After a long Saturday, Messiah concluded its action-packed weekend on Shoemaker Field with both men’s and women’s soccer. Earlier in the day, softball, baseball and men’s and women’s cross country took to their respective fields and courses with students in attendance.
Although the fans were limited to students only, athletes were happy to be back to doing something they love in front of their peers.
“Being back out here on the field was great,” Lydia Ewing, senior goalkeeper for women’s soccer, said. “Having the fans and the energy and just hearing them cheer again was a lot of fun, especially with my teammates.”
Students were able to get back some sense of the pre-COVID-19 reality and enjoy a day packed full of sports on a Saturday in October.
“It’s just kind of a way for us to come back to, as people would say, ‘normal,’” Jordan Howard, a junior peace and conflict studies major, said. “In a sense we get to look forward to that weekend match.”
Because of restrictions with COVID-19, teams have had to come up with new ways to interact with each other and form the bonds that they typically have.
“We’re such a close team off of the field,” Ewing said. “It’s been really hard for us to stay connected. I think we have been doing a good job of bonding with each other in different and new ways.”
All of the teams have had to overcome this hurdle in one way or another. Collectively, the teams seemed to encourage each other and the games were a great way to bring them closer to one another. Fans also really enjoyed the experience.
“It’s just awesome for other people, outside of those teams, to come and cheer them on,” Howard said. “It brings at least some level of a similar atmosphere that we would normally have in a normal season, where you have stands full of people cheering on the teams and having the teams out there pouring out all they have.”
More teams will be competing against each other in the coming weeks, so keep an eye out for those games and make sure to order your tickets ahead of time on the IMLeagues app.