BY BENJAMIN HADLOCK – SPORTS EDITOR
As changing colors, cool weather, and large sweaters take their hold over Centre’s campus, many student athletes gear up for the most important competitions of their season.
The fall sports teams are getting ready for their conference tournaments where they seek to prove themselves as the best in the Southern Athletic Association. These conference match-ups are often thought to be the most important competitions of the season, as they determine whether or not the team will be able to continue play into the NCAA tournament.
However, there is always one team not played in these conference games that is circled and underlined on every schedule. That would be, of course, Centre’s never-feared rival, Transylvania.
Despite the fact that playing Transylvania has no impact for Centre team’s conference standings, the players and fans bring their best efforts when the rival from an hour up the road comes to Danville.
It is no secret that these two schools do not like each other. Their close proximity, academic caliber, and shared NCAA division III status make this rivalry unavoidable.
And for the Colonel faithful, it is often one they enjoy getting the better of.
This fall, Centre Athletics won all six head-to-head match-ups with Transylvania. These included victories in Men’s and Women’s Soccer, Women’s Field Hockey, Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Women’s Volleyball.
This domination came as no surprise to Centre students who have grown rather accustomed to seeing Centre clobber Transylvania in the fall athletic season.
Centre student William “Goose” Ritchie, gave an eloquent description of this year’s contests stating:
“It’s always worth it to stop studying and go out and watch the Centre versus Transy games. Its just about the only time I go to watch Centre sports. The best thing is we seem to always win and the fans get a lot more excited about these games.”
Other Centre students share similar feelings, as the annual trouncing of Transylvania brings great delight to the work-laden Centre population.
Sophomore Jason Pinto took short leave from the misery of long study sessions for linear algebra and other classes you should never take by reminiscing on his experience of the Centre Men’s Soccer 2-1 victory over Transylvania:
“I’m not much of a sports guy, but being in the booth and calling that game for Centre Sports Network really had me invested in the result. Also, the opposing Transy fans that drove down to watch really added to the suspense of it all. Honestly watching that 2-1 win has to have been one of the best moments of the semester.”
Even freshmen on Centre’s campus embrace the rivalry as they become increasingly indoctrinated into Centre culture. Matthew Ko is an example of this, as he astonishingly declined to attend a fraternity party Friday night, instead opting to cheer on the Colonels during their swim meet versus Transy.
This was a decision he would not regret as the Colonels came out on top for both the men and the women.
While Centre certainly has dominated this rivalry over the past few months, the fervor between the two schools shows no signs of dying out.
The drama will continue in the coming days as Centre Men’s Basketball hosts Transylvania November 21. This is a game both teams will be fighting to win, but as for now the Centre faithful can enjoy their unblemished fall record against Transy—A perfect C6 – T0.