It’s five o’clock on a temperate Friday evening, and as the football team trickles out of the gates of Armfield Stadium, the Women’s Soccer team begins to congregate on the sideline ready to have their turn at practicing on the turf.

           Today the team is fresh from the previous night’s victory over Meredith College, which ended in a winning point for Guilford after being tied in a stalemate for a majority of the game.  Player Rachel Harmen believes this auspicious point is a “good omen” for the rest of the season.

           However, it will be the last leg of Harmen’s soccer career at Guilford College. The games will be the graduating seniors precious last few.  

           The athletic lifestyle can define a students college experiences: from how to schedule their time to which friends they make. 

           “You literally depend on everyone” said Harman of her teammates.

           The demanding nature is evident in other sports as well, such as cross country.

           “For the kids that run that’s who they are, that is what they do.” said Bill Cason, head cross country and track and field coach.  

           He estimates that his runners average 60-80 miles a week for men, and 30-50 miles for women.  They also train year around.

           So how does a college athlete approach the inevitable dilemma of having to eventually leave their team? 

           “With the seniors last year and the year before that, I would say…there’s more connection with heart, desire, determination on the field as well as off the field.” said Morgan Andrews, senior softball player, who is entering her fourth and final year playing at Guilford.

Andrews hopes to one day coach the sport using what she has gained in the entirety of her athletic  experience.

           “I wouldn’t take anything back. I give it everything that I have all the time. I wouldn’t change anything, even the mistakes. They make you stronger,” said Andrews.

           “When I was a senior I tried to develop those friendships when I could.” said former club rugby player Bryce Bjornson, ’10.  

           Instead of being severed from the team and the sport when he graduated, he now assists the team and offers experience as a way of passing the torch.  “The brotherhood continually evolves.”

           Moving on is inevitable. Eric Lewis, Women’s Soccer Coach has seen players come and go for the ten years he has coached at Guilford.

           “They all know it’s gonna end.” he admits. “Our job is to get them here, and graduate, and grow as people.”