Club Sport of the Week: Women’s Soccer

Although women’s soccer has had leagues in Europe as far back as 1930 and international competitions that date back to the 1950’s, the US did not begin to have organized women’s soccer until the late 1970’s. The early 1980’s saw the spread of varsity college team and the creation of the national squad, but it was not until 1995 that the first national women’s league started and not until 2001 that the first professional league began. Even after the slow start in America, women’s soccer is now fueled by a highly successful national team (multiple Olympic gold and silver medals and two World Cup titles) and enormous participation at the youth level.
Even though organized soccer has been predominately a man’s game for much of the sport’s history, women who lived before the 19th century often participated in “pick-up” games with participants from neighboring villages. These games had a rugby-type feel to them, as they were generally an all-out riot that were continually suppressed by the government. The game became more modernized during World War I, when a factory in Preston, England had a women versus men game. The score was not reported, but the fact that the women (who at the time weren’t supposed to be working outside the home) had played a game that was seen by many allowed the game to become more and more popular. The factory’s team played for more than 50 years, hosting charity matches to help raise money for the war effort.

Now, thirty years later, the Women’s Club Soccer is making waves here at CSM. The team has been around for nine years, with this year being the fourth time the team has been invited to Nationals. Club Soccer has grown to be much more competitive in the last few years and has seen a large increase in participation and dedication. The club initially had troubles finding enough players, as the varsity team was created so many girls went that route. Today, the club has to hold tryouts because there is so much interest in playing. As the team is already in the middle of their season, they are not looking for new players. However, if you are interested in joining next season, please contact club-soccerw@mines.edu for more information.

Throughout the season, the team competes in both regular season games and tournaments. The two main tournaments are the CU Tournament and Nationals. Nationals are at the end of the season (November) in Memphis, Tennessee. This year has had an intense beginning, with the team already playing CU, CSU, and Boise State. The rest of the season sees the team playing CU Gold at 9:00 AM on October 6 on the IM Fields, with another match against Colorado Mesa University at October 20 at 3:00 PM on the IM Fields. The following day (October 21), the team will be playing DU on the DU practice field at 12:00 PM. The next match is against CSU on the IM Fields at 10:00 AM on October 26. The final match of the season is against DU on Oredigger Field on October 28 at 7:30 PM.