athletics
October 3, 2018
Two sisters get one last shot at Leaf’s basketball
Four minutes into the first game of the 2017 season, Caitlyn O’Neal, a senior, attacked the basket and was hit by a defender, tearing her anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL. As painful as the injury was for Caitlyn, it was also hard for her teammate and twin sister, Carley O’Neal. After all, the girls had been playing basketball together their entire lives. “When Caitlyn tore her ACL, the first thing that came into my mind was sadness and disappointment,” said Carley. “I didn’t want to believe that our last season of basketball together was taken away from us.” Last year,...
September 12, 2018
Welcoming Watson: Athletic Director Arrives at Goshen College
Harold M. Watson, who has experience in all three NCAA divisions, was named Goshen College’s athletic director in August. Watson intends on building relationships and winning championships. Watson, 35, who most recently served as assistant athletic director for strategic marketing at Georgia Southern University, said that Goshen College is ideally suited for shaping a community. “Small colleges allow you to build intimate, lasting relationships within both the college community and city — relationships that go on beyond the four years our students are here,” Watson said. “It really is a unique experience and I am excited about getting back to...
September 5, 2018
New school year brings new opportunities for Maple Leaf athletics
While the school year has just begun, the fall sports season has been in full swing for several weeks. The Goshen men’s soccer team started the season with a tough slate of games. Three of their five opponents were ranked in the nations top 20. They opened the season Aug. 21 at the John Ingold complex with a 3-1 loss to 15th-ranked Madonna University. Three days later, they made a comeback with a 3-2 win against Holy Cross College. Following this, Goshen experienced two more losses: a 3-1 loss to 18th ranked Central Methodist University and a 2-1 loss...
April 12, 2018
Serving the sports community
Tony Miller is a statistician, a historian and a jokester. He’s an information-driven writer with a mind full of sarcasm and statistics. This savvy, sedulous, side-splitting soul, sometimes seen falling off tangent mountain, came to the realization at the age of 4 that his motor skills and physical limitations due to his cerebral palsy would prevent him from becoming a professional athlete. He knew, however, that people got paid to speak about baseball and set his mind to stay involved with sports through this avenue. Two decades later, he continues to focus on connecting with athletes and telling their story....
February 15, 2018
Former Notre Dame and NFL player speaks at Goshen FCA
Former local football standout Braxston Cave shared his faith and athletic journeys to Goshen College student-athletes, coaches and community members this past Sunday as part of an event hosted by the GC Fellowship of Christian Athletes campus ministry. “I encourage you all to never stand on the sidelines in your faith,” said Cave. “Strive to lead by example in the ways you treat others and how you compete on and off the field of play.” Cave began his football career at Penn High School in Mishawaka, Indiana, where he was a Scout.com second-team All-American and a finalist for Indiana’s “Mr....
February 15, 2018
Women’s soccer coaches leave GC
It was announced in the faculty bulletin this past Friday that women’s soccer coaches Scott and Anne Gloden, who have been with Goshen for three years, will no longer be working for Goshen College. The announcement comes after conversations that took place between the women on the soccer team and administration. Last semester, the women’s soccer team sensed that the Glodens were not a good fit for the team as head and assistant coaches. After an attempt to talk to the Glodens directly did not go well, the team decided to go to the administration about the issue. The issue...
January 25, 2018
New committee forms on campus
Goshen College has started a new committee on campus to work with athletic coaches and academic faculty in order to avoid putting students in the middle of conflicts. The committee was formed last semester and met for the first time on Jan. 12. The committee is made up of several faculty members who volunteer their time and energy to act as liaisons for their departments. The idea is that this will enhance communication between athletic and academic programs. “On many campuses, [academics and athletics] are seen as competing areas, but we see tremendous value in the partnership,” said Josh Gleason,...
November 30, 2017
Runner compete in Vancouver
Chelsea Foster recently finished 93rd at the NAIA national cross country meet in Vancouver, Wash. Vincent Kibunja finished 96th in the men’s race. Foster and Kibunja were the lone Goshen qualifiers for the Nov. 18 race, but they aren’t ready to be done. “It wasn’t bad for my first time at nationals, but I wasn’t satisfied,” said Foster. These two runners are special, according to cross country coach Rustin Nyce. “They both kind of have that same mentality where they don’t mind doing the hard work and they know doing the work is going to benefit them,” Nyce said. When...
November 2, 2017
Ivana Bumpalot: Jamming her way through life
Off in the distance something catches your eye. It’s as purple as the Goshen College color itself – maybe even more purple. If the velvet neon purple didn’t already distract you from class, the neon pink wheels and cyan blue toe stop surely did. The image is getting closer – it’s Goshen College junior Riley Friesner and she’s just bought a new pair of skates. “These particular skates aren’t for derby, but I was excited about their arrival so I wore them around,” Friesner said. Friesner is a roller derby girl, but as she wears her skates to class, it...
November 2, 2017
Former player, 2017 alum hired as women’s basketball assistant coach
Kelsey Fraley, a former Goshen College women’s basketball player, has now joined the coaching staff. Fraley played for four years as a Maple Leaf and graduated in 2017. Throughout her career, Fraley had multiple coaching opportunities in Goshen, including head coach of the freshman boys’ basketball team at Goshen High School and head coach for the Bethany Christian Middle School girls’ team. Stephanie Miller, head coach at GC, enters her eighth year for the Goshen College women’s basketball team, and she has added a new assistant coach to the staff. “The day came when I had to make the decision...
November 2, 2017
Ingle starts FCA chapter
Last year, Chandler Ingle saw a need on campus and decided he had the solution: he started a Goshen College chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. A current junior, he started an FCA chapter last year with former Goshen student Whitney Peterson because he noticed what he deemed as a lack of spiritual activity on campus. This year he took the reins and is leading the group by himself. Ingle started the group as a way to bring more Christian ministry to the campus. He compares the group to a bible study or a youth group. The group meets...
October 12, 2017
Men’s volleyball plays first match
Last Friday the men’s volleyball team had an exhibition match at 8:00 p.m. as part of the homecoming celebrations. The men won all three sets during the 45-minute scrimmage versus Lawrence Technological University. Men’s volleyball is a new addition to Goshen College athletics this year, with the idea for the program coming from Josh Gleason, director of athletics. “We were in the process of putting together a strategic plan…of how athletics could be a tool for recruitment [and] how it fit our mission,” stated Gleason. Gleason saw that volleyball was a popular sport in many of Goshen’s recruiting regions and...
October 12, 2017
From the U.S Women’s National Team to GC
Twenty-five yards out, off the right post and into the back of the net. That’s how a striker for the U.S. Women’s National Team, who cannot be named due to HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), scored her first goal after being out for seven long months with an ankle injury. Walking off the pitch that day, the famous player turned and joked to the athletic trainer who had taped her left foot before the match, “You’re gonna have to tape my ankle for the rest of my games.” The athletic trainer laughed in appreciation of the compliment from...
March 16, 2017
‘Write on sports’ camp returns
For two weeks out of the summer, middle school students from all over Elkhart County have the opportunity to come to Goshen College to be sports journalists. From July 10-21, students going into seventh or eighth grade next fall are invited to participate in the Write on Sports camp. Led by three certified teachers (two from Goshen Middle School and one from Concord Elementary) and three Goshen College student interns, students get the chance to interview guest athletes and write stories on a deadline. Students and staff also take a field trip to South Bend to visit the University of...
February 2, 2017
Sutliff continues to persevere for father
As a young girl growing up in Agua Dulce, California, Krista Sutliff hit, ran, stole and slid knowing that was her destiny. No matter how tough it became, she always got up, patted the dirt off herself and kept working to be the best she could be. Now a senior exercise science major at Goshen College, Sutliff has realized her sporting dreams, leading Goshen College’s softball team as captain (2015-2017), and holding the record for most walks in a single season in 2013. She’s also started for the Goshen Maple Leafs as the second baseman since her freshman year. “The...