by Josh Wilson

This week was exciting for sports at Greensboro College. In a weekend, we had three sports compete at home: women’s volleyball, women’s soccer and men’s football. We also reached the 50th anniversary of the men’s soccer team.   

Women’s volleyball has been on fire for the past four games, beating Agnes Scott College, Huntington College, Salem College and North Carolina Weslyn College. Women’s volleyball is 2-1 in the USA South Conference, with their only conference loss coming against Guildford College in a close 2-3 score match. When asked what to attribute their early season success to, women’s volleyball head coach, Kevin Troup, stated, “Playing our first weekend in Emory University was a real test for us, and we have grown from that and improved.” It is evident that tough competition breeds with lessons learned through defeat. As some say, iron sharpens iron.   

I had the chance to interview Kelci Brooks, outside hitter for the women’s volleyball team, and this was what she said helped start the season off strong, “starting the season with really good competition, keeping good focus in practice and having good team chemistry on and off the court helped us perform well in the past matches.” Focus is critical in the intense sport of volleyball, and team chemistry is also essential to good performance.  

I also got the chance to interview Taylor Cotie, the middle blocker for the women’s volleyball team, about the team’s goals to maintain dominant performance. She stated, “Our team goals this season are to have positive attitudes no matter what and to work on our communication on the court.” I also asked her what the team is working to improve on to fix their past mistakes and she stated, “We use our past mistakes to make us better as a team and individually, and we use them as an opportunity to help us grow and develop. We also watch film which helps us critique ourselves and helps us understand what we need to work on.” It is fantastic that women’s volleyball is using their mistakes as lessons for improvement.  

This weekend, men’s football faced Hampden-Sydney College and unfortunately lost a hard-fought battle. The team still managed to score 28 points against the opposing team, giving them some good momentum for their upcoming game. I spoke to starting quarterback Alec Williams-Carr about his point of view on the team’s progression this season, what he and the team are doing to have a successful season and his personal goals for the team. Williams-Carr said, “We had a rough start this year. We made many mistakes. I have been performing well, although I have missed some reads, and there are some throws that I wish I could have back, but we are turning it around. We are starting conference games this week and we can start strong, turn things around and do what we need to do. I aim to win every possession, whether in the air or on the ground.” Men’s football is consistently learning from their mistakes and improving. With a positive mindset and determination, nothing is impossible.  

Men’s soccer has officially reached its 50th year at GC. It is incredible that Greensboro has had a dominant men’s soccer team since men’s soccer won the conference championship in 2018 and 2021. I got to speak to Sergio Garica, a midfielder for the men’s soccer team, about how he felt about the 50th anniversary of men’s soccer and the team’s plans for improvement. He stated, “The 50th anniversary of the men’s soccer team is very nice. The season is not going how we wanted it to, but we are correcting it by working together better on the field by passing the ball well and taking good shots. The goal for the team is to win the conference.” Although men’s soccer is having a challenging start to the season, falling short in some close games, they will surely turn it around for another conference championship run.  

Women’s soccer is starting off well with a record of 2-2-2. With their only lost games being by one-point close scores, women’s soccer will tweak minor errors to improve their performance for a successful season.  

Overall, Greensboro College athletics aims to be the best by working hard and learning from our mistakes to perfect our performance. With a winning mindset and positivity, Greensboro College athletics have the chance be conference champions in multiple sports. Go Pride!