BYU Women Soccer; IU Men's Soccer 2023

 BYU Women Soccer; IU Men's Soccer

    2023 was pretty fun to watch these programs, and they both came up short of their ultimate goals: national championships. But both squads gave me some good moments.

    Having lived in Provo for five years, being a member of the faith where we pay our tithing that goes to Brigham Young University, it is a pleasure to watch its athletes do well. The girls' team had a tremendous year, upsetting UCLA earlier in the season, becoming number one, making it to the College Cup, where I watched them lose to Stanford, 2-0. I was frustrated that the BYU women could not control the ball better, which would have given them more shots and a shot to win and advance to the championship. But last week they came back from 3-0 down and took out their former championship rivals North Carolina Tarheels in the snow. In Utah.

    The men of IU, after a shaky start, upset Penn State, then ranked, in State College, which I watched with my carful, and went on to win a lot, getting the Big Ten title, (tied with Nittany Lions), won the Big Ten Tourney, and went to the Elite Eight, upsetting Wake Forest in Carolina and acquitting themselves well. I had some personal favorite players, like Hugo and Malloune; they came up short, but I met some fathers of the players in Pennsylvania and I met the former IU player and assistant coach from the documentary I saw.

    This was a good year for my collegiate soccer teams; we cannot have it all, but we can have a lot.

    Meanwhile, societies are changing since that fateful October 7 day. There are much worse outcomes and possibilities in the world this fall than coming up short in soccer matches.

    There is sickness, pain, death, toil, and hate.

    And these teams provided the opposite. Thanks to my alma mater's great years.