Wesleyan Celebrates 100 Years of Soccer
The first incarnation of the Wesleyan men’s soccer team took to the pitch in Fall 1922, a group of 18 students whose passion for competition outweighed their knowledge of a game. But the sport, still in its infancy on this side of the Atlantic, caught on quickly: within three years there were 60-person tryouts, a schedule that had expanded from a handful of games to a full-length season, and, in 1924, recognition as a varsity sport. This year—after 19 outright Little Three Championships, six NCAA Tournament appearances, three ECAC titles, and one NESCAC Championship—the team celebrated its 100th season.
“If you look at the core player, there are traits that are transferable from 1924 to 2024,” said Geoff Wheeler, head coach of men’s soccer. “[Players are] competitive, determined, skillful, ready to run forever, and strong—able to handle big guys, little guys. The sport of soccer is just so dynamic, and that hasn't changed over the [last] hundred years. It won't change for the next hundred years.”
Over the last century, the Cardinals have been bolstered by consistency—particularly among the coaching staff. There have been just six head coaches in men’s team history, with three of them spanning a combined 96 of the 100 seasons: Hugh McCurdy for 39 varsity years, Terry Jackson for 31 years, and Wheeler, a three-time NESCAC Coach of the Year recipient now in his 27th season. “It gives [the program] a stability and an ownership between both the coaches and the alumni,” Wheeler said.
Men’s Soccer Head Coach Geoff Wheeler during a 2024 NCAA Tournament First Round game versus St. Joseph on Nov. 11. (Photo courtesy of Wesleyan Athletics)
A similar continuity emerged on the women’s side since its founding in 1978. Head Coach Eva Meredith has steered the women’s team for 21 seasons, earning NESCAC Coach of the Year honors in 2021 and 2024, and shepherding the team to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances. Meredith said since Mike Whalen became athletic director in 2013, there has been a significant improvement in team and department success. “We are now a nationally ranked program, and we compete at the top of our level in the nation,” she said. “Before, we were happy to compete in the NESCAC. Now, we've taken a step beyond that.”
Wesleyan soccer, however, encompasses more than what happens on Jackson Field. Meredith has built her program around players who are supportive of one another and invested in the wider community; team members frequently volunteer their time in soup kitchens, local charity races, and on-campus wellness programs, she said. Years and even decades later after playing their final games for the Cardinals, alumni of all stripes regularly return to support the soccer programs and their athletes. The men’s team frequently has alumni appear in the locker room before games and on video calls with the team and has formed a Board of Advisors to help steward the program toward sustained prosperity.
Joshua LaCorte ’26 kicks a ball during the Cardinals’ NCAA Tournament game versus Babson on Nov. 17. (Photo courtesy of Wesleyan Athletics)
Last May, Steve Levin ’75, a central defender at Wesleyan, and former midfielder and right-back Michael McKenna ’73 led an effort by the men’s soccer Board of Advisors to celebrate the program’s 100-year anniversary, built around a larger fundraising effort to endow the team’s operating budget. The team wore special uniforms with a centennial crest designed in collaboration with a Nike designer.
“The driving idea behind all is the line Winning the Wesleyan Way,” McKenna said. “We keep sports and academics balanced. We strive for excellence in all things: in class, on campus, in competition. We keep things in perspective financially. Nothing in excess, but enough to level the playing field in one of the most competitive leagues in the country.”
A century on, Wesleyan soccer continues to be a vehicle for lessons that apply off the pitch. Levin, for his part, said his time with the Cardinals taught him to be a leader, to respect others’ talents and efforts, and to offer them support. “All of those qualities are transferable and should be transferable to your family and to what you do for a living. And I think all of those things were available at Wesleyan.”
Lead image: The 1924 Wesleyan men’s soccer team, the first team to play varsity-level soccer at the University.
