, like most sports-minded boys his age, grew up playing baseball, basketball, and flag football in Rockingham County in the 1970s — since those were the main options. But he found something new when he became a freshman at Eastern Mennonite High School after attending John Wayland Intermediate.

“When I went to EMHS, football wasn’t an option. I changed schools; sports was a way to connect,” Mast said of the school that still doesn’t offer football. “Soccer was the thing to do at EMHS back in the day” with pickup games in Park View on summer nights as well.

That culture was guided by former EMHS coach Ron Koppenhaver. “He had a way of arm twisting and encouraging the athletes to play,” Mast recalls of Koppenhaver, who died in 2012 in Kansas.

Now nearly 45 after his freshman year at EMHS, Mast has done his share of encouraging and maybe some arm twisting along the way as a long-time soccer coach in his own right. A former player at EMHS (now EMS) and ��ݮ����, Mast is preparing for his 30th season as the head men’s coach for the Royals.

“I would say how fast time flies,” said Mast, 58, when asked of his lengthy tenure. “I guess maybe I am having fun. Life just goes by really, really quickly sometimes. I have a lot of vivid memories of pretty much every season. Each season has its own unique chemistry of players.”

“What goes through my mind is looking back at all of the memories I have had with so many people,” he added. “Be that with players or coaches. You realize all of the people that have influenced me and I have been able to work with.”

He was the Old Dominion Athletic Conference coach of the year in 1996 and 1998, took his 1998 squad to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament, and won his 200th game in 2012.

“That was an era that was kind of exciting,” said Mast, a 1985 EMU graduate who also played two years of baseball for the Royals. “The first ODAC title was in 1996. To play in an ODAC championship all four years (1996-99) is quite an accomplishment” for that class.

Mast and his wife, Cheryl (Yoder), who also attended EMHS and graduated from James Madison University, have two sons, and both Grayson and Mark played for their father at EMU. Their mother is Chief Financial Officer for Rockingham County Public Schools.

Coaching tree

The influence of Mast goes beyond the field or his own family.

Several of his former players have gone on to coach at the high school or college level. “The list is extensive,” said Mast, who grew up in Mt. Clinton.

One of them is , who coached the Blue Streaks of Harrisonburg and is now the women’s coach at EMU.

Erickson attended HHS and hoped to play at Division I JMU. But the late Dr. Tom Martin — the long-time JMU coach who passed away in October and was friends with Mast — was up front with Erickson and told him he might not see playing time his until junior year. Martin suggested he attend a smaller school.

“I ended up staying all four years,” Erickson said of EMU. “I think (Mast) has been very good with what he has in the way of a roster and he changes to fit those needs. We had one style as a freshman and then he changed it some our sophomore and junior year and then tweaked it some my senior year.”

“He was able to develop players and make them stars in Division III. Off the field, to his credit, he gets very close to his players. He will get to know them as individuals; he is sincere about it,” Erickson added of Mast, a member of Harrisonburg Mennonite Church. “Once you are done after four years, he doesn’t kick you out the door. I think that comes from his own personal faith.”

Erickson notes that Mast balances his coaching along with a teaching load as an assistant professor in the health and physical education department.

“It is difficult, it is not easy,” Erickson said. “He deeply cares about the university and where it is headed.”

Mast also served as EMU athletic director in 1990 and from 1991-94. He was on the board of a local youth soccer club nearly 20 years. He is one of the few college soccer coaches in the mid-Atlantic region with a doctorate.

Messiah coach Brad McCarty played for Mast at Christopher Dock, a Mennonite high school in Pennsylvania, before Mast coached one season at EMHS then took over at EMU.

“He was a really influential person in my life at that time,” McCarty said. “I had come to know the Lord when I was younger but at that point in my life I was not really living for the Lord. (Mast) was really influential to me.”

“He was the one that told me about Messiah,” McCarty added of that Christian school near Harrisburg, Pennslyvania. “He is someone that I held in high regard as a person, teacher, and coach. He was invaluable in my life; he cared about me.”

McCarty graduated from Messiah in 1993 and has been the coach there since 2009. His team has faced EMU regularly, with the last meeting coming in 2019 as the Royals lost 2-1.

One rival coach Mast goes to for advice is Chris Yeager, the Division III coach of the year in 2010 who has guided Lynchburg in the ODAC for nearly two decades.

As a player at Virginia Wesleyan, Yeager went up against Mast and the Royals. Now he has done that as the Lynchburg coach.

“His teams have always been super competitive and driven,” said Yeager, whose squad beat EMU 3-1 last October. “They always seem to have something in the tank. He does a good job of getting those guys ready to play in big games.”

A year unlike others

There is plenty of motivation for Mast heading into the 2020 season — in whatever form it takes.

Last fall, the Royals were 5-14 with nine straight losses to end the season. “We got hit hard with the injury bug,” he said.

Throw in the uncertainty of COVID-19, and Mast and his fall coaching colleagues may have more questions than answers at this point.

“The question for me is how to plan for a target without knowing what that target is going to be. We are really planning for a number of different scenarios,” Mast said. “Either we hit the ground running and play a full slate of games or another option we could delay and start a little bit later. The worst-case scenario is our season would be cut short. In the ODAC, we are starting conversations right now. It is possible doing an ODAC-only schedule” without non-conference games.

“It is hard to know how to plan because it seems like the target is always moving,” added Mast.

Earlier this month, after clearance from the school, Mast hosted an incoming player who had never set foot on campus. The veteran coach said the day included plenty of social distancing for a family that wanted to check out the campus in person.

For now, EMU plans to begin in-person classes on August 25. The NCAA, notes Mast, said student-athletes can return as early as August 10.

“I think that is an unrealistic expectation to move our student-athletes in that early,” Mast said. “We won’t have all of our housing in place by that time. There is also the cost factor.”

But after three decades at the helm, Mast should be able to adapt to whatever the schedule brings. After all, he has the most wins in soccer history as a coach at EMU.

“His guys are always ready to play,” said Yeager, the Lynchburg coach. “Going against him, I knew his players were always ready for a fight, home or away. That is hard to go against.”

Nor did she have any idea just how many students she would teach, advise, coach and mentor at the university: Considering the number of courses she taught each semester as well as her class sizes, Brownscombe probably taught an estimated one-third of the student body each semester. For 15 years with the , she was the field placement coordinator for what amounts to several hundred practicum and student teachers.

So the likelihood that any student over the past 40 years graduated without relating to Brownscombe in some capacity is pretty slim.

That legacy was honored earlier this month during a reception attended by colleagues.

[Good wishes to Sandy are welcome in the comments box at the end of the article. Each message will be shared with her.]

One of those colleagues is also a former student: Roger Mast, associate professor of physical education and men’s soccer coach for the past 27 years. He noted that the opportunity to work alongside a passionate, committed and welcoming colleague who continuously “reflected and improved her own teaching practice is a gift we’ll cherish for a lifetime.”

Brownscombe was the second non-Mennonite faculty member, and the first female non-Mennonite, to be hired, noted Director of Athletics Dave King.

Her pioneering didn’t stop there. She coached three sports and 32 total teams: women’s basketball for 12 years, from 1978-90; field hockey for 16 years, from 1978-93; and men’s volleyball for eight years, from 1991-98.

This last coaching term is notable, says King. If Brownscombe is not the first woman to coach men’s sports in the NCAA, she is certainly among the first. That she did this at a private Christian college is also notable.

In the record books, Brownscombe is No. 1 in wins for and , and for women’s basketball (notably, she has been the longest-serving coaches in the first two sports, by several years; current women’s basketball coach Kevin Griffin logged his 12th year, to equal Brownscombe service and exceed her wins record, just this year).

She is one of three coaches with her mentor Miriam “Mim” Mumaw and Eugene Hostetler.

“You have pioneered change or embraced change at every turn in our athletic and physical education program at EMU, so thank you for being a trailblazer,” President Susan Schultz Huxman said. “That takes energy, conviction, confidence and steady optimism and faith in a university’s future.”

In April 2018, the EMU Board of Trustees honored Brownscombe as the first physical education faculty member to receive professor emerita status.

A role model for future role models

Reflecting on her career, Brownscombe said in a later interview that she was most proud of her record as an academic advisor, helping students to create a smooth and efficient pathway to timely graduation – a challenging task considering the practicum and student-teaching requirements for physical education and teacher education.

Her student evaluations highlight her strengths as a teacher. “I tried every semester to be better than the semester before,” she said. “That was very important to me, to get better at my work, to be a better teacher.”

For many years, all of the time-consuming coaching responsibilities – such as state-wide and regional recruitment, planning for and managing practices, driving the team to competitions – were accomplished on top of a full teaching load.

Though Brownscombe says she thinks back on that time and is still amazed at her own resilience, she says she felt a strong responsibility to model to her students how to balance the two roles. For all students, it was important to see a female coach in a leadership role.

“For the first half of my career, I was a coach and teacher, and I felt it was really important to model those dual roles to health and physical education majors because that was often the role they were going into,” she said.

Helping all teachers to be better teachers

Brownscombe arrived at EMU (then Eastern Mennonite College) with teaching experience in the Providence, Rhode Island, schools, as well as an MA in physical education from Washington State University and a BA in physical education from University of Northern Colorado. In 2004, she earned an EdD in K-12 curriculum from Argosy University, Sarasota.

She chaired the physical education and recreation department three times (1987-90, 1992-94 and 2015-17) and was interim chair of the teacher education department during two sabbaticals.

With various teaching responsibilities in both teacher education and physical education departments, she was field experience coordinator for 15 years, representing EMU on the MidValley Consortium for Teacher Education from 2000-2015.

In this capacity, she helped to develop an innovative new model, which emphasized co-teaching between the P-12 classroom teacher and the preservice teacher.

“When the new Standards of Learning requirements were introduced, local principals were concerned about how student teachers might impact learning,” she explained. “The model then was that the student teacher spent a few weeks observing and then took over the classroom while the regular teacher stepped out.”

Adapting a previously used co-teaching model, Brownscombe and other teacher education professionals in the MidValley Consortium eventually moved regional preservice education onto new – and better – ground. The consortium research, conducted in Augusta County schools and eventually shared at state and national conferences, showed students learning in a co-teaching model actually improved their test scores.

In the MidValley Consortium role, Brownscombe developed and shared research and knowledge gleaned about all aspects of teacher education at various conferences. Some of these topics included:

• developing co-teaching skills in clinical faculty.
• the nature of interactions between clinical faculty and preservice teachers.
• the relationship between clinical faculty and student teachers.
• the role of collaboration and reflection among teachers and students.
• performance assessments as related to co-teaching and to student teachers.
• teacher retention.
• transitioning teacher candidates from preparation to professional practice.

Joining EMU colleagues, she presented at conferences on experiences of preservice teachers in practicum settings, socially just learning, and unique qualities of the liberal arts-based preservice teacher curriculum.

Leadership beyond EMU

Brownscombe was on the board of directors from 2011-16 of Association of Teacher Educators (ATE), a national organization that represents over 700 colleges and universities, over 500 major school systems, and the majority of state departments of education.

She also co-chaired the 2014 national conference and served in leadership positions for four other conferences: service two times as planning committee co-chair and once as a member, and twice as program committee co-chair.

Brownscombe also co-chaired the ATE’s Commission on the Development of/and Preparation for Teaching the Whole Child, and was a four-year member of the association’s standing committee on technology and the future of teacher education.

With the Virginia Association of Teacher Educators, during 20 years of membership, she served as president from 2007-09, which included two-year terms before and after as president-elect and past president. She was the higher education delegate from 2011-12.

She was also active in leadership roles for the Virginia Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (VAHPERD), and served as one of the lead teachers at James Madison University’s Content Teaching Academy.

In addition to two full-tuition , approximately 90 students also interviewed or auditioned with scholarship committees within several academic departments.

• After submitting an essay, prospective teachers met with faculty to talk about their goals and inspirations to make an impact in education.
• Before their interviews, prospective students planning to major in submitted a reference letter and responded to a prompt asking for reflection on how the program intersected with their values and long-term interests.
• Musicians who do not plan to be music majors auditioned for a variety of scholarships. Awards will be made to students participating in .
• Invited students interviewed for selection into the EMU STEM Scholars Engaging in Local Problems (SSELP) program, which provides financial aid up to $10,000 to academically talented students with demonstrated financial need who will pursue employment, service or continued education in high-need STEM fields regionally and nationwide.
• Students who had submitted promising portfolios of photography, videography and/or digital media work were invited to interview with the faculty.

A big welcome on campus

Campus tours, meals, workshops for parents and opportunities to interact with current students, faculty, staff and alumni were scheduled.

“The weekend provided students from around the United States with a close-up view of what it might be like to be a part of the EMU community,” said Director of Admissions . “Having such a talented group of prospective students on campus definitely makes everyone more conscious of what a tremendously rich and diverse place this is.”

Ruth was helped by a large team of EMU supporters — from current students who hosted overnight stays to alumni speakers and several parents of current students who met with visiting parents.

Yoder Scholar Anisa Leonard, a sophomore social work major from Nairobi, Kenya, organized housing and led dinner-time activities. As an Exec Royal Ambassador, she spent most of the weekend giving campus tours.

“I loved getting to meet all the new students and seeing some familiar faces,” she said. “A lot of the students asked questions which were major specific about what they can expect from professors or in the classroom.”

Alumni highlight faculty, small size, deep discussions

Alumni Benjamin Bergey ’11, nearing the conclusion of his doctoral work in music at James Madison University, and Jessica Sarriot ‘11, a first-year graduate student at Princeton University, shared their EMU experiences with prospective honors students.

Bergey chose EMU for several reasons, including its “holistic learning environment in and out of the classroom,” the “amazing faculty who are quality professors but also mentors and friends,” and the small size.

“It’s large enough to have an array of excellent programs, but small enough that students can participate in many of them with room to create other experiences,” he told students.

Sarriot, who was raised in three different countries as a “,” talked about how her (she also minored in and ) prepared her for four years of international and national development work, followed by an intense seven-month research project in which she explored community organizing practices by interviewing 60 community leaders in Colombia, Mauritania, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Iraq.

Her graduate studies at Princeton are fully funded.

“When I think of my four years on campus, the times I remember the best were times I was actively engaging the two questions at the center of my being: How do I do justice and who is God?” she said. “…If you are holding some profound questions in your head and heart, there will be professors, mentors, classmates and an ethos at this institution that will allow you to explore those questions, that will enrich and nurture your process of answering them, and that will stay with you.”

�������±��Ա���岹��’s game against Wesley, Dave scored the overtime goal that decided the game. Then on Saturday, when EMU hosted William Peace, he had a pass to  (Maitland, Fla./Bishop Moore Catholic) which set him up to score the final goal.

Dave commented on his goal against Wesley, “It felt extremely special, just because it was an overtime goal. It was a pretty close game with even teams. I thought we were the better side, so getting that goal definitely proved we were better.”

Dave has high hopes for the team this year. In recent years, EMU’s men get knocked out in the first round of the ODAC Tournament, and he would like to see them get past the second round. That goal may be possible given this year’s roster, which Dave is excited about. He spoke highly of his freshmen teammates, adding needed depth.

“The whole freshman class is definitely a big part of the team,” he concluded.

Dave’s efforts have not gone unnoticed by his coach, Roger Mast, who said, “He is an explosive athlete who plays in an attacking role for us. Dave has shown great progress in his career thus far, in part because of the confidence that he is gaining in being able to utilize his speed to break down defenses. I am happy to see him beginning to reach his potential as a dynamic player who has the ability to be a game changer for our team.”

When he’s not on the soccer field, Dave is still heavily involved in the sporting world. He has a recreation leadership and sports studies major and also studies business. Over the summer he coached a team of younger athletes as a chance to take a step back from the game and gain a new perspective. After graduation he hopes to continue to work somewhere in the sports industry, either as a coach or in sports marketing.

In his free time, Dave enjoys hanging out with his roommates and watching soccer or football. He also nurtures a healthy appreciation for food.

“Food is key,” he said. “I’m not a morning guy, but I love breakfast food, so I’ll eat it whenever.”

The EMU men are currently 4-1, having won four straight games since a season-opening loss at regionally-ranked Maryville.

“Come out and support the team,” Dave encouraged. “I think we have a really great team. Our attack is very dangerous, we have a solid defense. I think this can be an exciting season, and we need the fan support for that.”

Lind describes himself as the kid who played soccer every night and quit other sports to keep playing soccer. He started to notice his coaching abilities early on.

“Even as a player, I had more of a coach’s mentality,” said Lind.

So naturally, at EMU, Lind played , earned his degree in , added minors in and , and then hoped for a job in the sport he has loved forever.

Lind now works with in Northern Virginia and Maryland. One of the premier soccer skills training academies, Coerver is endorsed by some well-known sportsmen who are among the elite in the game.

If you’re not a soccer fan, skip to the next paragraph. If you are a fan, the following names will probably mean something: Argentinian Osvaldo “Ossie” Ardiles, the first non-British or Irish manager in the Premier League; Gerald Houllier, former technical director of the French Football Federation; and Carlos Parriera, Brazil’s head coach. These men are among the endorsers of Coerver’s training.

Love for soccer leads to coaching

At least one person never questioned Lind’s drive to stay in the game.

“It’s not surprising to me that he has taken his passion into a vocation where he can share his love for the game with aspiring young footballers,” said EMU head soccer coach , who has known Lind ever since he was a young player at EMU’s Kicks Soccer Camp.

That passion was recognized by Coerver’s regional director Vincent Caltabiano. “Jake comes to us as a young coach, new to the profession, but further along in his knowledge for the game and in his ability to teach the game than many are at his age. Jake has a very bright future with Coerver and the game of soccer.”

Lind played on local travel teams, and at Eastern Mennonite High School before coming to EMU.

“Jake always loved soccer and he poured his heart and soul into playing the game,” Mast said. “I cannot think of a person in my history of coaching that spent as much time playing as Jake did. He could be found on the soccer field, the outdoor basketball courts or an indoor facility.”

After graduating from EMHS, Lind took a gap year and coached the school’s junior varsity boys team. After attending a semester of college in Ohio, Lind began to consider coaching as a career, eventually returning to EMU, where he could play soccer and tailor his curriculum to his vocational hopes.

On the pitch, Lind played in 45 games, scored eight goals, had nine assists and ended with 25 points. As a junior, he led his team in goals and points, and also topped the ODAC with five game-winning goals, en route to All-ODAC Third Team honors. He was a senior co-captain and twice earned All-ODAC Academic Team honors.

D.C. United internship sets stage

During his summer cross cultural experience at , Lind interned with DC United’s U23 soccer team, assisting with transitions during practice and goalkeeper training, as well as training preparation. He also ran summer camps for elementary and middle school-age athletes.

While he was interning there, he was approached by Caltabiano. The company was looking to expand into Northern Virginia and Maryland. After his internship with D.C. United wrapped up, Lind accepted the position.

Caltabiano says Lind has been instrumental in the company’s growth already, helping to secure indoor space to run Coerver’s first winter training program in Harrisonburg at Next Level Athletic Development.

“I always had people telling me, ‘You’re gonna have to get a real job. You have to stop playing soccer eventually,’ and I questioned that,” Lind said.

Now he doesn’t need to respond. As a Coerver coach, he works with athletes ages eight to 14 to improve their ball-handling skills in a clinic situation. He sometimes spends 8-12 weeks at a stretch with a specific team.

“We work on a lot of technical training and getting players touches on the ball as much as possible,” said Lind.

Coerver United also runs week-long camps in the summer, which offer a concentrated version of what a Coerver coach would teach a team during the season.

Lind enjoys coaching with Coerver. “I couldn’t do a nine-to-five job where I sit in a desk all day,” he says. “Being able to go move around and be active and get paid for it is awesome.”

Thomas, an EMU team captain and who has been a starting center back since midway through his freshman season, holds a 3.70 GPA with a double major of accounting and economics. Along with helping the Royals to seven shutouts this fall, the senior also scored the first goal of his career in last Wednesday’s 4-1 win over Shenandoah. He had previously notched his first point with an assist against Randolph on Oct. 1.

Thomas has also been a regular on the ODAC All-Academic Team and the Royals All-Academic Team.

“Ryan has always been a great leader for our team,” said Coach Roger Mast. “He does a fantastic job of balancing his training and soccer responsibilities with the work he does in the classroom. Being a double major, he has always been a good student and we couldn’t be more proud of him.”

The criteria for the All-District program states that a player must be of sophomore academic standing, be a starter or important reserve and claim a GPA of at least 3.30 on a 4.0 scale. Eastern Mennonite is a member of District 5, which includes players from NCAA D-III institutions in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.  Only 13 men’s soccer players were honored from District 5.

Eastern Mennonite (9-7-4 / 4-3-2 ODAC) is riding a four-game winning streak heading into this week’s ODAC Tournament. As the No. 6 seed, the Royals play at No. 3 Roanoke Wednesday at 7:00pm. The semifinals and championship will be this Saturday and Sunday at the highest remaining seed.

Parker has made the most of his return, currently second for Eastern Mennonite with four goals. Two of those goals came last week, one being the defining blow to take the 2-1 win Sunday at Stevenson.

“Certainly, my time away has caused me to appreciate soccer more than I had previously,” Parker said on coming back to the Royals. “As an undergraduate, I took for granted the opportunity to play soccer at the collegiate level. Now, having had time to mature and work on myself, my approach is entirely different. I take very seriously doing the little things physically and mentally to prepare myself for our upcoming matches.”

Parker played for the Royals in both 2012 and 2013 as an undergrad, but took time off in 2014 and 2015.

He doesn’t shy away from talking about his time away from soccer, claiming that the sport had become “mundane” after playing for over 15 years of his life.

“It has benefited me tremendously having been able to take three years off from playing collegiate soccer,” explained Parker. “During this gap, I was able to find again a love for soccer, and competition in general, that I had lost.”

With being much older than a lot of his teammates, Parker has taken on a leadership role on the team because of his many years of experience.

“He brings a good maturity to our young team and we feel that our younger players look up to him,” Head Coach Roger Mast said.

With the age and maturity level of the graduate student, Parker has taken on a nickname from many of his teammates.

“A growing number of guys on the team call me ‘dad’. I have no idea how this started but I roll with it,” Parker said. “This name seems to be a way for the guys to acknowledge that I am older and have experience to share with them. Being ‘the dad,’ or veteran, has been a wonderful experience.”

Parker has played in all seven of EMU’s contests this season, starting in two of them. He has become a staple coming off of the bench for the Royals.

“He has added a great spark to our attack,” Mast said. “We hope that he continues to get stronger in his performances throughout the season.”

With this being his last season of eligibility, Parker takes on each match with an interesting perspective.

“I approach every game with the mindset of being an opportunist,” he stated. “I have gotten myself physically and mentally prepared for battle. I do not feel as if I need to leave it all on the field like a senior would after playing four years of soccer. For me, it is about enjoying each moment with my teammates and ending my career on a positive note.”

The theme this year was the question, “Why do I continue to ‘choose’ Jesus?”

The late February event features nightly faculty/staff sharing and conversation in residence halls, special gatherings for women and men, chapel events, retreats, and the much-loved tradition of meeting in the homes of faculty and staff for a meal and fellowship.

More than 100 students signed up for dinners hosted by 20 faculty and staff. “We have been trying to do this every semester,” said , undergraduate campus pastor and event coordinator, “but this semester, it was really successful.”

Speakers at the informal nightly discussions included , professor of English, and , professor of visual arts; head baseball coach and assistant coach Adam Posey; physical education professors and ; undergraduate dean and , office coordinator for the Applied Social Sciences Department.

Professors and led a women’s gathering, while Wes Wilder, a ministry intern, hosted the men’s luncheon.

spoke in chapel about her years-long journey with glaucoma, a reflection titled “,” which was widely read and shared after posting to EMU News and Facebook accounts. Schrock-Hurst teaches youth ministry, spiritual formation, and introduction to Bible courses in the department, in addition to overseeing the .

‘All their stories are sacred’

“I really enjoyed hearing the stories from the faculty and staff and their perspectives on following Jesus,” said Christina Hershey, a pastoral assistant for campus ministries. “It was interesting to go to multiple forums because everyone had very different stories, but all their stories are sacred, and it shows the diversity in the church.”

She added, “I really like the opportunity to hear the stories from the faculty and staff and to learn from their vast wealth of knowledge. Many of them do not get the chance to share about their faith in their classroom or other work contexts, and I enjoy hearing their perspectives on faith. I also attended both chapels and the faculty and staff meals.”

“I admired Adam and Ben’s willingness to open up and discuss their personal faith journeys,” said senior , who helped to host an evening forum and the women’s meal, which attracted about 50 participants to the West Dining Room. “Carl and Carolyn addressed the question, ‘What is the difference between living like Jesus and living in relationship with Jesus?’ [They] brought about a conversation that can be controversial and layered it in the love and grace of Jesus as they related it to attachment theory. They shared personal reflection laced with academic theory and profound passion for relationship with Jesus.”

Care ‘extends beyond the classroom’

, chair of the Department, opened Saturday evening’s meal with a smile and a Punjabi song to bless the spread of Pakistani dishes before him. He and his wife, Deb, provided curried foods including lentils, chicken, potato with cauliflower, and mustard greens. In addition, they served roti, a flour-based flatbread, achaar, mixed, pickled vegetables, and raita, a tart yogurt condiment with mint and cumin to cool down the spicy Thai dragon peppers.

The dinner was typical of what he and his wife often prepare for special guests. Since a great number of EMU students study abroad, Medley thought that the ethnic food would be very much appreciated.

“It’s a matter of identity,” Medley says. After living in Pakistan for 11 years, their lifestyle has become heavily influenced by the food and way of living. The influence of Pakistani culture is evident not only in the dishes served, but also in the artwork and ornaments that adorn their home.

In the past, Spiritual Life Week has often involved bringing a well-known speaker to campus. Now those resources are focused on facilitating conversation and relationships between students and their faculty and staff counterparts.

“This is what is means for faculty and staff to enter into conversation with students, and to talk about life and faith,” said Miller.

First year Grace Burkhart feels that “these meals highlight the fact that faculty care about students in a way that extends beyond the classroom.”

“We want to ask: How are faculty and staff making themselves available to students out of class?” said Miller. “As a community we can sometimes speak better into people’s lives than a big name speaker would. So now, when you see someone across campus, there is a chance you actually know something about them, but a speaker, you probably will only see once.”

Initially, when Medley received the invitation to host students as well as the indication that students wish to interact with the faculty more, he felt that it was important to open his home. He finds that encouraging community feeling on EMU’s campus is an important part of Spiritual Life Week. In the past, the Medleys have invited students and other faculty members in his classes and within the department for dinners and occasional seasonal events. However, Spiritual Life Week has made it easier to do so because of its efficient organization.

“I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know some people I had seen on campus before but never had the opportunity to get to know,” said junior Maddie Gish. “It is amazing how much we can learn from everyone around us. I am so glad I participated!”

Portions of this coverage were reprinted with permission from the March 3, 2016, edition of the Weather Vane.

As of Monday, Sept. 22 the team is 2-4-2, with several double overtime games under their belt. Mast hopes that competitive edge puts his team back into the postseason tourney for the 22nd time in his 24 years at the helm.

Lessons learned from 2013 season

“The 2013 season was one that I would capture as being one of near misses: one game out of making the ODAC Tournament and numerous one goal losses,” Mast explained. “That plays into our team this fall in that we will train to compete. Much of our training will be geared towards competition. We want to instill in our 2014 team a competitive will and work ethic that will turn those close matches into victories.”

The Royals had five one-goal losses last year, including four in conference play. Two of those were in overtime. A win in any of those games would have given EMU the three points they needed to make a jump in the ODAC standings to make the tourney.

In Mast’s mind, his team needs to play their “A” game for every conference outing.

“The competitive balance in the ODAC is hardly fair,” he said. “We must come to play our best each time we have an ODAC opponent on our slate. There is not a team that we can take lightly. The preparation that it takes for each conference team is critical, but even more crucial is having the team intensity and work ethic at a high level for each of these matches.”

All-ODAC players return for new season

Headlining the returners is a pair of former All-ODAC honorees, although one was a pleasant surprise return.

�Ѿ���ھ���������� (Harrisonburg, Va./Eastern Mennonite) is back for his senior season playing for his father. He had three goals and four assists last year, tying for the team lead with 10 points. Mast was an All-ODAC Third Team honoree as a sophomore.

�ٱ�ڱ�Ի����� (Limon, Costa Rica/Colegio de Limon Diurno) is back to finish up his classwork under a fifth season. He scored three goals last year, but his suffocating presence in the middle of the backline earned him All-ODAC First Team and VaSID All-State First Team awards.

“Chris returns this season as a fifth year senior,” explained Coach Mast, “as he was a medical redshirt his freshman season at Old Dominion before transferring to EMU. Chris is a very good organizer of our back four defenders. He also brings good leadership to the team.”

The team also returns super-sub  (Bluffton, Oh./Bluffton), with his three goals and one assist as a junior, as well as senior midfielder  (Harleysville, Pa./Christopher Dock), who had two goals and an assist, and junior defender  (Pottstown, Pa./Owen J. Roberts), who had a goal and an assist.

Mast says his returning core will give this year’s team strength.

“We have good leadership in our upperclassmen,” he explained. “The work ethic of our upperclassmen is high. We also have depth in the goalkeeper position and we have strong enough numbers on our roster to create a competitive atmosphere for training and earning playing time.”

Senior keeper  (Harrisonburg, Va./Eastern Mennonite) is a two-year starter with 188 career saves. He will give leadership to, but also be pushed by, some talented newcomers.

Freshman and transfer student add depth to team

“Matt Overacker (Mount Crawford, Va./Turner Ashby) and Ryan Zerkel (Mount Jackson, Va./Stonewall Jackson) are incoming freshmen who will add depth and compete for playing time in the goalkeeper position,” said Mast. “Andrew brings in some quality experience and our young keepers bring some athleticism and competitive desire.”

While the team must replace All-ODAC forward Christian Rhine (13 goals in two season before transferring to Penn State), along with seven graduated seniors and a handful of other role players, the Royals got a boost from the local schools.

“Juan Luna (Mount Jackson, Va./Stonewall Jackson) is returning to the soccer field after a stint as a place kicker at James Madison University,” Mast said, “and he has decided to transfer to EMU. Juan is a dynamic attacking player. Local freshmen players are Zach Sauder (Lyndhurst, Va./Stuarts Draft), Grayson Mast (Harrisonburg, Va./Eastern Mennonite), Brandon Fern (Fishersville, Va./Wilson Memorial) and Braden Herman (Waynesboro, Va./Fort Defiance). In all, we have 37 players reporting for preseason and competing for 28-32 roster spots.”

Difficult non-conference schedule sets the stage for ODAC wins

Once again, Mast scheduled a number of quality non-conference sides to get his men ready for the rigors of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference.

“We have added Johns Hopkins, Gettysburg, Frostburg State, Southern Virginia and Ferrum to our non-conference venue,” said EMU’s coach. “We also have teams that we played in 2013 such as Lebanon Valley, Mary Washington and Marymount. We have chosen to play a difficult non-conference schedule to help to prepare our team for our ODAC opponents.”

Coaching changes at assistant level

There are also some changes on the sidelines, as assistant coach Ted Erickson was hired as EMU’s head women’s soccer coach. Juan Flores, who played in 17 games in his final season of eligibility last fall, and Patrick Bain, an All-ODAC and All-Region player at Roanoke, join the staff this year.

“I look forward to working with Patrick and Juan,” said Mast in late August. “Our goal is to have the players working very hard on both sides of the ball and to be professional in all aspects of our soccer program.”

Learn more about EMU , , and the on the .

And to competitors around the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, João “Chris” Downs is regarded as one of the top defenders in the league.

The Costa Rican-born Old Dominion University transfer, who joined EMU following a freshman campaign with the Monarchs that was completely wiped out when he tore the ACL in his right knee, earned first-team all-league honors last year and will begin his senior season when the Royals visit Mary Washington in Fredericksburg on Friday.

“There are a couple things that Chris does really, really well: He’s very athletic – he’s a Division I athlete. He’s strong,” longtime Royals coach Roger Mast said. “I think his speed may have been affected a little bit from his ACL injury, but physically, he’s strong. … He’s very composed on the ball. Even under pressure, you never see him panic.”

Pronounced JAY-ow, João — a Portuguese surname – is what the 6-foot-2, 190-pound Downs said he prefers to go by. But the difficult spelling and pronunciation of the name led him to adopt “Chris” in Harrisonburg for the sake of simplicity.

Downs was born in rural Limón, Costa Rica, and his father, Cristobal, who now works as a port agent in the Central American country, has raised cattle for both dairy and meat products as a hobby since Chris was a boy.

In fact, Chris Downs said his father sold “a couple” of his livestock to pay for his son’s plane ticket to the United States when he left for ODU prior to the 2011 season.

That background, Mast said, made Downs’ transition to the beach life in Norfolk – his first time being in the United States – immensely more challenging.

“I wouldn’t say growing up in Costa Rica was as hard for me as other kids because I had both parents that worked and provided for me all the time,” Downs said. “I can guarantee you that I was one of the kids playing in the streets that had shoes because my dad used to be like, ‘I don’t want you messing up your feet. You’re going to wear shoes, no matter if they cheap shoes or whatever. Whenever you need shoes, we have to buy you shoes.’”

Downs said he ended up with the Royals after his one-year scholarship at ODU was not renewed following his ACL injury. EMU turned out to be the one and only program Downs visited after leaving ODU, too, and Mast credited that to the down-to-earth atmosphere in Harrisonburg and its surrounding rural areas.

Now at age 24, Downs – who admits his knee still gives him problems from time to time – is ready to play his final competitive season of soccer before hoping to parlay his eventual liberal arts degree into a sports management career.

“Since I was like a 1-year-old, I can remember being obsessed with the game,” Downs said. “And for me, to keep playing, it’s just the passion. No matter how hurt I am, I’ll just try to recover and keep playing.”

Eastern Mennonite, picked to finish ninth this fall in the 12-team ODAC, was 5-13 a year ago and is entering its 24th season under Mast. During that time, Mast said he’s had “at least” 20 foreign-born players compete at his program.

Mast added another international athlete prior to this season in sophomore attacker Juan Luna, a Mexican-born former kicker on the Stonewall Jackson High School and James Madison football teams.

Luna and Downs, who along with student assistant Juan Flores are the only Spanish-first speakers in EMU’s program, often find themselves battling head-to-head in practice.

“He’s very physical, very vocal,” Luna said of Downs. “I’d say he’s the general of his troops – he definitely knows how to rally everybody up. … His timing is just so precise, and that’s something that really, really helps him.”

Courtesy of the Daily News Record, Aug. 28, 2014

The 2013 cross country season was a big step for the program in the third season under the direction of Coach Jason Lewkowicz.  Both the men and the women improved throughout the fall, with both taking high finishes at the ODAC Championship and improving their regional finish over last season.   (Bluffton, Ohio/Bluffton) also qualified for nationals, becoming the first female to run on the big stage since 2002.

Field hockey gets back to the playoffs in 2013

The EMU field hockey team worked their way back to the ODAC Tournament in 2013 after a one-year absence and landed three women on the All-ODAC teams.

The Royals finished fifth in the crowded Old Dominion Athletic Conference standings, but lost 2-1 in overtime at Bridgewater in their ODAC Quarterfinal game.  All of Eastern Mennonite’s wins came in conference play, as the women finished 4-4 in the ODAC and 4-15 overall with a tough non-conference schedule.  It was also a year of feast-or-famine, as the Royals averaged 4.0 goals per game in their wins, but scored a total of six goals in their 15 losses.

A season of near misses for men’s soccer

The men’s soccer season was bookended with wins in 2013.  The middle of the campaign, however, displayed the parity of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, as the Royals suffered five one-goal losses, including two in overtime, and were denied a return trip to the ODAC Tournament.

“It was a season of near misses,” said Coach Roger Mast after his 23rd season at his alma mater, “from losing by a goal to the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the conference to finishing one spot out of making the conference tournament.  There is so much parity amongst our conference opponents and a fine line between success and failure, and wins and losses. It’s a good life lesson learned.”

EMU’s soccer women are back

The EMU soccer women made a bold statement in 2013 – we’re back!  With just one senior on the team, the Royals ended a two-year postseason drought by returning to the ODAC Tournament and posted a winning record for the first time since 2008.

Eastern Mennonite’s women started the season 6-1, outscoring their opponents 22-5.  Despite close losses to some of the ODAC’s top teams, injuries started to wear on the limited depth of the roster by the end of the season.

Year of rebirth for women’s volleyball

Despite replacing three of their top four hitters from the previous season, EMU’s volleyball women had a season full of new life in 2013.  The Royals tied their best winning percentage since 2003 and broke a long ODAC losing skid.

In Coach Jeff Tyson’s second year at the helm, Eastern Mennonite had a pair of three-match winning streaks and was 9-9 on Oct. 4.  But injuries to two of the team’s top three hitters, as well as the starting setter, torpedoed their final record, which settled at 9-18.

The bleachers were purchased from James Madison University (JMU) earlier this summer and will place 1,000 fans right on top of the field.

Long-time men’s soccer coach Roger Mast, who spearheaded the acquisition and installation of the bleachers, is excited for the atmosphere the addition will provide.

“I’m thankful to JMU that they provided us with the opportunity to take advantage of their bleachers, which they were no longer using,” said Mast. “We’ve been looking to upgrade the turf field to more of a stadium-type feel for many years, so we’re very excited for that additional seating space.”

Already with a top-of-the-line synthetic playing surface, lights and some of the biggest home crowds in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC), the new bleachers succeed in creating an even better crowd atmosphere right at midfield and will continue to give the Royals one of the premier soccer/field hockey complexes in the ODAC.

Director of Athletics Dave King said Royals fans have been patient in the improvement process.

“Adding amenities such as bleacher seating and storage has been a goal of the university since the turf field was replaced in 2006,” King said, “but there always seemed to be more things on the priority list and spectators were willing to stand or sit in their lawn chairs. I am grateful that this opportunity came along for us and I’m sure our fans will enjoy being able to sit in a prime location to see the action.”

Last fall, the EMU soccer men were 18th in the nation, and fourth among ODAC schools, with a total attendance of 4,031 fans at 10 home games. The Royals averaged 403 per game, which was 19th in D-III.

“The community has been extremely supportive of us,” Mast explained. “In comparison to other schools within the conference, we’ve been able to attract some really good crowd support for our home games, and we hope that those attendance numbers might even increase now.”

The bleachers, which are 10 rows deep, had been used on the varsity soccer field at James Madison until this past year, when the school built a new athletics complex. With the original soccer field no longer being used for varsity games, JMU put the bleachers for sale at a reasonable price.

Eastern Mennonite researched their condition, including safety check records, as well as necessary city permits and the insurance implications of re-installing them on campus. After originally backing away from the project due to a lack of funds, EMU had a renewed interest this spring when funds became available.

“I am very thankful for the leadership and hard work that Coach Roger Mast gave to the project,” King said. “He and (Physical Plant Director) Eldon Kurtz are responsible for organizing the volunteer labor, engineering the plan for the move and carrying out the details. Roger nearly single-handedly took care of the re-assembling of the bleachers on our site. I’m grateful for his passion for the project and the leadership he gave. We look forward to putting these bleachers to good use as the fall seasons of soccer and field hockey begin in late August.”

This first home game on the turf field will be Sept. 7, when the Ferrum College. The is Sept. 11 against Lebanon Valley, while Sept. 14 against Mary Washington.

Mast has had 13 seasons with a record of .500 or better, including 1996 and 1998, when Eastern Mennonite won the ODAC Tournament.  After the win over Maryville, he has a career record of 200 wins, 179 losses and 35 ties.

On Sunday, the Royals picked up an impressive decision over a perennial power from Tennessee in Maryville.  The Scots have a running streak of 13 seasons with 10 or more wins.

But EMU held the edge when the two teams met in Harrisonburg.

(Vienna, VA/James Madison) and (Pottstown, PA/Owen J. Roberts) teamed up to put the Royals ahead in the 33rd minute.  Becker lofted a corner kick right in front of the goal, and Bush used the height of his 6-2 body to knock a header into the net, making it 1-0.

The visiting Scots continued to push throughout the second, but EMU’s superior depth started to pay off.  In the 71st minute, (Harrisonburg, VA/Harrisonburg) got the ball after a turnover on MC’s side of the field.  The senior took a few dribbles to get inside and then hit the bottom left of the net for a 2-0 lead.

Less than three minutes later, the men were at it again.  This time Olguin made a charge with the ball and found a wide-open (Harrisonburg, VA/Eastern Mennonite) on the right side, who scored for the second consecutive day.

Maryville had a few good looks, but put one shot off the post and EMU keeper (Harrisonburg, VA/Eastern Mennonite) preserved the shutout with six saves.

The Royals were out-shot 22-16 overall, but held a sizeable 11-6 edge in shots on goal.

Not only was the 3-0 victory Eastern Mennonite’s fourth straight win, it was also their fourth straight shutout.  The Royals haven’t allowed a goal in 361:43, since a loss at Lebanon Valley on Sept. 12.

With win over Maryville ups EMU’s record to 6-3-1.  The men play one final non-conference game on Wednesday, playing at Wesley.

In honor of Mast’s milestone there will be a ceremony at Eastern Mennonite’s next home game, against Bridgewater on Oct. 2.