By Scott Kaesshaefer

Loyola Men’s Club Soccer is not your average collegiate club sport’s team. Head Coach Tom Durkin’s official player roster alone indicates the exceptional talent his team embodies. With twelve of the club’s eighteen players having had varsity experience, the team hopes to make its mark in the northeast region of the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA). “Having two-thirds of our team being ex-varsity members is obviously a huge advantage,” Durkin admitted. “But all of our guys can play, regardless of whether they played for [Varsity Head Coach Mark] Mettrick or not.”

Although the team achieves success with the help of its non-varsity players, Durkin understands that those who bring varsity experience to the club team are highly valued. “Many of our guys were cut or chose to leave the team for various reasons,” he said. “But they’ve played soccer all of their lives, so joining the club team is a way to continue their collegiate soccer careers.” Rather than quit soccer altogether, Durkin stated, these athletes continue to play in an environment that gives them more freedom and flexibility. Having top athletes in a division that includes schools like Johns Hopkins, Navy, and Syracuse is a tremendous advantage.

The team, which is one of the more successful Loyola club programs, practices three nights a week with games on the weekends, most of which are played on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. The regional tournament in November and the national tournament in March, held at Clemson University in South Carolina, are two of the major highlights each season.

Junior co-captain Todd Stone has played under Durkin for the past three years, as well as alongside many talented players, but none more so than this year. “These guys are some of the best I’ve played with,” Stone said. “Most of them were All-State in high school and were heavily recruited by Division-1 schools.” Stone acknowledged that one might think that a club team full of varsity-level players is a full-fledged anomaly. Some would even argue it shouldn't be allowed, and that a club team of that caliber would crush all of its competition. However, judging by recent athletic trends, according to Stone, this is not such an unusual occurrence. “Many teams are just getting better, plain and simple,” he said. Stone added that the addition of former varsity players appears to be the “wave of the future” of club soccer, evident in several of Loyola’s competitors. “I know some kids from other schools like Villanova and Towson that were on varsity but now play club,” he shared. “You’re not getting your pudgy C-list athletes anymore.”

Junior Goalkeeper and fellow co-captain Sean Dempsey is one of the twelve former varsity players and acknowledges the club team’s ideal balance of competition and fun. “When I was on the varsity team, it was a lot more work than I had anticipated. It didn’t really leave me time to take part in much else,” he admitted. “The club team allows you to actually enjoy playing the game, but at the same time, the guys you play with are fierce competitors who want to win.”

Stone accredits the team's mediocre fall record of 3-2-4 to injuries to many key players. However, two of the team’s three victories came against first-ranked Johns Hopkins University and second-ranked University of Delaware. “We underachieved, in our minds,” he said. “We had two big wins against top-ten teams, but between injuries and the fact that guys hadn’t really played with each other before this semester, it was tough.”

So, what can the Captain and his team expect for the spring season?

“Now that we have a semester under our belts,” Stone said grinning, “we’re going to be nasty.”

With a team comprised of varsity-level competitors, who would expect any less?