Principia College - Sheaf Yearbook (Elsah, IL)

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SOCCER The 1972 Varsity Soccer Team just didn't have a good season. Rather than taking charge of our attitude, we let emotion, mood, and our last loss take charge of us. In short, we let things affect us--a problem which is detrimental to aggressive play and team unity. This is a broad generalization and there are plenty of exceptions Cboth collective and individual excep- tionsj, but as a whole there was a lack of consistency and this hurt our practices and games. The coaches and players can all do better. It's important for a team to realize that TOGETHER they' re working to achieve certain goals. Total team effort means that cynicism, grievances, apathy, etc. need to be obliterated so that our collective energies burst rather than fizzle. I think that we fizzled this year. We lost to some good teams, but we are a good team too. DON STECKLER FOOT BA LL I have mixed emotions about our season. Dur- ing the season I was frustrated that we weren't getting the results, but l'm not now. We have had three or four beautiful games, games where everything was clicking. We were fighting against barriers such as a lack of speed, strength, and size, but they were overcome as best we could. The team achieved some, but not all of it's goals. We were trying to play each game as well as we could, each player perform- ing to the best of his capabilities. As a group we really grew together. Undoubtedly the most exciting part of the season was the game against Wilmington. Our whole team passed and played well and we refused to give up even though they kept beating us back. Finally we gave that extra push to win the game. Even though the record of our season wasn't very good, I think the team learned an awful lot about themselves and really grew. CARL I-IEIKKINEN

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'A WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL This year w-as the first year we've ever had to cut people from the team because there were so many people trying out for it. We had an excellent sea- son, finishing third in our Gate- way League. Undoubtedly the most exciting part of the year was when our team almost beat Mineral Area who was the unde- feated team in the league. No one had ever come close before to beating them. LENORE SUAREZ CROSS COUNTRY Although this year's cross country team was the first team to lose more dual meets than they won, there were some accomplishments that deserve mentioning. Team progress re- sulted in a 4th place finish in the NAIA Dis- trict 20 Championships, and freshman Lee Williams had the best season by a freshman in the school's cross-country history. Lee fin- ished among the top six runners in the invita- tional meets in which we participated, ran the fastest time ever by a freshman on our course, and was named to the NAIA All- Dis- trict Team. What our cross country teams need in order to reach the level of performance of which they are capable is a commitment which results in preparation for the season during the summer months. Except for some individuals we have never accomplished this on a team basis. LARRY COMBS WOMEN'S FIELD HOCKEY This year's field hockey team was one of the best teams we've had in several years. We were one of the strongest teams in the state of Illinois. Roxy Roth, Anne Mayer, Daryl Leonard, Sarah Perkins, and Sandy Rader made it to the Mid-West College South hockey team. And Daryl Leonard went on to make it to the nationals. As a team we really had to work to develop team unity and a sense of support for each other. But all of us grew so much from the sea- son. JUDY MILLER

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WOMEN'S BASKETBALL For the first time the basketball team made it to the state tourna- ment where they were popular as a team. We were one of the top two teams in Illinois. The only thing that could have been better was the individual support within the team. There was a need I to support each other more. JUDY MILLER SWIMMING College age swimmers can really be challenged by the claims of physical peaking and mental exhaustion after already long careers in competition, and many wrestle with the temptation to hang it all up. This year we faced this challenge in several ways. We had to deal with the losses to the team of talented men who decided they no longer want- ed to work- out. We asked ourselves if we had in fact exhausted ourselves mental- ly and strove to explore new relationships between our- 1 selves as athletes and our understanding of Christian Science. We had to find ways within ourselves to swim faster, because the coach knew no se- crets of technique or shortcuts to success. Fi- nally we looked for new ways to make the same old thing fun. The result of the season was the growth of pride and unity that results from hard work and love applied towards reasonably clearcut objectives. Consistent lowering of times through the season by the great majority of team members culmina- ting in 3rd place out of twelve schools at the NAIA District 20 Meet and lst place at the Washington University Invitational. New school records were created by distance swimmers Pete Clifford and Ed Hammersla and by our diver Ross Biclmese. Keith Duesenberg lost the 50 freestyle in dual meet competition only once. jim Kendrick and Gary Hauk consis- tently contributed large portions of the teams total points, with jim peaking exceptionally well in the two championship meets. This was a special group of freshmen and sopho mores who I think would agree with me that it was worth the time and pain and who would do it again Cthough perhaps NOT to the tune of Rocky Mountain Helloj. STEVE WELLS