Women’s Soccer Alumni Game 4/22

Jose Rodriguez '24, Staff Writer | Media & Communications

SALEM, Mass.- Salem State women's soccer held its annual alumni game at Alumni Field on Monday, April 22. After the game, I had a chance to talk to Casey McFall '20, who spoke about coming back to Salem. "It feels awesome. I always loved playing for Salem State [and] love the community that Salem State still has. It feels great."  She also spoke about the memories she had playing as a Viking. "All good memories. I mean, obviously, we had some losses, but we don't like to think about those, but just the memory of being a part of a team and playing with my team. Those girls were my best friends while I was in college, so it feels great."  

"Of course I miss it! It has to be at least four or five years, and this is my second alumni game, so I am still a little rusty, but we are getting back to it." She added what it meant to her that coach Wood invited her to the alumni game. "It means everything. I've always admired coach Wood. She is one of my favorite coaches of all time. I wish I could still play for her. It is so important I think just coming to do an alumni game like this. It helps the girls that are playing currently and shows that the alumni are still committed and have full support for them to win and succeed in whatever they do."  

Judy Orvis Pena and Keira Bunn are both Viking alumni from the class of 2009. "It's really nice to come back and to play on this field. It's unique," Bunn said. Orvis Pena added, "It also feels like we never left. It feels like it has been a minute and also a lifetime since we have been here."  Orvis Pena spoke about what it means for her that coach Wood invited her to play in the alumni game. "We are so grateful to be invited to come back and see the team and seeing coach Wood keeps us young."  Both Orvis Pena and Bunn played soccer for Salem State 15 years ago, and they miss it every day.  For Orvis Pena, it brought back memories of playing once again. "Always, and this field, in particular, brings back more memories. Bunn expressed the importance of giving back to the community. "I think it is super important. I remember the alumni games when we were here as student-athletes. I love coming back and still feeling that we are part of the community." Orvis Pena added, "Also, just supporting a state college. Some universities have huge endowments and we really need to support the current students."      

Coach Wood spoke about the meaning of hosting this event every year and seeing familiar faces. "I mean, I think it's the beauty of our program and is the reason why I still love coaching. We have people come back. Colin Hearly is here. She was on the team that went to the finals. She had the winning penalty kick. That got us into the final against Worcester [State] and she had a baby six months ago. A lot of these women are mom's, nurses and to have them come back every year is just one of my favorite nights and for them, they come back to support me. It is also about supporting the girls that are wearing the uniform now. Giving them a good competitive game and encouraging them and reminding them that we come back because we want to give back to the program that gave so much to us and even me as an alumni. It's a really special night and was a really good competitive game."  

Coach Wood expressed the importance of "Giving Day" and how it is beneficial for our student-athletes. "'Giving Day' is the one day each year where it's really a campus-wide effort to fundraise. I think within athletics, but especially for us, it's about trying to give these girls experiences, so it's more than just that they showed up. They get their uniform, and they travel. They do all of that, but we want to add value on those experiences, and that's what really 'Giving Day' is. Whether it is an overnight trip during preseason, which they all were lucky enough to have because they did fundraising, or team bounding and leadership, that is really what it's all about. So for us to be able to have one day, and also again to have an alumni [game], giving back just kind of set the standard that the alumni are still committed to this program." 

She talked about the time and preparation that it took to pull off the event. "It's easy with these alumni and how strong they are. On any given night we could have between 10 and 20 of them show up when we need to, and again, a lot of them are nurses, a lot of them have jobs, a lot of them have family, but they are still willing to come out here at seven o'clock on another cold spring night and play. So the preparation part is really easy because of how connected we all still are. A couple of texts and a few posts on Facebook or Instagram, and they showed up, so it's a really rewarding part of the connection with them."

Coach Wood added, "I just think again, our job when you wear that uniform, whenever you can give back to make it easier for the people that are going to wear it after you, I think we should do it. I know that I am a proud alumni of the program, and also a coach, and the young women, the moms, the nurses, and the teachers, they make a difference to the community every day. They are helping pave the way, and maybe it means during the season our young women that are here don't need to work as hard at fundraising while playing and managing academics. 'Giving Day' helps with that, but I think for us it is just taking pride in the program and showing that they support the ones that come after them. For our players, especially seeing how competitive tonight was, they want to have the success that those teams had. We had players that were on back-to-back regional championships teams, we had a MASCAC Player of the Year in the group tonight, we had girls that went to the finals multiple years. I think it's about pride between our current team and the alumni and the best part of coaching is seeing that connection." 

Vikings Alumni Who Played In The Alumni Game

• Judy (Orvis) Pena, also a former assistant coach
• Keira (Lyons) Bunn
• Nicole Theberge
• Lauren (Geibel) Bishop
• Keely Gallagher
• Casey McFall
• Rebecca Sabino – current assistant coach
• Jackie (Gauthier) Hughes – current assistant coach
• Julianna Stacy
• Colleen (Hurley) Curto
• Emily Boyle