With our sweaty hands stacked in a tight huddle right before the whistle blew for kickoff, I realized I was probably chanting for the last time, “Spiders on three. One, two, three, Spiders!” As a senior on the women’s club soccer team, losing today was not an option.
It wasn’t a normal in-season match-up, but the annual Capital Cup, when Richmond’s club teams face off against VCU’s in a weekend charged with competition and pride. It is, to me, the truest expression of UR’s vibrant club sport spirit.
As the spring weather warms the turf and draws competitors from every corner of campus, every team — from rugby to pickleball — does its best to take home the massive trophy and add another tally to Richmond’s legacy of wins.
For club soccer (or “cloccer,” as we affectionately call it), this tournament is where rivalries are passed down, and more than just school pride is on the line. Not only had we, UR’s women’s club soccer team, won the past three years, but this would also likely be the last organized soccer game I’ll ever play in. I was determined to end on a high note.
It’s hard now to believe that when I arrived at UR three years ago, my soccer cleats and shin guards were stashed under my bed back home in Minnesota. At the time, I held a residual angst from intense club soccer seasons and coaches in high school who made me think I had parted ways with the sport for good.
But when I overheard from some other students my first year that, for the UR club team, there was no coach and no cuts, my ears perked up. I promptly asked my parents to mail my old, stinky soccer bag, full of cleats caked with dried mud and shin guards on their last legs, to me. They arrived just in time for the start of the season.
I remember walking into that first practice. Music blasted on someone’s old speaker, and the older girls led us in small-sided scrimmages. I felt a part of myself open back up again. Shaking off the dust took a while, but no one yelled if I made a mistake, and I made a lot of them.
That same welcoming environment, along with those cleats, has hung on for the past four years. Sure enough, as I, now a senior, laced up this early Capital Cup morning on the IM fields, hugs, stories, and playful teases passed between us, just like always.
“When the whistle blew, just like that, the giggles vanished. We leaned in, focused, settling into our usual intensity.”
This time, the juniors and sophomores in classes after me guided the team through pregame warm-ups and delivered hype-up speeches. Despite the chill in the air, the excitement was palpable, all of us poised for the long, hard-fought game ahead.
When the whistle blew, just like that, the giggles vanished. We leaned in, focused, settling into our usual intensity.
VCU is always a physical team, and this year was no different. I got a ball straight to the stomach and more than a few customary shoves, but I shoved right back. With a bench packed full of energetic subs, there was no excuse not to leave it all out on the field.
In the middle of the first half, one of our star sophomores, Kelly Fletcher, scored a stunning goal from outside the box that soared over the keeper and put us up 1-0. From the sidelines, the team screamed every nickname and inside joke we could think of.
Even up one goal, our energy never faltered. The brisk air stinging our lungs, we still sprinted for every 50-50 ball, pressured their defenders high in their half, and strung together passes in a constant stream of chemistry.
“Try your best, encourage each other, and don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself.”
Despite a few more close chances and plenty of shots on goal, we maintained our shutout and took home the win. For the younger girls on the team, the appetite for a few more goals would have to be satiated next year.
After every game, when hands are shaken and “good game” is exchanged, we always end with the positives, and this time was no different. Complaining about the refs or dwelling on little mistakes doesn’t make us a better team.
In a way that academic achievement never entirely has, playing soccer taught me to show up even when I didn’t feel like it and shake off failure even when it felt like the entire world was watching. At UR, the culture of the women’s club team has maintained the same philosophy: Try your best, encourage each other, and don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself.
Even though I’ll miss the warm nights under the lights when every problem is checked at the door, I know the future of the team is in great hands.
And fittingly enough, our season, and my time on the team, ended in the best way possible.
Not only did we get the dub, Richmond also won the entire Capital Cup and maintained ownership of the massive silver trophy, which now sits proudly in the Weinstein Recreation Center for all to see.
After graduation, I might come back just to pay it a visit.