Mikaela Wong | Freelancer
Freshly formed in 2017, the Western women’s soccer club has attracted some campus attention. The team has recently won the championship title for the Division 2/Division 3 league for Oregon’s Women’s Club Soccer Tournament.
Haylie Shinsato, a senior chemistry major, started the club in Winter term of 2017. After realizing that many girls who played in the spring intramurals soccer league were interested in playing year-round soccer at a higher competitive level, Shinsato looked into starting the club.
It seemed like the team was formed just in time as Shinsato explained.
“Actually, Oregon didn’t have a women’s (club) soccer league because there weren’t enough schools participating. But because we were one of the last clubs to be formed, we made that breaking point and were able to establish that league,” Shinsato said.
On Nov. 18, Western and the University of Oregon faced off for the overall championship title for all participating schools of Division 1, Division 2 and Division 3 levels. Although they had come up short of a win with a final score of 4-1, Shinsato said that she was not disappointed in the playing of her team.
“I think we did fairly well considering how new we are to the scene… we’re a newer team and probably needed to get used to playing with each other a little more to gain some more playing chemistry,” said Shinsato.
The women’s soccer club has seen immense support, especially for a team that has been around for less than a year. Although Shinsato is set to graduate this year, her hopes for the future of the club remains strong.
“Hopefully they will continue the competitive trend that was started and the league will grow into something even bigger. Hopefully we can get more funding from the school which could help us travel (further) to play more teams.”
Most of the girls on the team have had some sort of experience playing on competitive teams in the past, but it is not a requirement to join the club. Even though there is a higher level of commitment involved than intramurals, Shinsato was reassuring when it came to prioritizing responsibilities.
“We’re looking to go to the next level (of competition) but we understand that we’re students first and there’s work and class and other priorities. It’s also a good way to make friends and hang out,” Shinsato noted.
If you are interested in joining the women’s soccer club, go onto IMleagues to sign up or email Haylie Shinsato at hshinsato14@wou.edu.
Contact the author at mwong16@wou.edu
Photo courtesy of Lake Larsen
