By Gabby Goodwin || Sports Editor
With Centennial Conference wins in Softball, Men’s Lacrosse, Women’s Lacrosse, Spring Track and Field, Men’s Soccer, Field Hockey, and Football, 2017 has truly been the year of the Diplomats.
Key wins against rivals such as Gettysburg, Dickinson, and Johns Hopkins have kept team and school moral high as the Diplomats have continued to secure Centennial Conference tournament victories time and time again. Because of the competitive nature of the Centennial Conference, winning against such rivals takes determination, hard-work, and focus.
However, as seven teams on campus this year have experienced, the feeling of winning the Centennial Conference is a feeling that is hard to come by. The elusive sensation of accomplishing something in your life that you have worked so hard for throughout the season is an amazing one. Every game, every practice becomes about giving it your all and playing not only for yourself, but those around you. This is the feeling of winning the Centennial Conference.
To hold the trophy in your hand, smile arm in arm with your teammates, and accept the praises of congratulations from family and friends, it’s a feeling that we wish we could experience all the time. And thankfully for the Diplomats, we have sought to accomplish this feeling time and time again, with each win, the feeling never ceasing to diminish or get old. Diplomat spirit is high at this time of the year, especially with the opening of the new Shadek Stadium, and, with it, the bond Franklin and Marshall students alike have shared and formed. While you do have to be an F&M athlete to win a Centennial Conference, you don’t have to be one to have a strong sense of Diplomat and school pride.
While we preach the beauty of the liberal arts education and Franklin & Marshall’s commitment to diversity at the school, we should also begin to preach the beauty of the Franklin & Marshall community–a community that comes together to support one another and feels a collective sense of accomplishment for others’ endeavors.
This is Franklin & Marshall, and the Diplomats. This is the school that we are all proud to be a part of. And this is why everyday is a great day to be a Dip!
Sophomore Gabby Goodwin is the Sports Editor. Her email is ggoodwin@fandm.edu