After a nearly two year hiatus, intramural sports are officially back! Soccer and flag football are being played on the Boston College High School turf. Badminton and volleyball are offered as well in the Clark Gymnasium. Let’s get right into the results over the past week! In badminton, Alphinity started the season with a win over You Just Got Served, while Iced Tea was able to squeak out their first win of the season in a closely contested 2–1 game. Alphinity, led by Captain Kartik Patel, and Iced Tea, captained by Yizhou Shi and Zicheng Yang, are off to a strong start with both teams having 2–0 records early on in the season.
The flag football season started off with a torrential downpour, resulting in an easy win for Ted Clubber Lang as Mean Streets did not show. Despite the first game forfeit, the Buccaneers and Free the TD’s showed up in force, braving the conditions. Buccaneers’s Captain James Alagana dominated the game passing for three touchdowns and rushing for one as well, in a 32–13 rout. Balls Deep also got off to an impressive start against The Lobstahs in a 40–15 blowout. Nicholas Lepore played great, passing for four touchdowns, while Captain Jameson Seely added another passing touchdown and caught a touchdown. Although The Lobstahs lost, Jackson Macmillan was able to score three touchdowns, passing for two and rushing for one. Meanwhile, Avenue Grill overwhelmed Prime Time Sweepers in the closest game of the flag football season with a score of 31–21. Liam Bowler was all over the field for Avenue Grill scoring four total touchdowns and getting an interception on the other side of the ball. Deep Patel and Aaryan Patel gave us a look at what they have in store this season for Prime-Time Sweepers as Deep connected with Aaryan for two touchdowns.
Intramural soccer got off to a great start with six thrilling games. Bobby’s Beacons left no room for doubt with a 5–0 win over Your Mom’s Favorite Sons.  Captain William Healey scored a hat trick for Bobby’s Beacons in a blowout to start the season. The Beacon Ballers were able to get a hard fought 1–0 win over The Little Spoons with Connor Agnew scoring the winner. Despite losing a heartbreaker, Ian McGrath shined for The Little Spoons making some great saves to keep the game close. In the last game of the night, Soccer Baddies & Daddies were victorious over Dynamo Boston with a 2–1 score. Kieran Browne and Karsten Kirleis got on the scoresheet for Soccer Baddies & Daddies, while Justin McCullough had a great game too.
Friday night started with a 3–0 win for How I Met Your Mata over The Godfather. Manuel Rodriguez Ponce dominated the game for How I Met Your Mata and was rewarded, scoring a brace for the side. In perhaps the closest game of the season, Goal Diggers beat Manyaks 3–2 scoring a last second winner. Junior Fernandes Ribeiro and Ronald Monteiro both played great and got on the score sheet for the Goal Diggers. Although the Manyaks lost this early season thriller, captain Adam Abougalala played an incredible game. Both the Goal Diggers and Manyaks appear to be early season favorites to make a run at the intramural soccer championship. In the final game of the week, Electronics II with Lab got a narrow 1–0 win over Kappa Sigma. Intramural soccer veteran Nasser Alshammari, scored the winner for Electronics II with Lab.
Intramural sports are off to an incredible start with remarkable interest from players and fans coming in droves. We cannot wait to see what the rest of the semester holds. If you are interested in joining intramural sports at UMass Boston, check out our website at www.umb.edu/recreation!