Brooklyn College has caught the female soccer bug.
With the sport growing in popularity around the country, the college and two others in the CUNY system will be adding womens? teams in the fall.
?Because of the growth of the sport, schools are adding teams,? said Kim Santoiemma associate director of the City University of New York Athletic Conference.
Medgar Evers in Bedford Stuyvesant and Lehman College in Bedford Park in the Bronx are also adding female soccer teams, she said.
Officials at Brooklyn College jumped at the chance to create a female soccer team because of overwhelming demand and renovations to the school?s multi-purpose athletic field which will be finished next summer.
College officals have already gotten 65 applications since annoucing the new team two weeks ago.
?We had a field that was in disrepair,? said school athletic director Bruce Filosa. ?We knew we wanted to start a new program but we didn?t want to do it before we had a field.?
Midwood native Christine Alexis, 19, used to play soccer at Midwood High School but had to abandon her passion when she found out there was no team at Brooklyn College.
Now, Alexis said she?s in training for tryouts in the spring, hoping to make the team?s inaugural squad.
?I?m very excited,? said Alexis. ?It was such a fun experience traveling and meeting different girls. It would mean a lot to go back to that atmosphere.?
Brooklyn College student Janet Rodriguez, 19, said she considered transferring to another school with a women?s soccer program before she heard of the new team at Brooklyn College.
?I used to wish I had a college soccer team that I could be a part of but now I don?t have to,? said Rodriguez.
CUNY?s expansion from threto seven teams next season has been so successful the CUNY Athletic Conference now qualifies to send one team to the massive 64-team National College Athletic Association female soccer tournament for the first time next year.
?It?s definitely getting there,? said Santoiemma. ?It just goes to show that this sport is gaining momentum and becoming more popular.?
mmorales@nydailynews.com
Twitter.com/NYDNMarkMorales
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