Sports
March 21, 2024
GCFC gears up for second season
In the spring of 2022, then-Goshen College student Henrique Eichenberger embarked on his dream project: starting a soccer club. Through Eichenberger’s connections and with the support of GC president Rebecca Stoltzfus, Goshen City Football Club played its first season in 2023. Since Eichenberger was a fall-sport athlete at the time, he wanted a way to play soccer in the summer. He describes his summer of 2022: “I played in a club that was just formed in Ligonier called Fox United … I saw that I might be able to do that here in Goshen, and I thought it would be...
March 21, 2024
Goshen vies for Highway 20 Cup
Prior to the 2019-20 athletic season, Goshen College and Bethel University implemented the U.S. Highway 20 Cup. It’s a full-sport competition between the programs, who compete for 16 total points (one for each sport). In each of the first four years, Bethel easily bested Goshen. This year, the score is 7.75-4.75 in Bethel’s favor, which means that Goshen has a shot to win. Sure, it’s a long shot. But 4.75 is the most points Goshen has ever recorded in the competition, and a clean sweep of the remaining schedule (including two men’s volleyball games, two softball games and men’s and...
March 14, 2024
Leafs baseball wins four straight
The Goshen College baseball team is riding a four-game winning streak, tallying three wins against rival Bethel College before taking down No. 24 Concordia on Tuesday. The Maple Leafs beat Concordia, 6-5, thanks to a ninth-inning go-ahead two-run home run from Joseph Cerda, bringing the Leafs’ season record to 9-11 (4-4 conference). The win against Concordia is GC’s first non-conference win against a ranked opponent since 2007. “This team is very exciting to watch and play with,” Cerda said. “There’s never a true moment where you could count us out … There is an excitement around everyone with one another...
March 14, 2024
Softball sets sights on conference success
In the last week of February, Goshen College softball traveled to Melbourne, Florida, to play in the Space Coast Spring Games. Last year they made the same trip for the first time, finishing 7-3. Because of last year’s success, they were able to compete in the Legacy Game against the University of Michigan-Dearborn, which was held in the Space Coast stadium. The stadium seats 8,100 people and has been a practice field for some MLB teams. Playing two games a day, Monday to Friday, the Leafs improved on last year with an 8-2 record. Junior right fielder Shea VanScoter said,...
February 22, 2024
Men’s volleyball looks for growth
With a new semester came a new Goshen College men’s volleyball season. The team came into the season looking to start a new campaign with six freshmen on the 14 man roster. Over the first seven games, the team’s record stood at three wins and four losses. Players and coaches traveled to St. Mary-of-the-Woods College this past Friday to take part in a tri-match that consisted of a game against St. Mary on Friday evening, and two games against St. Mary and Brescia University on Saturday. In Goshen’s first game against St. Mary-of-the-Woods, the Maple Leafs went down two sets...
February 22, 2024
Track team preps for nationals
There were team and individual success stories at the Crossroads League Indoor Track Championships on Feb. 16 and 17. Maple Leafs on both the men’s and women’s teams soared above the competition. In the women’s 4×400 meter relay, the combined team of Britney Ortega, a sophomore, Mia Wellington, a senior, Annika Alderfer Fisher, a senior and Naomi Ross Richer, a senior, beat the previous Goshen College school record with a time of 4:11.91. Alderfer Fisher wasn’t finished bringing in points for GC. In the mile, she placed second out of 25 with a time of 5:00.89. “I’d never gotten a...
February 15, 2024
Speedy start propels softball to series sweep
The Goshen College softball team started their season off strong, sweeping a doubleheader against Albion with scores of 6-1 and 13-1. Alisyn Catenacci, a senior, started the season with three scoreless innings; she ended the game with a run given up in five innings pitched off of just two hits. She also contributed in the batter’s box, driving in the Maple Leafs’ first run of the season, and scoring off of a double in the third inning. “It felt good to get [out] there for the first time and power through as a team,” she said. “We were able to...
February 15, 2024
Baseball season underway
The Goshen College baseball team traveled to Bellevue, Kentucky last Friday to take on Kentucky Christian University and Brescia University. The team went into the weekend with a record of 2-2, which gave Coach Brad Stoltzfus and the players some confidence. Over the course of the weekend, the team was scheduled to play four games against two teams: one against each team on Friday and Saturday. Due to field conditions, only Friday’s games were played. In their game against KCU, both teams started off well, but the Leafs went on to lose 5-3. In their game against Brescia, Goshen again...
February 1, 2024
Distance sets records amidst ‘track hack’
The Goshen College men’s and women’s track teams competed this past Friday at Grand Valley State University and Saturday at Taylor University, with numerous team members setting school records and topping ‘A’ standards to qualify for nationals. Mathew Keitany, a junior, ran a time of 8:25.85 in the 3000-meter at Grand Valley State, breaking Nelson Kemboi’s previous indoor record of 8:26.43. The next day at Taylor, Kemboi, a senior, qualified for nationals with a time of 8:35.76; the time, when adjusted for the disadvantage of Taylor’s 200-meter track, also came in under the 8:30.00 national standard. Drew Hogan, a sophomore,...
February 1, 2024
Tennis begins spring season
The Goshen College men’s and women’s tennis teams kick off their spring season this weekend. Both will travel to Bethel University and Christian Brothers University in Tennessee before heading to South Haven, Mississippi for a match at Blue Mountain University. Carmen Aliaga, a sophomore on the women’s tennis team, said, “I think it’s exciting, especially since when I played in high school, it was always in the fall, never in the spring. We get to play more, which is what we as a team want.” Goshen’s tennis teams don’t typically have a full spring season, only playing a game or...
January 25, 2024
Volleyball preseason preview
This Saturday, the Goshen College men’s volleyball team will open their season with a game against Lakeland University at home. They will debut their season with new leadership and new faces. Last season, the Leafs managed an overall record of 9-12 and a conference record of 7-11; they are currently ranked No. 7 in the WHAC preseason poll. Jeff Phillips is new at the helm, taking on the positions of head coach and director of volleyball this year. Accompanying him is Wyatt Bollinger ’23, a former setter who has stepped up to take on a role as associate head coach....
January 25, 2024
Track and field at ‘a high level’
On Saturday, January 20, the Goshen College men’s and women’s track teams traveled to Purdue University Fort Wayne to compete in a meet with Trine University, Purdue University Fort Wayne, Indiana Wesleyan University and Wright State University. Goshen performed well in a variety of events on both the men’s and women’s teams, and a few individuals excelled in their particular events. In women’s weight throw, Willow Kenneda finished fifth, while Kaitlyn Johnson and Theresa Rodriguez placed 16th and 17th, respectively. Kassidy Faler placed fifth in the women’s pole vault with a height of 2.50 meters. Evan O’Toole placed second in...
January 18, 2024
Women’s basketball fights but falls to Taylor
This past Saturday, women’s basketball lost to Taylor 79-72, falling to 8-10 overall, and 3-5 in conference play. Kyla Foster led the team with 15 points, filling the box score with 11 rebounds and 5 assists as well. Her 5 offensive rebounds helped Goshen to outscore Taylor 11-8 on second chance opportunities. “I felt good about it,” she said. “I wish we could’ve come out with a W, of course, but it felt good being the motor of it while we were down and just trying to keep us together.” Taylor started the game on an 8-0 run; however, Goshen...
January 18, 2024
Men’s basketball faces a difficult Crossroads
The Goshen men’s basketball team lost to Taylor 79-71 this past Saturday, falling to 0-17 this season. Karson Jenkins led the Maple Leafs with 27 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double, also dishing out a team-leading 4 assists. Isaac Miller, Judah Simfukwe and Marcus Northern contributed 10 points each, with Kevin Cota adding 8 points and 8 rebounds. Despite the loss, Jenkins felt positive about the team’s effort. “We fought hard; we played together,” he said. “We played one of our better games of the season, and… we have a young team. As we get more experienced… we’ll be...
November 30, 2023
Fall athletes on the end of a career
As the semester comes to an end, so too does a collegiate athletic career for many Maple Leafs. Being an athlete at Goshen College means different things to different people, so I talked to seniors who finished their final season to hear their thoughts. Mathurin Allawai began playing soccer when he was growing up in Chad. He said, “I didn’t want to play soccer at first; I was more of a student … [but when] I was 4 years old my friends would tell me ‘Come, let’s play soccer’ since I was always in my room studying. They brought me...