This year, an exciting new development has emerged at Samford; for the first time in Samford history, there will be a women’s club soccer team.
Samford Cub Soccer introduces a women’s team for the first time in Samford history.
Katie Houser, captain and founder of the women’s team, has worked to assemble the team over the past year. Growing up playing on both club soccer teams and her high school’s varsity team, Houser was disappointed when she arrived at Samford last year as a freshman and discovered there was no woman’s club team.
“Intramurals, no hate, are more for people who want to play soccer for fun,” Houser said. “I wanted something competitive but that wasn’t D1.”
Beginning in October of last year, Houser reached out to multiple advisors and coaches to start a women’s team. She contacted women soccer players to gage interest while hammering out the logistics of finding a coach, organizing a group and finding a league to join. She reached out to the men’s club team for resources, who were more than willing to help her.
Unbeknownst to Houser at the time, other women were feeling the gap of not having a women’s soccer team. Last fall, multiple women wanted to play club soccer and tried out for the men’s team. Two of them made the cut.
“We wanted to give women a chance to get involved in the team since there was no women’s team. It was more of a trial basis when they (the women) came to tryouts, but two of them were great players and ended up making our roster,” said Stephen Edds, the captain of the men’s club team.
Now, a year later, the women’s club soccer team is gearing up for their first season. With a full roster of 24 players, and 10 volunteers as substitutes, Houser is excited for the team to get started.
“I am just excited for the season to get started. Right now, the goal is to just build the team up and have women get involved,” Houser said when asked if she has high hopes for this year.
As new members of the Southeast Collegiate Soccer Alliance, the team is required to compete in three games this fall to be considered an official team in the region. They are currently set to compete in four games, two of which will be against the University of Alabama’s club team and Mississippi State. The team’s first game is Saturday, Sept. 14 at Lee University.
“Everyone has been really positive and supportive of the team. The girls got their jersey’s yesterday and were so excited!” said Houser.
Although the roster is full, the team is still allowing prospective members to attend practices and put their names on a waiting list. To get the team started, Women’s Club Soccer is allowing anyone with interest to join instead of doing a formal tryout. This year rather than doing formal tryouts, the team allowed anyone interested in participating on the roster to get the team started. Next year, they plan to host a formal tryout.
Staff Writer
