The Drake Women’s Club Soccer team appeared in front of Student Senate on Sept. 25 to request $2,100 to play in a tournament on Oct. 18 and 19. The money would go toward gas, lodging and food for the 16 players who were traveling to Minnesota for the tournament.
The motion was passed by Student Senate, meaning the club would receive reimbursement after the tournament.
The team has struggled with funding over the past few years.
In 2023, Student Senate cut student organizations’ budgets due to decreased enrollment. As a result, Women’s Club Soccer lost all $855 of its expected annual funding. Annual funding provides clubs with a balance of money for the year. If a club doesn’t submit that funding form, it can’t get that yearly balance in its account.
This year, Women’s Club Soccer was once again left with no annual funding, as last year’s executive council did not apply. According to President AJ Hoskings, the transition of power between last year’s executive council to this year’s has been difficult, as the entire council graduated.
“We didn’t know if we would be able to recruit enough people. They didn’t think it was necessary to request annual funding for this year,” said Sarah Wall, the vice president of Women’s Club Soccer.
However, through social media and the activities fair, Women’s Club Soccer recruited a team of 20 players. Because recruiting happened so late in the season, though, the executive council lost the opportunity to enter the Upper Midwest Collegiate Soccer League. That put the team at a disadvantage for traveling and hosting games.
Without that funding, the team looked for every fundraising opportunity it could get.
With two months to fundraise at the beginning of this semester, the club created and sold team t-shirts for not only the girls on the team, but for friends and family as well. The team also partnered with DoughCo in Dogtown.
“20% of gross sales went to us from whoever we could get to go out there and get some food,” Avery Peterson, the secretary for Women’s Club Soccer, said. “Anything we can try to keep it affordable for the players.”
The rest of the tournament costs came out-of-pocket from members of the club. Peterson and Wall estimated that amount to be around $200 total between the members of the executive council.
After fundraising, applying for one-time funding, and paying out of pocket, the team got to play two games that weekend and spent time together as a group.
“We all kind of sat around talking for a while and just… talked about ourselves, getting to know each other more.” Peterson said, “I think that really helped, especially for the freshman girls trying to get situated here at Drake and being a completely new team.”
Going into the rest of the year, the team plans to continue recruiting and look into more fundraising opportunities on and off campus. Next school year, the club will request annual funding again.
“They [previous EC] didn’t believe in us, so it meant a lot that someone believed in our club to… give us an opportunity to play together,” Peterson said.
