In recent history, Loyola has lacked a women’s futbol team. This semester, however, a few students have decided to take it upon themselves to create an additional space for female athletics.

Sophia Santos is the president of the women’s futbol team at Loyola. She, along with two other students, Luciana Marziano and Darlenis Vargas, first decided to create a team when they were approached by Hector Garcia, cofounder of the men’s futbol club. 

According to Santos, Garcia was very interested in creating a women’s team, and encouraged the women to take initiative and form the team themselves.

“Futbol is for everyone to enjoy and I firmly believe that Loyola is the best place to have a Women’s Futbol team,” Garcia said. 

Luciana Marziano, one of the students who were approached by Garcia, has had a passion for soccer as long as she can remember. 

 “I grew up in Spain, where soccer is most developed,” Marziano said. “So my memories from a very young age are sitting at the table with my dad and his friends and watching soccer games, or breaking my school shoes because I was in the playgrounds playing soccer.”

 The students were given the option to operate under Loyola FC, the men’s futbol team, or to form their own team. Flying under the men’s team would mean having a separate team under the official name of Loyola FC. But the women didn’t want to do this, so they opted to form their own team. 

“As a collective, we chose to pursue our passion for soccer and strive for an environment where the women have their own space,” Santos commented. “It’s important to shine a light on women’s sports and female athletics.” 

While still being established, the team is growing. The girls have currently recruited 16 players and are looking to recruit more as tryouts continue and they plan to start conditioning this season. Garcia expresses his excitement for this new team on Loyola’s campus. 

“It means the world to me. Futbol is a universal sport and having that startup on campus is a big joy for me. I’ve always wanted to have both a men’s and women’s team and to see the club coming together is just wonderful,” Garcia said.

As tryouts continue, the team is open to young women with little experience, as well as those who have established skill with the sport.

“My main goal is to be able to have fun and show that the girls do it too,” Marziano said. 

The women are also enjoying being leaders and breaking new ground, and they are utilizing past experiences to create the women’s futbol club. The girls have long had a love for soccer, and they are looking forward to seeing their passion and hardwork materialized in this new project.

“I have always loved being a part of new beginnings,” Vargas said. “I was a founder and creator of my middle school soccer team, so this is not my first time creating and founding a new team.”

As president, Santos is responsible for looking for field space and finding a coach, so they can begin as soon as possible. Most importantly, she is responsible for signing her team up for a league, so they can start playing competitively. The team plans to start playing in a league next semester after dedicating this semester to training.

“I want this project to be able to be carried out for centuries,” Vargas said.