Courtesy of Lindsay Young

Intramural sports are usually thought of as junior varsity to Division I sports’ varsity level.

The practices are probably lax, chances of being cut are slim and everyone is out having fun. And if you can’t cut it at the college level, why not play for a club team?

The San Diego State women’s soccer club team has fun together, but that’s as far as the common “club” connotations go.

Practices are two hours, three days a week. Only 13 of 75 women make the team.

And this year, by the way, the team’s “fun” translated into a lot of wins.

Fresh off their first National Intramural Recreational Sports Association national championship – beating out 71 other teams for the honor – the players on SDSU’s club team is ready to get a little bit of respect.

They’re not the official SDSU women’s soccer team, nor are they part of the NCAA, but they’re loaded with talent and chemistry.

“I’d say that the main difference between us and the SDSU Division I team is their individual fitness because they’re more regimented than us,” team captain junior Cassidy Runyan said. “They might be individually stronger than us, but with our chemistry, I think we could give them a pretty good game.”

The cohesion they have is exactly what gives them the advantage against other NIRSA teams and perhaps other D-I teams, too.

The SDSU women’s club soccer team is a tight-knit group.

Despite having no seniors, just seven juniors and a whopping 11 freshmen, the team gelled at the beginning of the season and had unheralded success.

“The chemistry on this team is unreal ? We won our first game, 7-0, and I remember just standing in the backfield in shock,” junior goalkeeper Lindsay Young said. “It really was like a phenomenon.”

That victory was a sign of things to come. The team ended the season with a 19-3-2 record, and it beat NIRSA powerhouse Colorado, 2-1, in the championships held in Tempe, Ariz., on Nov. 18.

It was SDSU’s first time advancing out of its own region – NIRSA has six regions – and the team thinks it should be celebrated as an athletic achievement for SDSU.

The players are skilled – if you ask them, possibly as much as those at the college level – and are student-athletes just like the D-I players are.

“These girls are the definition of student-athletes,” head coach Brian Peeling said. “They all do well in classes and play sports for the school. Regardless of this being a club team, I guarantee you that these girls could play Division I ball, and so could most of their opponents.”

Time can’t see how the battle of the Aztecs would shape up.

“I would love to play against the Division I team just to see what happens,” Peeling said. “I honestly think that we would play at the Division I team’s level pretty easily.”