Soccer Club changes to allow entrance into Premier League

The Nicholls Men’s Soccer Club looks to make positive changes this semester which will allow them to enter Premier League play come spring.

Club president Daniel Frias from Raceland took matters into his own hands early this fall when he realized the club needed help getting their team organized. He was able to work things out with Kristin Fillmore, Intramural Recreation Coordinator for the Harold J. Callais Memorial Recreation Center.

“We had to start from nothing,” Frias said. “We had a meeting and tryouts. Now we have 21 kids on the roster from seniors to international students to freshmen who attended high schools around here.”

Aside from the $35 fee each player pays to cover costs, the club was thrilled to have received monetary support this semester from both SGA and Bourgeois Contracting to help aid in the costs of jerseys, practice shirts, and referees.

Although they missed the cut off to play in the Premier League with other college club teams this fall, the Nicholls Men’s Soccer Club already has one game under their belt. They tied the Legacy, a club team comprised of high school students from around the area. Having a more structured routine has allowed the players a chance to develop team chemistry.

“In the past, there was a struggle with commitment and nobody would really go to practice,” Frias said. “Now we do practice twice a week and I make one mandatory. As a club, we want to have fun but also play at a high level.”

Dominick Domangue and Alex Guzman, both juniors at Nicholls who attended Vandebilt High School, have seen the ups and downs of the Nicholls Men’s Soccer Club over the past 2 years.
“Finally, we’re getting a little more official,” Domangue said. “Now we are getting funding from the school.”

As freshmen, Guzman and Domangue were both members of the club but they eventually quit because they were not happy with the way it was run. Now they are able to see a future for the soccer club.
“I think it has a lot of potential,” Guzman said. “I think it’s pretty cool to be around everyone, and it’s our only outlet for soccer.”

Domangue notes that the Nicholls Men’s Soccer Club is a far better option than joining an adult league because he wouldn’t stay devoted in such a league.

“It’s fun because we know the whole team and there are no strangers,” Domangue said. “It’s like being able to play with all your friends again. I just love playing soccer.”

Although this is a building year for the club, Frias hopes to schedule “friendly” matches with schools like ULL, Xavier, Tulane, and LSU.

Frias plans to send fliers about the Nicholls Men’s Soccer club to high schools in the area so that students know they will have a place to play organized soccer if they choose to attend Nicholls.

“This fall, I just wanted to see how things would go, and they’ve been going really well so far,” Frias said. “The fact that we are getting uniforms with our names on them is big. Come spring, we should be a pretty good team.”