Pace University Athletics and the Center for Development and Campus Activities have announced the addition of two new club sports to be added to the University next year.

The first club sport to be added will be men’s soccer. Soccer was a club sport here in the late 1990’s and according to Associate Athletic Director for Operations and Women’s Soccer Head Coach, Michael Wynn, the need for its return was growing.

“There has been an expressed interest in our student population about men’s soccer,” Wynn said. “It’s one of our higher participated intramural sports, so with our new facilities and interest from students we thought soccer would be a good pilot.”

In order for men’s soccer to be a recognized club, the 24 members who are interested in playing have to meet with the student government to go over a funding proposal.

“The funding proposal covers things equipment, travel, and food,” said Senior Associate Director of Student Development, Shawn Livingston. “On a lot of campuses, a lot of the clubs are supported financially by student government’s budget.”

Both Wynn and Livingston are more than confident will become recognized due to high interest from students, and when they do they will already have a full schedule of teams in the northeast area waiting to play them.

“What is great is that there is a club soccer league in New York-New Jersey area,” Wynn said. “Logistically, it’s a group of schools within our geography.”

The soccer division is comprised of Adelphi, Fordham, Hofstra, Montclair, Rutgers, Seton Hall, Stevens and Stony Brook.

While this club won’t start playing in this division until next fall, signups are going on now for a moderated schedule to take place next semester.

“We hope to have a modified club season, where we can get a few friendly’s in the spring,” Wynn said. “Also, put them in some type of league just because we are rolling this out, and put them in the full league next year.”

The other club sport to be added to Pace will be women’s equestrian. This was another club sport that was on campus previously. However, in 2011 Pace decided to drop equestrian as a club.

“We added women’s lacrosse and field hockey because they were a better fit for the campus. So we actually eliminated equestrian, men’s and women’s tennis, and men’s and women’s track,” said Wynn.

Equestrian was added back because it is different than most club sports and it does have a small but popular following.

“Equestrian is kind of like a cult following there is a small niche that do it,” Wynn said. “It is very popular in this area as a club in terms of shows and giving our female students an opportunity to represent Pace at the club level and compete.”

While there are not any farm areas on campus, women’s equestrian will be able to compete at local barns were the accommodations are more suitable, and Livingston believes that is will only benefit the University.

“This helps brand Pace, it puts us out it the community and creates new partnerships,” said Livingston. “We are interconnected and have more colleagues and more connections.”

Pace hopes to have equestrian up and running by the next school year.