A student watches the first UCF Global soccer team game on Friday. The team is open for all people to play, meet new people and practice to win the intramural.

 Gabriela da Cunha

The field was filled with joy and cheer as students were united through one sport that brought many countries together: soccer.

UCF Global hosted the first UCF Global coed soccer game from the semester at Memory Mall on Friday.

Jennifer Sokolitsky, student admissions counselor III at UCF Global, said that the team was a collective idea with the department of admission enrollment and the objective has always been uniting the students. 

“We are bringing our students together, to make friends, to foster a sense of community and for a lot of these students, is the first time away from home so we want to give them somewhere they are able to come and be able to have fun, get some exercise and also be able to relax,” Sokolitsky said.

Sokolitsky said last semester they also used to meet to play on Fridays just for fun, but this is the first time they decided to practice playing in the intramural. UCF Global said they want to win. 

“This is something we talked about last year, this was something we talked we would like to do," Sokolitsky said. "We were just getting our team up and running so we didn’t quite get to that stage, but this year is what we are aspiring to, this is what we would like to go. We would like to win the intramural."

Andres Quevedo, junior business management major, was the person they chose to coach the team. Quevedo said he has coaching experience from when he coached a soccer team at a summer camp and played as a professional soccer player in Colombia, his home country. He said that he is feeling optimistic, and thinks he has a good team. 

“We have a good team right now, so we expect to have good matches and hopefully win some games,” Quevedo said. “I am excited. It is such a great experience for us.”

Student plays with a soccer ball for the first UCF Global soccer team. UCF Global had their first training session and game and they plan to play in the intramural.

 Gabriela da Cunha

Quevedo said that having a UCF Global team is exciting and good for culture. It helps students to make new friends from different countries, which is important for international students.

Andrea Boutros, sophomore media production and management major, was there to play. She is from Venezuela and said that soccer for South Americans is very cultural.

“I think it is something from South America, I mean, it is not from us, but we really are fans of it, and we really enjoy and embrace it," Boutros said. "Soccer is for everyone, but we embrace it like it is ours so I think it is something cultural for us."

Boutros said that she loves playing soccer, but mostly, loves watching games with her sister and her family. She said it is a very collective game, and people can get closer to this sport as well as meet new people through it. 

International students play soccer at Memory Mall on Friday. The students playing on the field were coached by Andres Quevedo, junior business management major, who plans to win the intramural. 

Gabriela da Cunha

She also said that it is great for meeting people.

“I feel like for me personally, I am not part of a club, and this is a great opportunity to meet people and more than that, make some exercise and just, like, relax, because we are here between friends and I think it is a relaxing activity,” Boutros said. 

Sokolitsky said that she loves to watch soccer and is excited in hopes of becoming an intramural team. She said she would be there to cheer and help the students in whatever they need.

“We are aiming to play in the intramurals and we want to win, so we gonna practice hard,” Sokolitsky said.