Fall sports overview

CHARLOTTE ROCKWELL
PHOTOGRAPHER

AIDAN SHAPIRO
STAFF WRITER

9/8/2025

With the Fall Semester of classes underway at Alma College, many student-athletes are beginning to compete. Football, Cross Country, Volleyball, Bowling and Men’s and Women’s Tennis, Soccer and Golf are entering their competitive seasons for the Scots.

The football team looks to compete heavily in the MIAA this season, with the Scots predicted to finish tied with Hope College for first in the conference, according to the initial coaches poll of the preseason. 

“Our end of season goal is going to be to win a conference championship and push on through the playoffs and compete nationally,” said Jason Couch (’97), head coach of the football team.

“I think last year we got caught up looking at the end goal a little too much. If we get better every single day, we’ll be in good shape,” Couch said. 

One of the 40 seniors on the roster is starting Quarterback Carter St. John (’26). St. John was a First Team All-MIAA player last year and is ready to get back on the field.

“A lot of it is being with my teammates. I’ve heard a lot from older guys that the stuff you miss is obviously games and practice, but also being with your teammates and going to Saga is one of the things I’ll miss the most,” St. John said.

Another senior on the team, Linebacker Ryan Kugelman (’26), is ready for the Scots to be successful this season.

“Watch out for the Scots, we’re going to be really good this year,” Kugelman said. As a senior, Kugelman has seen a lot of what makes a good football team.

“Being in the system here at Alma, I’ve gotten comfortable with the scheme enough to enjoy playing on the field and getting to fly around the field with my brothers,” Kugelman said.

The Scots opened their season on September 6, losing to the University of Wisconsin – River Falls 45-33.

Cross Country began their season at Central Michigan University on August 29, with the men’s team finishing in eighth-place out of eight teams, and the women’s finishing in eighth-place out of ten.

The Scots raced again on Saturday September 6 at Northwood University, with the men’s team taking fourth place and the women’s third.

“The number one goal is to be better in the conference than we were last year. Individually, we want some All-MIAA performers on top of that,” said Matt Chovanec (’91), head coach of Cross Country and Track and Field. 

“The biggest thing is that the team came in tremendous shape. We’re well ahead of where we were in the past,” Chovanec said. “We’ve had a number of kids in the workouts themselves have set personal bests without even racing yet.”

Junior runner Chloe Colton (’27) agrees that practices have gone well for the Scots so far.

“We’ve had a lot of good workouts and just had our first meet, it went very well,” Colton said. “We have a really good group, lots of leadership here.”

The Women’s Bowling team starts their season on September 20 at the Dirty Bird Classic in Jackson, MI. 

“Ultimately, getting to the club championship and winning is our goal, then making it out of sectionals to the USBC’s national championship,” said Kyle Woodcock, head Bowling coach. 

Although bowling is an individual sport for the most part, team culture is still a big part of the program.

“We have a lot more motivation this year. Hopefully, we’ll have team dinner on Wednesdays and classroom time for some more team building,” said Morgan Smith (‘26).

The Volleyball team has already begun competing, going 7-0 across the Cedar Point and Wilmington Invitationals.

“This year, we really want to host a playoff game, it would be the first time in five years if we can do that,” said Leah Good, Head Volleyball Coach.

The team takes school spirit very seriously, using Scots as an acronym to motivate them. Coach Good uses steadfast, connection, optimism, trust and sacrifice as a way to unite the team.

“That’s something that Coach Leah is really big on is team culture,” said Katelyn Schell (‘27), middle blocker for the Scots.

Men’s Soccer competition has already begun as well, with the Scots tying Manchester University on September 3 and losing to La-Roche University.

Head Men’s Soccer Coach Alister Newby would like to see improvements from the team this year.

“We want to try and better, statistically, what we did last year. We won nine games; can we win more? We scored 30 goals; can we score more? We’re always trying to improve ourselves and improving the program bit by bit,” Newby said.

The women’s soccer team is off to a 3-1 start this season after going 2-12-1 last season. 

The Scots won against Earlham 3-0, Indiana University at South Bend 3-1 and Grace Christian University 3-0, losing to Wooster 0-3.

Both Men’s and Women’s Tennis are under new coaching this season, with Brandon Ralston (‘21) returning to Alma after spending time coaching at Olivet. 

The Scots have not competed yet, but Ralston believes that they are ready to. “It’s a super hard-working group,” Ralston said. “Everyone is excited that the team is going to be better.”

Men’s and Women’s Golf have both competed already this season as well. 

On August 29 and 30, the men’s team placed seventh in the Indiana University East Fall Invitational. The women’s team played the same invitational, placing seventh on Friday and sixth on Saturday of the tournament.