Chalin Cahlik
Men's Soccer 14-5-2 (10-4-2 )
Overview:
Tiffin University Men’s Soccer continues to impress with their consistently stellar play year after year. TU finished with a record of 14-5-2 and 10-4-2 in the GLIAC ending in the NCAA regional tournament on a 2-1 loss to Drury. TU was able to win the GLIAC Tournament Title as they defeated Saginaw Valley State 2-1 in the final game to become champions.
Soccer is not one of my favorite sports and I would not ordinarily watch it in person or on TV, but watching a team like TU hone their craft game after game was impressive. I will always have a soft spot for TU soccer because that is the first sport I broadcasted on WTUD back in 2014, launching my journey into broadcasting.
General Duties:
As with other sports my main duties of soccer were doing the play-by-play commentary, but this time I was often alone because of the many jobs that needed filled to make these broadcasts work. During a regular soccer match there would be someone running the statistical side, someone spotting for both the broadcaster and the statistician (to ensure accuracy on numbers) and someone running the ground camera. With all the jobs on the table I was honored to continually do the play-by-play for the last 2 years. Russ entrusted the job to me and throughout the years I feel I have gotten much better at keeping a continuous flow, preventing stuttering and keeping the crowd entertained.
My favorite off the field moment was broadcasting a soccer game and at half time I was waiting in line when someone heard me talking and came to ask if they knew me. I was slightly confused and replied that I didn’t think so only for them to say that I “sounded so familiar”. When I told them I broadcasted soccer they told me that is exactly where they knew me and loved my broadcasts and how light hearted I kept the games. I will forever cherish that moment because it is great to have a fan that is completely unbiased.
Highlight: TU vs Northwood
While the season had many highlights that were much larger, this game really stood out to me because of what it meant to the team and how it showed we were for real. In a juggernaut match up of #19 ranked TU and #11 ranked Northwood, both teams showed why they deserved to be ranked in the top 20. Historically these two programs have had some chippy games and this one was no different with plenty of fouls and chirping throughout. The impact of this game was immense as a big jump in ranking for both teams was surely in store and a solidified regional ranking was on the way. A scoreless, but not action-less, first half left both teams wondering how anything would find the back of the net. Both teams only managed 4 shots each, but the physicality was being won by the Dragons. It wasn’t until the Michael McPeek header in the 58th minute gave the Dragons a 1-0 advantage that they would hold on to.
This game taught me that even though the action on the field is not what people expect (i.e. offensive scoring or diving plays) you can still make plenty of the plays sound interesting. Certain games will not always give you the material you need to create a picture for the audience and that is something you need to learn to do as a broadcaster. If you don’t sound enthusiastic the crowd will get bored, but if every hit, every shot, every clear sounds exciting people will surely appreciate you on air more so than others.
Time Spent:
Similar to Women's Soccer, I was not a big soccer fan coming into the season. The broadcasters were incredibly long and doing back-to-back games as a broadcaster can be incredibly harsh on your voice. I found myself enjoying games late in the season because of how talented the young men on the team were and the passion in their faces when they played. They deserved to have someone tell the world what they were doing.
The amount of time spent packing up and setting up was quite a bit because we needed to transfer equipment from soccer to volleyball and football as well. With the inability to leave equipment there were times we were at the field 30-40 minutes after everyone had left getting our things together.
