Historic Overview

Fred Visel and Tom Blaha, who were both faculty members, started club soccer at Carl Sandburg College in 1973. Visel and Blaha served as player-coaches and Sandburg fielded its first club team right around Thanksgiving in ’73. The team traveled to Muscatine, Iowa, and played two games against Muscatine Community College’s club team. Sandburg lost both games.
 

In 1974, Visel and Blaha decided to continue the club and it grew. Carl Sandburg College played both a spring and fall schedule during the 1974-75 school year. Sandburg faced other community colleges, four-year junior varsity teams and on occasion faced four-year varsity teams. On Saturday, Nov. 12, 1977, Sandburg played a team of inmates from Stateville Penitentiary, located in Joliet, Ill. Sandburg had an overall losing record due to the fact many of the players had never played soccer before.
 

By 1980, Visel and Blaha relinquished their duties. However, Dan Allert, who was the audio-visual director at Carl Sandburg College, coached the team in 1981 and 1982. Sandburg did not field a club team from 1983 through 1997. In 1998, Sandburg student Shamus Carothers approached Visel about sponsoring a club team. Visel could not do so, but he was able to get Mike Kratz to serve as player-coach for the 1998 and 1999 seasons. Club soccer at Carl Sandburg College came to an end after the 1999 season. In 2008, men’s and women’s soccer began as an intercollegiate sport at Sandburg. Carl Sandburg College will not have a men’s soccer team for the 2011-2012 academic year but will field a team in the fall of 2012.



 

Soccer Club

Series Records
vs. Monmouth College (2-5-1)
1975  Monmouth 3, Carl Sandburg 2; Monmouth 4, Carl Sandburg 4
1976  Monmouth 0, Carl Sandburg 5; Monmouth 3, Carl Sandburg 0
1977  Monmouth 4, Carl Sandburg 6; Monmouth 5, Carl Sandburg 3
1978  Monmouth 1, Carl Sandburg 1
1979  Monmouth 2, Carl Sandburg 1
 

vs. Augustana College (1-0)
1979  Augustana 3, Carl Sandburg 2