A Worthy Goal: Supporting a Cure for Cancer

What’s even better than a team raising money for a good cause during a home game? Winning the game! And that is just what our Girls’ Varsity Soccer team did last Friday night, defeating King School 5-4 in the Red Card Against Cancer contest in Hamilton Stadium.

Earlier in the day, team members set up a table outside the Dining Hall for people to make donations or sign a pledge card, and another table was available during the game for fans to buy snacks and baked goods made by the team and donated. All proceeds went to Red Card Cancer, an organization that advances its mission—“A Cure is Our Goal”—by uniting the global game of soccer in the fight against cancer.

It was a “blackout” theme at the stadium—players wore black shirts with “Red Card Against Cancer” emblazoned across the front, and fans donned black in solidarity as well. The game featured spirited competition on both sides, with the Saints girls eking out the one-goal win to the delight of the Saints faithful.

The team was thrilled not only by the game result but the strong support from the community. “It felt really good to do this,” said Co-Captain Jacquelynn Kenna ’24. “The energy and excitement helped us play better. That was one of the best games we played all season. Having people come out to support us and the cause was awesome. It was so much fun.” 

Jacquelynn also credited the many people who helped make the event so successful, including her fellow team captains, Camryn Beauvais ’24 and Ella Caraluzzi ’24; Head Coach Amy Franklin and Assistant Coach Eliza Beaudin; Cora Brennan ’24, who made hair ties for the team and worked the card machine for donations; and Director of Community Life EJ Soifersmith P ’27, ’27 and the Girls’ JV Soccer team, who staffed the table during the game.

Amy was equally pleased with the campus-wide participation and her team’s efforts on and off the field. “Friday night was special in more ways than one, and the team and I will remember this game for a long time,” she said. “The girls put in a tremendous amount of work for an incredible charity and its fight for a cure. The support from faculty, students, and families was unbelievable. We are so proud of what we were able to do and the funds we raised, and we cannot wait to do it again next year, bigger and better!”

Red Card Cancer began in the fall of 2009 on the campus of Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania and grew into a nonprofit organization with national reach and a growing impact on all levels of soccer in the United States. Since 2010, RCC has been closely affiliated with the internationally renowned Johns Hopkins’ Sidney Kimmel Cancer Research Center and entered into a partnership with the American Cancer Society in 2018.

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