Two-thirds of the way through their season, the 2-19 women’s volleyball team has had to look at things other than winning percentage to keep their spirits up.  “We are growing and getting better,” said Kourtney Crawford, head coach of the women’s volleyball team. “I think that the girls are working hard and it shows at moments, but they truly are putting in the effort.” The team has not recorded a win since Sept. 3, when they beat Montreat College 3-0. With just 13 games left in their season, they are looking to hit the reset button. “We’ve started to [reset]...

By Tyson Miller • September 30, 2022 • Sports

As he enters his fifth year of conference play with the Goshen College women’s soccer team, head coach Justin Crew is adding a new component to the team’s training regimen. “We’ve taken a more intentional approach to the mental side of the game,” Crew said. “We’re actually working with a well-known sports psychologist, Dan Abrahams.” The Dan Abrahams Soccer Academy is an online program meant to improve players’ mental skills and morale. At the start of the year, the team watched Abrahams’ videos and then discussed them together, and goalkeeper Vicky Naylor says that Crew continues to draw on the...

By Daniel James • September 30, 2022 • Sports

With mere seconds to play in a scoreless first half against Madonna University last Saturday, Felipe Carli found himself with the ball just outside the center circle. A few seconds later, the ball found itself 50 yards downfield in the back of the net as the clock read 0:01. Carli’s stunner of a goal sent the Goshen College men’s soccer team into a frenzy. The energy in front of a home crowd grew even stronger as, eighteen minutes into the second half, Lucas Bontrager gave the Maple Leafs a 2-0 lead after a beautiful pass from Mathurin Allawai.  It was...

By Daniel James • September 15, 2022 • Sports

Since the last time the Goshen College men’s tennis team defeated Indiana Wesleyan University, six years ago, the Leafs were 0-8 with a combined score of 9 to 48. Last Wednesday evening, under the lights of Goshen’s tennis complex, Filippo Gallo won a decisive third-set tiebreak and changed that all. With his comeback 3-6, 6-3, (10-6) win in a super-tiebreak, Gallo scored the fourth and clinching point for the Maple Leafs in a massive 4-3 upset of the perennial powerhouse IWU.  “I was so happy,” Gallo said. “I was thinking about what an achievement it was. We’d also come back...

By Daniel James • September 15, 2022 • Sports

A strong weekend for the Goshen College women’s soccer team was capped off by a Labor Day win over the West Virginia University Institute of Technology, as the Maple Leafs handed the Golden Bears a 6-0 drubbing. With goals from six different players — a feat that has not occurred since 2012 — the Leafs took control of the game from the first minute and never relinquished it.  “We have a lot of players that are staying after training, coming before training, so I think this result speaks to them and to what they’re willing to put in outside of...

By Daniel James • September 8, 2022 • Sports

As the NAIA cross-country season began last week, the Goshen College men’s and women’s teams both appeared in the preseason national coaches’ poll.  The men’s team, which finished 24th at the NAIA National Championship last year, are now ranked 23rd in the nation, while the women’s team received votes.  “I always have a word for the year, and this year that word is process,” said head coach Rustin Nyce.  “I don’t want to focus on the national meet; we need to focus on doing the right steps throughout the whole process to get ourselves where we want to be in...

By Daniel James • September 8, 2022 • Sports