For Jordan Hunter, soccer has always been a part of life.
“I’ve been playing soccer since I was four,” Hunter said. But after her high school season ended, she was worried she may have to quit the game forever.
Though she may have had the talent, Hunter says she was never interested in playing NCAA soccer.
“I wanted to be a normal college student,” Hunter said. “I knew how much of a commitment Division I sports can be, and I knew it wasn’t for me.”
But for the physical therapy major from Denver, life without soccer would be incomplete. “I can’t really imagine not playing.”
The Saint Louis University women’s club soccer team offers the perfect balance for Hunter and 20 other girls in the same situation.
The team competes in the Kansas-Missouri Soccer League, along with other universities across the Midwest.
“It’s a good balance between just intramurals and full-blown NCAA athletics,” Will Fuentes, a senior at SLU and a coach of the team, said. “It’s a happy medium, where people are having fun, but they still really want the competition.”
Club sports programs provide students with the opportunity to participate on a team, in an athletic and competitive environment, without the full-time dedication of NCAA athletics. SLU’s club sports program offers over 20 different sports and currently includes more than 800 students.
It is also unique in that students coach fellow students in a variety of club sports.
The women’s club soccer team is one of the most successful clubs at SLU. The ladies have reached the Regional Tournament each of the past four years while competing in a conference with schools such as Missouri, Kansas, Kansas State and Nebraska. This year, SLU has once again qualified for the regional tournament with a record of 2-3-1.
“We have a really competitive team,” Elise Landiak, senior captain of the club team, said.
“We have a lot of girls who got college offers but decided not to play. But we are competitive, and we always have a chance to make a run at regionals.”
This year’s tournament will be held over Halloween weekend at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. The team has decided not to attend due to missed classes and high costs.
Mark Luegering, a men’s club soccer player and coach of the women’s team, said the club gets financial help from the Student Government Association. But he also said that most of the fundraising, recruiting and planning comes from the girls on the team.
“We really try to get our name out there with flyers, tables in the Quad or fundraisers,” Luegering said.
The girls particularly try to generate interest among freshman where, Luegering said, a lot of students are unaware of club sports opportunities.
Freshmen often hear about the team from flyers or from the annual Activities Fair at the beginning of each school year.
The team holds tryouts at the beginning of every season, which begins with the start of the fall semester.
Luegering said that these tryouts are usually heavily attended and highly competitive.
“We get a lot of people who look like they haven’t touched a ball in years, and we get some girls who could probably play NCAA Division II or even Division I if they really wanted to,” he said.
And the girls will tell you that the competitive nature is part of what makes it so much fun.
“We really play some good teams and some good schools,” Kelly Schoen, a sophomore physical therapy major, said.
“It gives us a chance to play soccer but not take too much away from our lives as college students.”
