Soccer passion should transfer from World Cup

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The fall sporting season generally is dominated by the football team, but MSU has much more to offer.

Sure, they might not be revenue-generating, but sports such as men’s and women’s soccer and field hockey have had strong showings in the past couple of seasons and also early in the 2010 season.

These sports are worthy of attendance and support as they all have high aspirations — and the games are free to attend.

Men’s soccer especially comes with an extra boost from a major world event this summer.

The 2010 World Cup in South Africa pushed soccer back into the mainstream light, and college students especially began to watch soccer with extreme passion.

For a full month this summer, the world’s best national teams played and showed the U.S. once again how exciting the sport can be and how much the game is loved across the world.

Although the U.S. team didn’t do the American thing and win the whole tournament, they did show pretty well, and could have done better had Ghana played a cleaner game, in my opinion.

Either way, Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard showed Americans that the U.S. can play with the big dogs and soccer can be fun to watch, even for a bunch of Yanks.

And soccer fans at MSU are in for a treat if they can meander to games.

The men’s team has made the NCAA tournament the past two years, including both the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles in 2008. MSU saw a little bit of decline in 2009, finishing tied for sixth in the conference.

This year, the team returns all but one starter from last year and has one of the nation’s best goalies in senior Avery Steinlage.

The team, ranked No. 24 in the preseason poll, wrapped up its exhibition season on Sunday with a 1-0 win over No. 11 Duke, propelling them into a season opening East Coast road trip that will make a stop at No. 6 Maryland and Georgetown.

Steinlage was placed on the Missouri Athletic Club’s Hermann Trophy Watch List, one of collegiate soccer’s most prestigious awards.

There is a whole heap of reasons to venture to DeMartin Stadium at Old College Field to watch the team’s attempt at a deep run this year, but a conversation with Steinlage is all I need to try to get people to the games.

After a question regarding the Hermann Trophy Watch List and what he hopes for on an individual level, Steinlage said he doesn’t care about personal success as long as the team succeeds and students come out to support the team.

And that’s saying something. With all the praise Steinlage has received — and it’s well deserved — an athlete could let it go to his head and only care about personal success. Instead, the senior wants people to come out to the games, support the team and see that MSU has excellent teams outside of football and basketball.

MSU might not yet be regarded as a powerhouse in athletics, but there are many sports MSU continues to improve in and represent the university. And student support is a key aspect to that success.

Pat Evans is a State News sports reporter. He can be reached at evanspa7@msu.edu

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