BRADFORD, Pa. – The Pitt-Bradford women's soccer team took on St. Bonaventure on April 8 in a non-traditional season match to raise money for the Red Card Cancer organization.
The score ended up being 6-1 in favor of St. Bonaventure, but the Panthers raised $258 as a result of the event. In exchange for their donations, Pitt-Bradford and St. Bonaventure received Red Card Cancer bracelets to wear.
"I was actually pretty pleased with our team's effort in the game," said Mike Idland, Pitt-Bradford's head women's soccer coach. "We came into half-time down 2-1 and were unlucky not to be tied at that point. We had 11 healthy players available and were up against a team that has been training daily for months on their new outdoor turf field. We've had fewer than a dozen practices, all but one in a gym.
"In the end, the overwhelming gap in fitness between the two teams was the difference, and that is always a possibility when you put a team on a Division III training schedule up against a team on a Division I training schedule. It's healthy for our team to jump in over our heads sometimes. We're all very happy to have raised money for a very good cause in the process."
Red Card Cancer was initiated in the fall of 2009 at Bloomsburg University. Paul Payne, head men's soccer coach at Bloomsburg University, started the program as a tribute to longtime friend and mentor, Joe Bochicchio, women's head soccer Coach at Scranton University. After Bochicchio died, Payne began the campaign to raise awareness about cancer in the soccer community and funds for research.
The goal of Red Card Cancer is to find a cure. Red Card Cancer is a call to action to help defeat the world's biggest opponent by uniting the global game of soccer in the fight against cancer.
In 2010 the program started to spread over state borders, and more teams reached out wishing to get involved. At that time, RCC partnered with The Sidney Kimmel Cancer Research Center at Johns Hopkins Medicine and D.C. United of Major League Soccer to help carry the message a step further.
