While CWU’s decorated athletic department may be known for its Division I rugby teams or the dozens of All-American athletes it produces each year; less familiar to the community is its men’s club soccer team. Whether a new student or a senior, the team has encouraged any male parties who may be interested to try out before their first match in the spring.
Given that the CWU athletic department doesn’t oversee an official collegiate men’s soccer team, those passionate for the sport may seek out its club team. The team has two seasons in a year, one in the fall and one in the spring. During each season they compete against four teams in five games. Compared to other CWU sports teams, men’s club soccer lacks common elements such as a formal head coach. The team is led by a player, center back and center defensive midfielder Josh Durfee who sets up practice drills and organizes the team.
The four teams that CWU plays all have formal coaches, assistant coaches and even assistants to the assistant coaches. However, the players are left to decide for themselves when to come in or not.
So if CWU is able to successfully beat these teams, do they really need a coach to get by? “We use it as motivation, honestly it’s like they have all these coaches for what?” sophomore right back Blake Stevens, who has played with the team since last spring said. “We’re still beating them when they have all these other resources compared to ours.”
Currently, the team is in their off-season as they anticipate the start of their season come spring. They’re practicing Mondays and Wednesdays, from 4 to 6 p.m. and they are holding tryouts for the spring season a week before spring quarter begins. “We have [a] short turnaround time,” Stevens said. “We have three days of tryouts, and then we have a game the next weekend and then that’s one of your six games. So you only have five games to kind of solidify a play style or just the overall vibe of the team.”
While the season is short-lived, the team described it as an overall exciting activity to add to anyone’s college experience; for more information about tryouts, follow @cwumenssoccer on Instagram.
Though the men’s club soccer team has yet to release an official schedule, they will be competing in a friendly match against Washington State University on Saturday, Feb. 24 held in Pullman, Washington. Their first in-season game will be during the first week of classes come spring quarter.
