SUNY-ESF’s men’s soccer team ascended to the collegiate level in 2010. Since then, four other sports have joined them. Here are some of the other intercollegiate teams the State of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry students can participate in:

Men’s golf

Head coach John Turbeville called them the Mighty Oaks’ version of the Bad News Bears, Thaddeus Holland recalls.

Holland, through his three years on the golf team, has seen a transformation from a men’s golf team competing at the recreational club level to a highly competitive unit competing in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletes.

‘The golf team was still searching for its identity when I joined,’ said Holland, a senior. ‘… The team worked hard and fed off each other’s energy and, as a result, surprised a lot of people.’

When Turbeville, the men’s golf coach, came to ESF in 2002, there were no formalized athletics teams, only clubs. Although the team now has 23 players, the birth of the team began in 2007 with eight players trying to learn the ropes.

‘Now is certainly a very exciting time for ESF athletics, as it is gaining steam,’ Turbeville said. ‘It is, however, coupled with some sadness, as the students who were involved in the creation of the program are now graduating.’

Although the sport is growing, Turbeville would not go as far to say that athletics has a huge role in the student body.

Said Turbeville: ‘I think it has afforded a lot of students the opportunity to come to a specialized science school and not have to forego what is likely an experience with a sport that they have been playing all throughout high school.’

Women’s cross country

Jim Goulet has seen the transformation of sports at ESF. During his time as an undergraduate, ESF students could play on SU teams.

However, the women’s cross country coach and 1972 graduate recalls that only about a dozen participated in sports such as rowing, track, basketball and lacrosse.

When Goulet came back to his alma mater, those problems no longer existed. The NCAA dubbed ESF’s participation in SU Division-I athletics illegal due to ESF students paying tuition to their own school and not SU.

To gain numbers, they didn’t go to the more conventional route.

‘What was unusual was no one came there with the intention of running cross country. … We had to make up our team from the students already on campus,’ he said.

In its third year, enrollment numbers for the women’s cross country team have gone up, but that’s partially because very few of the original numbers have graduated.

However, the Mighty Oaks have been successful. Last year, ESF surprised everyone when it placed second in the USAA National and almost beat rival William and Smith last weekend.

But Goulet would never go as far as to say that athletics are a big deal on campus.

‘It’s not a sports-oriented school at all,’ he said.

When it came to having a program, it wasn’t the students who weren’t as interested. Faculty members and Goulet said the administration had to promise they wouldn’t be taking kids from classes and that academics would be a priority.

‘So, when we recruit, we stress that academics have to be first, athletics second,’ he said.

He said that athletics aren’t a big thing, except for those who are involved.

‘It’s not like we have crowds coming to our soccer games or cross country meets,’ he said.

Men’s cross country

When John View arrived at ESF in 1979, the only two teams were the Woodsmen’s team and a men’s basketball program.

He credits the unique relationship between ESF and Syracuse University for the expansion of the athletic programs due to both the support and facilities SU has given to ESF.

‘Some students started to get interested,’ View said. ‘We don’t have a basketball team, so, of course, our students are going to appreciate that.’

When Mike Miles joined the men’s cross country team his sophomore year, he was one of just eight or nine guys to be part of the first class of runners.

Now, as a senior and captain of the team three seasons later, the team has doubled in size to more than 20 athletes.

Miles said as the program gets older and more networking occurs, the team will get quantity and quality at the same time.

He said he thinks ESF can have the best of both worlds when it comes to sports. Students can participate without dealing with the pressure that comes with competing at the Division-I level.

Besides being a men’s cross country coach, the ‘highlight’ of Miles’ years has been being a competitive road runner, cross country runner for the Syracuse Chargers and running in the end of the season meets against the SU men’s team.

Women’s soccer

Just like the other ESF athletic teams, women’s soccer is another team that has continued to expand and get better.

Junior midfielder and defender Amy Chianucci said last year — the team’s inaugural season — was a struggle, but this year things are looking up.

‘This year we came into the season a little more seasoned with tougher training session and a heftier game schedule,’ Chianucci said.

Head coach Daniel Ramin, who also coaches the men’s soccer team, likes the direction the team is heading.

The highlight of the season so far has been a major victory over NCAA program Wells College. The match was a high scoring affair, with ESF coming out on top 7-4.

On the season, the Mighty Oaks are 3-2.

And what Ramin likes most about this team is the young talent on the roster.

‘This has been a great recruiting year,’ Ramin said.

The team currently has six freshmen in the starting lineup.

— Compiled by Colleen Bidwill, asst. feature editor, cbidwill@syr.edu, and David Propper, staff writer, dgproppe@syr.edu 

Published on September 21, 2011 at 12:00 pm