Cornerstone’s unofficial broomball team traveled to Richfield, Minn., to compete in the broomball national tournament on March 27.

“I went into [the tournament] hopeful and optimistic, but at the same time understanding that our team of nine players that is barely seven months old would be playing four-year-old college teams, coming from schools of 20,000 students, with rosters of 17 players,” captain Mark Muha said. “I looked at it as a learning experience, and even if we didn’t win a single game, it was worth every minute of it for me.”

Each team was guaranteed to play at least three games at the tournament. The Golden Eagles faced off against Bethel University, the University of Nebraska and the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Cornerstone lost 8-0 against Bethel and UMD, and against the University of Nebraska the result was a tie.

Muha said the game against UN was the best example of broomball the team has ever played.

“We had great passing, great shots and held them until the last two minutes when a lucky shot brought us to a tie in the end,” Muha said.

While the losses to Bethel and UMD were upsetting to co-captain Tom Bos, he said he felt really good about the way they played the University of Nebraska.

“The overall experience at nationals was a good one,” Bos said. “We succeeded in setting out and getting people to notice us. Being able to tie a huge school like the University of Nebraska is a big step in the right direction. I was encouraged by the way the team played and came together as friends and brothers-in-Christ. I am glad we went.”

Two broomball teams were created at Cornerstone during the fall 2008 semester.

One team was made up of CU faculty and alumni, while the other was a team of students called the Young Guns. The teams competed in a local broomball league in Grand Rapids.

Dave Murdoch of Spiritual Formation played on the alumni/staff team. His team played the Young Guns—Mark Muha, Matt Talmage, Evan Brogan, Kyle Szucs, Brandon Sabin, Scott Holbrook and Tom Bos—on two separate occasions. The Young Guns were defeated on the first occasion and the second face-off ended in a tie game.

After the league season ended, Murdoch joined the Young Guns for the national tournament. The team decided early on they would rather be known as the Golden Eagles. Muha discovered the national broomball tournament that would take place in St. Paul, Minn., and he just so happens to live in Forest Lake, Minn., roughly a 40-minute drive from St. Paul.

Murdoch drove the team down to Minnesota, and much of the time he acted as a coach. But before the team was completed, it ran into trouble with numbers.

Six players are just enough to make a team. There was no one to sit on the bench and sub in for tired and weary players.

Sophomore Matt Talmage notified the team he would not be able to accompany them to nationals. The Eagles recruited transfer student Anthony Raffa to play in Talmage’s place. Raffa has broomball experience, but he too was unable to come.

Two members were recruited to the team the night before the national tournament. Szucs said senior Andy Fox was recruited literally at the last minute. Murdoch opted to play due to the team’s small number of players.

The team slept in the basement of the Muha family’s house while in Minnesota.

“It was kind of cool to see other teams and meet the players and learn from them by watching them play,” Szucs said. “We didn’t do as well as we would’ve hoped, but we took a lot out of it. We should’ve beaten Nebraska.”