GU Men’s Soccer Team achieves SLIAC championship twice in a row
Published: December 05, 2023
Author: Minh Do
Pic credit: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Greenville University's men’s soccer team has nailed the conference championship again this year! Prior to the winning 2022 season, it had been four years since GU’s men's soccer had been to the NCAA Championship, so it is a big deal for the soccer program to have a winning team two years in a row.
The men’s team played its final game of the SLIAC tournament at home against Webster University. It was an incredibly intense final - the same two teams from last year’s championship game, and GU beat their rival Webster two years in a row.
Coach Chris Swift is exceptionally proud of the whole team. “Well, we have won 3 [SLIAC Championship Titles] in 6 years, so it was four years in between the first and the second. The thing is, once we got a taste of that first one in 2018, it only fueled the fire to get back there. And it isn’t easy to get back. This year, we had more results that didn’t go our way, and we had to win three games in the tournament to win this championship, whereas we only had to win 2 in both of the past ones. So, I am extremely proud of this group for sticking together and believing when it would have been easy to turn on each other and cast blame. This was truly one of my favorite groups to coach, and I am so proud of all the players, the staff, and our support staff. None of this is possible without everyone playing their part, and it has been an honor to be part of such a special group,” he shared.
In the final game from the 2023 conference tournament, the result was a 1-0 win with a header goal from Nicolas Conder a few minutes into the second half. In the last 10 minutes, it took hard defending from everyone to protect the lead, heading straight to the championship title for the GU soccer team.
Winning the conference tournament means a direct ticket to the national championship, where you play teams from all over the United States in your division. Greenville men’s soccer team has made it to the NCAA Division III Tournament two times in a row, this year and last. This year, in the National tournament, GU lost to Calvin University, a nationally ranked team.
Kyle Sunderland, a fifth-year senior and co-captain, sees that winning the conference championship back-to-back was the sweetest way to end his soccer career. Throughout his senior year, he did not plan to return to play his fifth year. Athletes who competed during the COVID 19 pandemic have been allowed to replay their COVID season.
However, after winning a championship and being a part of such a special group, he felt like he had to return and do it again. Kyle said: “Winning it a second time this year felt like an obligation because we knew from the start how challenging it would be, but I was so proud to overcome all the adversity we went through to defend the title and win a championship on our home field against our previous year rivals. The script could not have been written any better.”
Moritz Grunig, a freshman from Germany, shared these words from his heart: “Winning the championship is, of course, the best thing that can happen in my freshman year. I think everyone who comes to the US and wants to play college soccer comes with the goal of winning the championship with their team. The whole thing was very exciting for me, but also not a coincidence. Because since day one we were training for this game, for this title. It wasn't easy, of course, because we had a lot of pressure. People kept saying we were a better team than last year, so the expectation of winning the title was naturally very high. We were also the defending champions, which naturally made us a target for the other teams. But as already mentioned, we are more than a team; we are a family, and despite various phases where things perhaps didn't go so well, we didn't let it get us down and always believed in ourselves, and in the end, we deserved to win the title. I am incredibly grateful to have been part of this family and this journey. I will certainly never forget this and will always look back on it with joy.”
