Tensions run high this year as SU Men’s Soccer try to maintain their position in the top four. But with two of their most recent losses at home, those affiliated with the team are trying to find something, anything, to blame.
Some might say the only factor that affects the outcome of the game is simply the performance of the players, but most players would disagree. A number of different components, factors, and influences change the way people play, including the number of fans, team chemistry–even what players ate in the commons the night before. Arguably to them, though, one of the only reasons anyone performs well at a home soccer game is the pregame playlist.
Imagine waiting for the game to start: The players take the field and you’re ready for that first bump to come on. You listen and wait until kick-off for the first banger to play. But as the game starts and the music fades away, you realize that banger you were waiting for is never coming. No Travis Scott, no Drake–nothing. Is it even a soccer game anymore?
In order to get more of a consensus on the music being played, I asked some of the players, like Juniors Luke Orren, Alan Carr and Mallory Harkins.
“The music for the soccer games doesn’t get any of us hype for the game,” stated Luke. “It definitely doesn’t allow us to get as amped up and excited for the game as we could if we had our own music to listen to.”
“I mean, two-thirds of the songs are not good pump-up music, you know?” Allen added, to which Mallory nodded in agreement. She said, “It’s just annoying because the music sucks and, like, it’s legit country” Mallory stated. “Like, what collegiate soccer team wants to listen to country while they’re trying to get hype for a game? We just don’t get it. Like, why can’t we make [the playlist] our own?”
Sophomore Jacob Nadeau added, “Jesus Christ, I don’t even know if there is a good description for it. I don’t know, some country and pop, just not the kind of stuff we would select to prep ourselves,”
It was stated by a number of players that this new playlist is comparable to that of being at an away game. Psychologists and sports players alike will tell you the difficulty of away games as opposed to home games. During away games, the home team is thought to have the advantage because they are able to manipulate the environment to their comfort. The home team usually has more fans, more knowledge of the field and facilities, and overall more support.
To SU athletes, though, home games are now considered worse than away games. “Most away games have pretty good warm-up playlists because they’re able to play their own music,” Luke stated. “That’s why it would be really cool to have our own music to hype us up for our home games.”
Assistant Coach Marco Carvalho opined, “In my opinion, as a player you should be able to listen to whatever gets you in the mindset to play, although it is not fair to the public to have to listen to vulgar music and things that they are not supposed to listen to.” Coach Carvalho said, “It is not my program, though, so that’s really all I have to say.”
As of writing this, the players have offered to find clean versions of all of the songs they want to listen to.
The Megaphone emailed Coach Dustin for comment but received no reply.