Friday, April 09, 2010 by AMU Athletics Staff

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It has been a busy spring on and off the field for the AMU Men’s Soccer Team. Starting with a food drive for Haiti and ending with a food and clothing drive for the Guadalupe House in Immokalee, the team has grown closer together by helping those in need.

After the earthquake devastated Haiti in mid-January, the team jumped into action by organizing a food drive for the victims of the natural disaster. They manned the station during lunch and dinner hours between the dates of January 15th and January 19th. After the food drive ended, the team delivered the four collected boxes to the St. Matthew’s House in Naples so they could distribute the food to those in need.

On February 20th, the team ventured made the seven-mile jump to Immokalee to build homes for Habitat for Humanity. They worked from 8 AM to noon and afterwards, enjoyed a team lunch off campus. Four days later on February 24th, the team traveled to Tampa, Florida, to watch the USA men’s national soccer team play against El Salvador. Though it was a cold and rainy evening, Sasha Kljestan’s game-winning goal in stoppage time to give the USA a 2-1 victory provided a fitting climax to an already amazing evening. Then, before their friendly game on March 20th against Southwest Florida United, eight players from the team hosted a soccer clinic for the Soccer Pit Cobras, a youth club team from Immokalee. Men’s coach Tyler Rosser spoke to the youngsters about the importance of preparing for college at an early age academically and athletically so the opportunity does not pass them by when they graduate high school. It was also a great opportunity for the young players to see the rigorous training that college players go through on a daily basis when they are in season.     

Finally, on Saturday March 27th, the team hosted a food and clothing drive for the Guadalupe Center in Immokalee. During their 10 a.m. game against the Island Coast Youth Soccer Club and their 2 p.m. game against the Naples Sharks, a local adult league team, the team placed boxes on the sidelines for fans to place their donated goods. They filled three boxes full of food, clothes, and stuffed animals and dropped the boxes off at the Guadalupe Center the following Monday. The team is excited to continue to help the local community in the upcoming fall season while making a run at the Sun Conference Championship.