The start of another school year here at Millersville highlights the beginning of fall sports once again. Football, men’s and women’s basketball, women’s field hockey, women’s volleyball, and so much more. Each team had varying levels of success last season, with some teams finding more success than others. This season will be no different, and expectations for some teams are already in full swing.
Starting with the biggest sport on campus, and in many ways the smallest, the Millersville football team. The football team has struggled mightily for a while now, and that didn’t change last year. The team went 2-9, ending the season on a 5-game losing streak. That story has been the same for a very long time now. Fans of the Marauders are waiting and waiting for players to emerge and the team to start improving, but it just hasn’t happened. So far, this season has started out the same, as Millersville lost 10-28 against Saint Anselm on the road. Of course, it is only one game, but time will tell if Millersville’s football team wins some games this year, or if the status quo will continue.
Men’s basketball is a different story. The men’s basketball team found a ton of success last year, ending the year 25-7. After an average season in 2019-2020, going 15-15, the team was looking for improvement and boy, did they find it. This year’s team has a good mix of both veteran players and new talent, so the expectations for the men’s basketball team this year are high, and the team seems ready to have another stellar season.
Women’s basketball is also kicking off this fall. The team has been struggling the last couple of years, going 7-20 last year and 8-19 the year before. The team’s roster consists of mostly freshman and sophomores, pointing to the possibility of this being a rebuilding year. However, that does not mean that the women’s basketball team will find little success this year. There are always opportunities for young players to step up and prove that a young team can be successful. The team was outscored by their opponents last season 1673-1445, so there is room for improvement. If the younger roster can prove that they can step up, this team could be in for a good year.
The women’s field hockey team has been improving in recent years, finishing last season with a 15-4 record. The team is off to a hot start this year, as they have played 2 games and won both. This year’s team has a good mix of both young players and veterans, and, considering their success last year, the team only has one direction to go this year, and that direction is up. Millersville outscored their opponents a whopping 70-12. With a score differential like that, it proves that this team was nothing but dominant last season, and the team hopes to keep that up moving forward into this season.
The women’s volleyball team is a good example of a team ignoring struggles last year to come out strong for this season. The volleyball team had a dominant season in 2019, ending the year 26-9. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team was forced to cancel their season in 2020. Last fall, the team struggled to find consistent footing throughout the year and ended with a record of 11-20. However, it seems that the team is ready to ignore that season’s disappointment, and come out strong to begin this year’s season, coming out 7-1 and beginning the year with a 6-game winning streak. The only question for this team now is if they can continue their great success and find ways to keep their strong season alive.
