UM soccer team to take on famed alumni
4/26/2002 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
Slowly, but surely, the Montana Grizzly-Alumni soccer game
is growing in popularity, which is understandable
considering first there must be alumni to have the game.
With the soccer program being only nine years old, it took
five years just to have enough graduated players to field
an alumni team.
This is the fourth annual game pitting recent graduates
against the current team, and it is quickly becoming the
favorite spring event of everyone involved.
"It is the biggest challenge of the spring," current Griz
player Erin Smith said.
Several former stars will be returning to Missoula for
Saturday's game, most notably Courtney Mathieson and Karen
Baker. Mathieson and Baker hold or share every top
offensive mark in Grizzly history, including being one and
two on the Grizzly all-time goal-scoring list. Margo Tufts
and Nikki Grossberg are also some of the other former
players making the trip back to Missoula for the game.
Those four should provide quite a scoring punch for the
alumni team, which has never lost to its younger
counterparts in the game's four-year history.
"The alumni look at the game as a great opportunity to get
back together and have fun," head coach Betsy Duerksen
said.
The younger players, though, will take the field Saturday
with a little bit more serious attitude.
"It is not just for fun," Smith said. "They are the best
players coming back, and it would be great to win."
The game starts at noon Saturday and is at South Campus
Stadium.
is growing in popularity, which is understandable
considering first there must be alumni to have the game.
With the soccer program being only nine years old, it took
five years just to have enough graduated players to field
an alumni team.
This is the fourth annual game pitting recent graduates
against the current team, and it is quickly becoming the
favorite spring event of everyone involved.
"It is the biggest challenge of the spring," current Griz
player Erin Smith said.
Several former stars will be returning to Missoula for
Saturday's game, most notably Courtney Mathieson and Karen
Baker. Mathieson and Baker hold or share every top
offensive mark in Grizzly history, including being one and
two on the Grizzly all-time goal-scoring list. Margo Tufts
and Nikki Grossberg are also some of the other former
players making the trip back to Missoula for the game.
Those four should provide quite a scoring punch for the
alumni team, which has never lost to its younger
counterparts in the game's four-year history.
"The alumni look at the game as a great opportunity to get
back together and have fun," head coach Betsy Duerksen
said.
The younger players, though, will take the field Saturday
with a little bit more serious attitude.
"It is not just for fun," Smith said. "They are the best
players coming back, and it would be great to win."
The game starts at noon Saturday and is at South Campus
Stadium.
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