The Hillsdale College men’s club soccer team wrapped up their season in the Midwest Alliance Soccer Conference in early October after a series of close games against teams including Michigan State, University of Michigan, and Central Michigan University.
After bringing on nine new freshmen and a new coach this season, the team focused on integrating the new players and growing together as a team.
“It was a bit of a learning curve with trying to get up to speed with the team and figuring out what the team’s strengths and weaknesses are,” senior Sam Schaefer said. “There was definitely improvement over the course of the season. We got to be really, really good defensively, which I was proud of. It was a lot of moral victories, if not actual victories, which sucks because you want to win. But you have to take the moral victories.”
This was the club’s second season in the MASC, a competitive league in which Hillsdale is by far the smallest school. Although the team finished with a record of zero wins, nine losses, and one draw, junior and team captain Matt Muller said the team contended well, with most final scores within a few points.
“We had a lot of close games, like against Michigan State it was 3-4, and Western Michigan we tied,” Muller said. “And three or four other games were within one goal. So it was an encouraging season considering it was just the second one in this league.”
Hillsdale is the only private school in the league, according to coach and philosophy professor Paul Rezkalla, so their performance against these larger teams was impressive.
“There’s a lot of individual talent on the pitch,” Rezkalla said. “Hillsdale, which is a college of 1,400, is holding its own in a league with state schools 50,000 students strong. That is impressive, and I think we had a super impressive season just in that regard alone.”
Looking back on the season, freshman Jacob Beckwith remembered their home game against Michigan State as a moment when the team came together and contended well against one of the best teams in the league.
“We went down 4-0 pretty quickly. It was pouring rain, so it was muddy and everyone was slipping around, but we didn’t give up. We went on to score 3 goals in the last 20 minutes and almost tied the game,” said Beckwith. “We’re going to give it our all until the final whistle — and you don’t see that often on a club team. ”
Based on the strength of the freshmen and the talent of the team as a whole, Muller said that he sees potential for the team to succeed in the league next season.
“The goal is to stay in the same league and really start earning a spot in it,” Muller said. “Considering the fact that we’ve really competed and we have a young team, my hope is to beat four or five of the teams that we would compete with. The league has both a regional and national tournament so my goal for next year is to attend that. It takes four or five wins and a few ties. I think it’s definitely doable with the team we’ll have.”
Beckwith said he has a lot of hope for what the next three years will bring for the team.
“We have a huge freshman class, and it’s a really skilled freshmen class,” he said. “And we’re only losing four seniors, so the majority of the team is young. Because of that, we’ll be together for a while which means we can grow together and continue to improve and win some games.”
In the meantime, the team hopes to get the greater campus community more involved and excited about soccer. The team will be hosting indoor soccer in the sports complex on Wednesdays at 8 p.m., open to any students who want to play.
With the World Cup coming up, Rezkalla said he hopes to see more of campus coming together to enjoy the sport.
“Soccer is the most watched and most played sport on the planet for a reason,” Rezkalla said. “Especially with the World Cup around the corner, I want to see lots of soccer watch parties, students wearing international jerseys all over campus, and people collecting stickers for the World Cup. Let’s be excited about soccer.”
