The Nebraska-Kearney women’s soccer team knew to expect a big crowd for its first match as a program on August 27, especially when the players saw cones to help control traffic on the streets leading to Foster Field.

But no one expected the attendance would be a Division II women’s soccer record of 3,227 that day. The Antelopes, who are playing their inaugural season, did their part by posting a 2-1 victory over Wayne State (Nebraska) to keep the festive mood alive.

The Nebraska-Kearney athletics department had the record as a goal and promoted the event via print and broadcast media, but it was a surprise when the crowd swelled to more than 1,000 higher than the previous mark of 2,004 for the Central Oklahoma-Dallas Baptist game on August 28, 2007.

“It was very much a fun atmosphere,” said Nebraska-Kearney coach Mike Munch. “Typically at UNK we draw good crowds, and the community does support athletics very well. Everybody on the team was curious to see if we would get to the record. We thought we might have a shot when we heard they were talking about shuttles to the match and things like that.”

While this is the first year of women’s soccer at Nebraska-Kearney, Munch is a veteran coach with stops at his alma mater Texas A&M-Commerce, where he also started the women’s program, and North Florida.

“That’s what attracted me to this program,” said Munch, who is in his 13th season as a head coach. “I had done this before, and I also inherited a young program at my second job.”

He could tell early on that the Kearney community was curious about the new team on campus. Crowds of 200-300 were coming to watch preseason scrimmages without any significant attempt to market the program.

Then came opening day.

“Our kids were pretty pumped,” Munch said. “Since we have a new program, we have kids who haven’t even played a high level of club soccer. The high schools where these kids played are located in small towns in Nebraska. They were used to having only their family at the games. So this was a unique experience.”

So far, the opener is the only game the Antelopes have won this season, though subsequent home matches have attracted several hundred spectators. The team is 1-10-1, but seven of the losses have been by one goal. The tie came against Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference foe Regis (Colorado). But Munch is pleased with his players’ competitiveness.

 “We have a tough time scoring,” Munch said. “If we fall behind, it is difficult to come back. We’ve got a good group of kids that work hard, but we haven’t gotten over the hump of scoring the tying or winning goal.”

But at least they do have an attendance record on which to build.