Women's Soccer Club Meets By the Glow of Midnight Oil

At 10:30 p.m., when most students are winding up their day, members of the newly formed Radcliffe soccer club are warming up for their regular practice session in the Indoor Athletic Building.

The nightcap slot at the IAB--from 10:30 p.m. to midnight--is the only gym time available for the club, which will play several local prep schools this spring. It will also enter intercollegiate competition next fall, Jackie Schlenger, a founder of the club, said Tuesday.

About ten colleges in New England have women's soccer teams.

Organized into a club, the 32 soccer players receive no financial support from the Athletic Department. But by the fall they hope to reach varsity status or at least to attain an intermediate ranking that would bring some University money.

Trouble

The club may have some trouble finding a soccer field in the fall because four Harvard teams use the field, Bob Scalise, Harvard freshman soccer coach, said this week.

Scalise, who has been asked by the women to coach the Radcliffe club next fall, said he will agree to if he can find the time in his schedule. He helped to start the women's soccer club at Brown in 1973.

Eight varsity and House soccer players are currently teaching the fundamentals of the game to club members. They are not having much trouble learning the game, Nunzi Sapuppo, one of the instructors, said Tuesday.

"We teach them something one day, and they pick it up by the next day," he said.

Schlenger and her rommmate, Karen Fifer, founded the club after following the games of the varsity and Lowell House soccer teams this fall. Like many of the club members the two Lowell House residents had never played the game until this spring.

"I'd never seen a soccer ball before this year," Schlenger said.

About half of the club's members regularly attend practice. Fifer said she expects the number of regulars to jump when outdoor practice starts.

"Those people who come at night are really dedicated," Fifer said.

Anne Ginsberg, one member of the club, said this week that she enjoys late night practices. "I'm usually dead at 10:30, so I'd rather play soccer than try to make myself work," she said.