Marquette Tribune, September 10, 2015, Vol. 100, No. 2, p. 19

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Marquette Tribune, September 10, 2015, Vol. 100, No. 2, p. 19

2015-09-10

Tribune 19 Thursday, September 10, 2015 S ports Three Amigas: soccer seniors take charge Not horsing around: Equestrian Club to begin competing Despite small size, senior core able to connect with team As the sun begins to set behind Miller Park to the west, a sea of gold breaks down 16th Street from across the Menomonee River to­ward Marquette’s campus. The women’s soccer team, made up of about 30 members, has just finished practice at Valley Fields, and they’re taking their cool-down jog back to the old gymnasium. At the back of the pack, talking to the younger players and keep­ing everyone in sight, are Jacie Jermier, Ann Marie Lynch and Amanda Engel – the only three seniors on the roster. Each year, a group of seniors comes to preseason charged with the task of providing lead­ership while maintaining their best on-field performance. Af­ter the coaching staff, they are given the responsibility to set the tone not only for each game, but for the entire season. Those duties include guiding the underclassmen, who make up three-fourths of the team. “I kind of forget sometimes that they’re so young and that they don’t know the things that we know,” said Lynch, a midfielder from Arlington Heights, Illinois. “Even just little details in the game like how to mark someone … you need to tell them those By Dan Reiner [email protected] things. It’s becoming even more of a role now (as we get further into the season) to make sure that we’re communicating with those younger people.” They make a point of keeping the freshmen in check both in games and at practice. Carrying the balls and getting water are the quintessential freshman roles at practice. In games, the advice be­comes more serious: fronting the thrower on a throw-in or urging players to get more physical are the main points of emphasis. “We don’t have drama,” said Jermier, a midfielder from Mc­Farland, Wisconsin. “But if some­thing were to happen on the field, I’d definitely get chirpy out there.” Engel agreed, noting that the off-field drama never carries into the locker room. “We’ve seen what works in the past, and we’ve had teams here that we’ve been a part of that weren’t like this,” Jermier said. “I think we, as seniors, have learned what works and how the team needs to function to be successful.” Getting to that point wasn’t easy for the seniors. A broken foot and a torn ACL forced Jermier to red­shirt her first two seasons. Lynch had to fight for playing time, finally securing her starting role last year. Engel, the fourth-year starting There are 36 club sports stu­dents can participate in at Mar­quette. Some of them are very mainstream and popular, like basketball, baseball and hockey. Others are ones that most stu­dents don’t even know exist, like the Equestrian Club. keeper from Centennial, Colorado, has had to survive the pressures of goaltending in the high-powered BIG EAST conference. After back-to-back 18-win seasons and six straight NCAA tournament appearances, the team struggled to a 10-8-3 re­cord last year. The seniors took it upon themselves to right the ship this season. “I think in their own minds they want to erase some of the steps backwards that we took with our program last year,” said head coach Markus Roed­ers. “These girls are very posi­tive but at the same time are very motivated and driven. They want to be successful.” Having just three seniors isn’t normal for any team – Marquette had eight on its roster in 2013 and 2014 – but the small class leads to a tight-knit group. En­gel and Lynch have been room­mates since freshman year. The three get together often to eat ice cream, watch romantic comedies and explore Milwaukee. That relationship comes into play on and off the field. “I love the dynamic that we have,” Lynch said. “It’s nice hav­ing the three of us to trade thoughts and ideas that don’t conflict. It’s very easy to talk to each other to know what we need to do and go out and do it.” Now more than ever, the senior ladies need to use their commu­nication to rally the troops. The team has stumbled out of the gate, going 2-3 to open the season. Not only do they have to stay vocal to encourage their young teammates, but they need to channel the men­tality that’s brought them two BIG EAST championships. “We kind of have to build around them with the rest of our squad,” Roeders said of his seniors. “At the end of the day you want to see them to the extent of coaches, and I think they bring that to the table. They have a great voice within the team, and they interact with us in a way that you want senior leaders to act and communicate.” In the sprint toward the postsea­son, their leadership will be pivot­al to carry the Golden Eagles. The cool-down jog can wait until after championship season. The riders will enter dressage competition during the fall By Robby Cowles [email protected] Founded in 2012, the Equestrian Club has had a tough time promot­ing itself outside of Marquette’s O-Fest. President Natalie Ullrich and her members look to take the club to new heights this year. “Our goal is for people to stop asking ‘Oh what’s an equestri­an?’,” Ullrich said. Ullrich, a ju­nior, is entering her second year with the club and first as president. For the first time since its cre­ation, the club will travel to com­pete against other colleges in dres­sage competitions this fall. There are also plans to compete in hunt­er/jumper shows in the spring. Getting the club to this level has not been easy, but it’s already paid off when it comes to membership recruitment, according to vice president Emily Gaietto. “I think it was a big thing for experienced riders (to see) that at O-fest we weren’t just a team you can join as a beginner, which you can, but we also take it farther and are a competitive team,” Gaietto said. “Everyone’s just gotten way more serious this year I think, and I think we’re going to have more riders because of that.” This year the club will have about 30 riders, its best year membership-wise. For senior Laurel Stofan, the club’s treasurer and member since its inauguration, compet­ing against other colleges was always a long-term goal. “It’s always been people asking me, ‘Do you compete?’ and we always say ‘Well, we’re hoping to’,” Stofan said. “It’s been neat seeing the club progress, espe­cially this year. It’s taken a huge jump club-wise.” When the team travels to com­petitions, the host schools will provide the horses to the athletes through a draw. Riding different disciplines on unfamiliar horses could be a difficult task, but all visiting clubs must follow the same standards. Stofan and the rest of the club’s leadership stressed that despite the added competition, the club is not just for veteran riders. “We’ve had a lot of people who are beginners, who have ei­ther never ridden a horse or even seen one,” Stofan said. “We try to advertise that it’s not just peo­ple who’ve been riding forever, if you’ve never been on a horse that’s fine, you can come and try.” Ullrich gets excited talk­ing about new members whose first experience of horse riding was with the club. “It’s been really cool to see people who have started out, never ridden a horse before, who are now jumping,” Ullrich said. “(That) is kind of like the next level for us.” Stofan shared Ullrich’s enthu­siasm for watching beginner club members improve. “Watching people who have gone from never even riding, to jumping their first fence is awe­some,” Stofan said. Ullrich described getting “goose bumps” when watching her club members attempt their first jump. Ullrich, Stofan and Gaietto hope that this year will offer a variety of both beginners, and veteran riders competing for Marquette against other colleges. “That’s what we really want to be, we want to be welcoming to all levels, and we can offer people a lot of growth,” Ullrich said. The club begins it’s week­ly riding lessons next week, with it’s first ever competition Oct. 16-18 in Michigan. Jacie Jermier (left), Amanda Engel (center) and Ann Marie Lynch (right) are the center of this year’s team. Photos by Ben Erickson/[email protected]

Recollection Wisconsin

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