The Michigan State club soccer team, built around former high school and competitive club players, is working to regain the consistency that once defined the program. After qualifying for the NIRSA National Soccer Championship in 10 of 12 seasons between 2008 and 2019, the Spartans have reached the tournament only twice since, showing a recent stretch of uneven results within their region.
This past season marked a return to Nationals, a first for most of the roster. Only the seniors had prior experience on that stage, having been part of the team’s 2022 appearance.
“It was something I had heard a lot about from past players. On the field, it was huge playing for something bigger than the regular season,” Griffin Ellis, a junior midfielder from Canton, said.
The team traveled to Scheels Overland Park Soccer Complex in Overland Park, Kansas, the farthest the team had gone all season. While it was an accomplishment to make the Nationals, it was something the team thought should’ve been normal.
“I think my first two years, we cut our season short from what we wanted,” Logan Sloan, a junior defender from Clarkston, said. “It was nice to finally reach our goal, as I feel like we are expected to get there every year.”
Players' expectation is to reach the consistency of the team's past. Sloan’s first two seasons on the team saw exits during the Regional tournament, not being able to qualify for Nationals. The team qualified this season after winning its Regional tournament for the first time since 2016.
“I actually played for the club team during the 2016 season, to see us get back is really cool,” Head Coach Travis Hamers said. “It’s a level of competition we expect at Regionals, and it was really nice to win one again.”
Hamers experienced the team during its streak of National appearances, making it three out of his four seasons playing. He became the head coach in 2021, after the previous coach left during COVID. Hamers is trying to get the team back to the consistent success he experienced..
“It’s the baseline, we go through the season and say we have to be prepared to go play nationals, and go play the top teams,” Hamers said. “It’s the level we pride ourselves on getting to and competing with.”
Up until the elimination bracket of Nationals, the team was undefeated. They went 16-0, winning by an average of four goals per game. Despite the success, in the first game of the elimination bracket, they lost 1-0 to Arkansas.
“I don’t see why we wouldn't win it all next season, but we definitely came up a little short this season,” Sloan said. “It was a weird feeling going 16-0 and not losing until then.”
The players are anxious to get back and hopefully go further at the Nationals. While having such a dominant, it was weird coming to such a quick end.
“I would’ve liked to have had a scrimmage in the season, where we could’ve got beat,” Hamers said. “We had never played from behind.”
While the winning streak led to an amazing season for the team, it caused holes in knowledge. Not having the experience of facing a deficit during the season caused them to be unprepared when finally faced with it. Hamers sees the loss at Nationals as a good and bad thing, as he wishes they could’ve gone further, but now it gives the players an extra fire for next season.
“You need great players to win games and go far,” Hamers said. “But at the end of the day, you need chemistry; the players have to trust each other.”
Hamers puts the success of last season on the chemistry between the players. When he first joined the team, that was one of the problems that he came upon, which led to the disappointing results.
“We ended up in the 2021 season needing two groups of players; it divided and kind of broke chemistry between the returning players and the incoming freshman,” Hamers said.
COVID put a gap in incoming players, as there was no season in 2020. It caused Hamer's first season to need more freshmen than normal, and not see the normal income of players from the previous freshman class.
Being able to normalize the amount of incoming players has not only allowed the team to have the best talent, but also better chemistry. The leaders of the team are able to experience the needed knowledge from those before them.
“It was one of the best seasons in the history of our team. It felt awesome to accomplish a goal we have been working for,” Sloan said. “I think it was a lot in part from our last E-board, and getting everyone to work for one goal.”
This past season, the team was led by senior midfielder Kyle Stoner, who was also the team's president. Sloan will be taking over as president, and is already trying to find the balance from the previous season.
Despite it being the offseason, the team has kept up on practice with returning members and some potential additions for next year. The team participated in an off-season tournament in Ann Arbor to gain some extra experience. They were eliminated in the semifinals by Notre Dame. The loss has made the team focus further on the practices, making sure the level does not drop.
“It’s really key to keep team chemistry up, keeping us together and making sure our practices are serious,” Sloan said.
The team is trying to keep the good chemistry from last season going, and hopes the winning will follow. The players don’t feel like last year's run was the peak of what they can achieve; the goal is to win Nationals, and they will try to continue to prove they can.
“We feel like even though we went far last year, we feel like we can do more,” Ellis said. “We think we can compete against anyone in the country, and we want to go out and show that.”