IU welcomed teams from Purdue and the University of Pittsburgh.
The community between IU players and the other teams was evident. Each team helped out members on the other team, acting as referees and line and goal judges during games and getting each other water.
This good nature took a back seat during the games as the intensity of the sport took over.
“Up IU,” the team shouted as it broke the huddle.
The first game between IU and Purdue ended with the Hoosiers winning, and then IU fell to ?Pittsburgh.
Patrick Lynch, in his sixth year of hurling, said he was happy with the team’s performance.
The experience of the nine players on the IU team varied. For some, this was their sixth year playing at the invitational. For others, this was their first ever game action.
For sophomore Taylor Haaff, Saturday marked the beginning of his second year with the team.
Haaff said he found out about hurling after watching the team in Dunn Meadow his freshman year and decided he would like to try it out.
“It’s a pretty rough sport,” Haaff said as he showed the blood stains still visible on his hurley, the stick used to hit the hurling ball, which is a little smaller than a baseball.
The goals and uprights used at the invitational were built by Cody Hedges, a member of the IU team who has been playing for five years.
Hedges has been around since IU won the inaugural national championship in 2011. He said new teams are being formed yearly around the country at different universities.
“I’m really proud of how the sport is growing,” Hedges said.
Pittsburgh’s team was formed a few years ago, and Purdue has had a team since 2007. Purdue won the national championship in 2012, and Pittsburgh won the Hurling Shield Championship earlier this year.
Lynch said he owes his interest to his dad, who takes pride in his Irish heritage and brought Lynch to his first game in Seattle.
Alex Hartman, a junior, scored two goals for IU. Hartman has been on the team for a few years. He got involved after finding out about the sport on the IU student involvement website.
Coach Timothy Fick said he was proud of the way his team played and happy that new players were getting to enjoy the game for the first time.
Fick said he has been interested in the sport since the early ’90s, becoming invested in it in the early 2000s. He started the Indianapolis club team in 2005 and brought it to Bloomington in 2008.
“It’s just what I love to do,” Fick said.
Fick said many people get involved because of their Irish heritage. He is no different, first being introduced to the sport during a trip to Ireland, he said.
Junior Tom Roach also saw the sport for the first time during a rugby trip in Ireland. Roach said he is now “really involved in the hurling community here at IU.”
“It’s a lot of fun and just being a part of a team is great,” Hartman said.
