there are players who plan to practice but not travel with the team. Though the team is predominantly former varsity players, there is a mix of upperclassmen as well as freshmen.

This season the team will be headed by former varsity goalkeeper Hall, as a player-coach, who will work alongside player-manager Burke.
Experience was one aspect that the coordinators took into consideration when putting the player list together.
“Expectations are high,” Burke said. “The team has a number of players returning from last year’s varsity program, and that, coupled with the new players, should provide the basis for a successful season.”
So far the team has been practicing regularly three times a week for an hour and a half. Commitment is a key element to the success of the club team. However, it has been arranged to be less demanding than the varsity program.
The level of competition is not as difficult as that of a varsity team, and the training schedule will also be less demanding. The team “will consist of guys who might not be at the level that were brought in before, but who want to play and will give it everything they have,” Burke said.
The fall schedule consists of seven games. The team’s first and only home game is Sept. 20 at 11 a.m. They will travel to compete against teams such as Goshen, Tri-State, and in several club team round-robin tournaments to be played at Northwood University.
Throughout all the plans and organization, both Kovalchik and Assistant Director Claudette Charney have helped to manage the details of the team.
“Although the soccer programs were discontinued for an indefinite period, I will continue to evaluate their status,” Kovalchik said. “Should the economic state of the college improve over the next few years, the possibility of reinstating the soccer programs would be a realistic goal.”
Despite the uncertainty for the future of a varsity program, Burke is confident about this season.
“I think you are going to see a very excited, very creative and hard-working group of guys finally able to utilize their talent and determination to achieve success,” Burke said.

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