North Harris College “United” men's soccer team takes TCSL championship                                                                        

North Harris College’s “United” men's soccer team recently kicked its way to the championship of the Texas Collegiate Soccer League (TCSL) divisional tournament and also received a bid to the regional tournament hosted by Texas Tech University. The team had a 9-0 record this fall and plans to compete in Spring 2004.

The Texas Collegiate Soccer League (TCSL) began in 1974 and was organized by six colleges to create a competitive club level soccer league. The TCSL now consists of 32 men’s teams and 16 women’s teams representing 30 colleges and universities around the state including Rice University, University of Texas, Texas A&M University, University of Houston, Texas Southern University, and more. In the fall semester, both the TCSL men's and women's championship teams qualify to represent Texas in the National Intramural Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA) National Championship.

“I really want to credit the team’s coach, Agustin Loza,” says Shirley Ennis, NHC’s department of recreational sports director. “He committed a lot of time and effort, developed the team into a unified group, and encouraged them to participate at a higher level of competition.”

According to Ennis, the players eat, drink, and sleep soccer. The team has extensive experience, most played on high school varsity teams and competitive club teams in their teen years. As young adults, they now play for NHC and also belong to area adult leagues. The majority of the players are setting their goals to attend 4-year universities. In addition to their extended academic goals, Ennis believes they also have the athletic talent to play collegiate soccer at those institutions.

“There is a wide-spread misunderstanding that community colleges lack a ‘college’ student life or active intramural participation. NHC maintains a wide-variety of extracurricular sports activities for students as well as more than 60 student organizations to join,” says Ennis.

For more information about NHC’s intramural sports program, call Ennis, at 281-618-5659.