Editorial
UW-River Falls sports exceed expectations, deserve support
February 25, 2016
On Saturday, Feb. 20, the UW-River Falls women’s basketball team defeated UW-Oshkosh 63-56. With this win, the Falcons picked up the WIAC Conference Championship, along with gaining the first seed in the WIAC Conference Tournament. It’s been a long road for UWRF women’s basketball, with their last conference title being earned in 1989, 27 years ago. After a long road, the Falcons are now heading into the WIAC tournament. With their first game of the semifinals having been held Thursday, Feb. 25 against UW-Eau Claire, it’s important for us students to stand behind this great, seemingly new-and-improved, team.
A lot of students turned up for the game on Saturday, which only added to the Falcons’ ongoing momentum that has been building throughout the season. Because of this, it’s important for us to continue to stand behind our fellow Falcons as they continue to face the tough teams in the WIAC conference. Words can’t describe the feeling of being completely supported, and that comes from students showing up and yelling and cheering for their team.
What makes attending these sporting events even more critical is the lack of attendance UWRF tends to see in its sports. As the Falcon News Service’s Trenen Gauthier reported several weeks ago, our campus ranks within the lowest brackets of WIAC colleges -- in last or second-to-last -- regarding the amount of students who show up for four out of seven of UWRF’s major sports. These sports are both men’s and women’s basketball, football, and women’s volleyball. This fact is an especial shame with not only women’s basketball excelling, but also with the Falcon football team having its best season since 2001 and men’s basketball since its 2011-2012 season. With such an effort being exerted by these teams, and with such positive results, a stadium packed with students showing their support is a reward they are sure to appreciate.
Although this editorial has focused primarily on women’s basketball, all the UWRF winter teams have gone above and beyond this season and deserve support as they enter into the WIAC tournaments. UWRF’s Student Senate has shown their support by buying 400 tickets for students for the WIAC final games that will be hosted at UWRF. With about 100 tickets for students per game to offset the cost of WIAC games, students will get the chance to cheer on their teams for free. So put on as much red and black as you can, grab a couple friends, and cheer on your fellow Falcons, and show everyone, especially our hard-working athletes, how proud you are to be a Falcon.