Lehigh Chinese Soccer provides students a connection to home

To practice corner kicks, junior Jack Bai aims for the near post and curls a ball on goal while playing on an empty field in Moorestown, New Jersey.

Bai spent the past summer practicing on the field where he played high school soccer. He is one of over a dozen players on Lehigh Chinese Soccer, a not-so-official club sports team comprised of players of Chinese descent who formed a team in January 2023.

Before moving to New Jersey from Dalian, China, Bai had limited access to playing on local soccer fields due to the high cost, which he would often split with his friends.

“It’s really hard to find a whole team to book the field at the same (time),” Bai said.

Moving to the United States in 2018 allowed him to continue playing at an affordable cost in high school. Once he arrived at Lehigh, he began playing consistently in pickup games at the Broughal Middle School field.

The Formation

In a group chat with over 150 Chinese Lehigh students, senior Max Zhan reached out to Bai after playing with him in a pickup game. 

Zhan, who moved to the United States from China at 14 years old, played one season of high school soccer at a Lutheran school in Minnesota before coming to Lehigh.

Because he started college during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Zhan said he struggled to find people to play soccer with and often felt alone.

“I’d sometimes just pick up a soccer ball and go to the middle school and just dribble around a bit,” Zhan said. “(I would) jog a little bit and keep kicking the ball against the wall.”

Zhan said he kept returning to the middle school during his sophomore year. To his surprise, others began to show up. 

Having what Zhan considered a shared culture and experience of adapting to living in the United States, he began developing a connection with other Chinese players, including Bai, who played at Broughal.

“I also found out that a lot of Chinese kids played soccer,” Zhan said. 

Of the first-years who played soccer at Broughal, Zhan said about 10 of them were Chinese.

Zhan began playing games at Mountaintop Campus with Bai and other Chinese students who had a shared interest in the sport, such as junior Kevin Chen, who came directly from China to Lehigh.

Growing up in China, Chen said he played goalie. Reserved and shy, he stepped forward as the only one on his middle school team who wanted to give the position a chance.

After meeting Zhan the summer before he arrived at Lehigh, Chen was eventually recruited to play at Mountaintop. While Chen did not feel accustomed to living in the United States at first, he said his friends from China helped him adapt during his first year.

At the time, the games were casual with five players on each team. The players used their time together to bond.

“You always have your friends facing you,” Zhan said. “Nothing gets pretty serious.”

Zhan said he had a moment of realization about starting a team after learning about various other Chinese soccer clubs over Instagram.

A growing number of schools on the East Coast have started Chinese soccer clubs over the past decade. What started with only a few clubs in the New York City metropolitan area has grown into a collection of tournaments attracting dozens of schools overseen by a sanctioning body, the Chinese International Student Sports Alliance.

After reaching out to the University of Rochester’s team for advice, Zhan signed the Lehigh team up for their first tournament in March 2023.

Chen said he was excited at the prospect of playing as a united team.

“I never thought I would join a soccer team in the United States,” Chen said. “It’s definitely really fantastic.”

The Pennsylvania Cup, which took place in Frederica, Delaware, was the first tournament the Lehigh club took part in. 

Drawn against Penn State and Cornell in their first two matches, Lehigh lost both before being knocked out of the tournament.

“(Some) players on our team haven’t played a formal game before,” Bai said. “It’s hard for them to first step onto the field and play an 11-on-11 game.”

Following the losses, Zhan began setting up a regular system for practices. 

The team moved to Moravian University in an attempt to find a field where they could practice at night. The rest of the spring semester, the team got to practice more seriously on Friday nights than they were before. 

“We just posted a sign-up sheet and whoever was available could join the practice,” Zhan said. “We always organized pickup games on Friday and Saturday night.”

The Return

Once the team dispersed for the summer, some players returned to China while others remained in the United States. 

Bai, practicing his corner kicks back home, had been established as the team’s starting striker.

Bai said the little time strikers have on the ball drew him to the position. He said strikers have to make the most of what they have.

“There’s really few chances that I can actually get the ball,” Bai said. “And then you try to convert all those chances into goals.”

By the time the Lehigh team returned to campus in the fall, they were quickly thrust into their first tournament just weeks into the semester: the Eastern Regional Cup in Tinton Falls, New Jersey.

Once again, the first two matches were defeats. The team then played their closest game yet against Rochester, losing 1-0, before facing UPenn in their final match of the day.

On the Lehigh bench, Zhan set the starting lineup. To him, setting lineups is the toughest decision he has to make as captain.

Zhan, who previously put himself at defensive midfield, made the decision to move himself backward to defense for the tournament. Playing at right back, he attempted to support the team’s attack and create forward movement to get the ball to the strikers.

In the first three games, he liked how that change worked out.

“We (previously) gave up lots of goals on the right side,” Zhan said. “I think I did a great job.”

Bai, who was working throughout the summer to perfect his attacking ability, started at striker. The goal was to allow Bai to have as many chances on the ball as possible. 

Zhan wanted him to be a key part of the offense.

“We can depend on him,” Zhan said. “He’s our best, and he’s so unstoppable in our five-on-five games.”

Chen, who only let in one goal in the previous game against Rochester, started in the net.

The game was scoreless for a while as neither team could break through the other’s defense. But after a Lehigh buildup on the attack, the ball went out of play behind UPenn’s goal for an opportune corner kick for Lehigh.

Bai, who normally takes kicks for the team, stepped up. He looked at the goalkeeper and saw him standing out of position. Thinking back to his days practicing in New Jersey, he made a decision. 

He was going to attempt a corner-kick goal.

Bai launched the corner kick off of his foot. It soared through the air as it curved outward.

“He didn’t try to pass it by any means,” Zhan said. “He was just determined to score that.”

Curling back in at a perfect angle to an unprotected near post, the ball flew past the goalie and into the net. The UPenn goalie, in astonishment of what he just saw, did not move a single inch to attempt to make a save as Lehigh began to celebrate.

“I felt confident enough to score, so I just tried it,” Bai said.

With Chen in goal, Lehigh’s defense posted a shutout in their first win in club history.

Bai said he was grateful he was the one to score the goal to let their team take their first win.

“I was so excited,” Bai said. “It was the only goal in that game, and to have the team come together for our first victory.”

The Future

Lehigh Chinese Soccer is not an officially recognized club or club sport by Lehigh.

It’s a step that Zhan said he has not taken due to concerns over the team’s longevity. 

While Zhan intends to pass his captaincy down to Bai next year, he has concerns over whether the team will survive after the 2024-25 school year.

“Hopefully we have more freshmen who play soccer coming to the team,” Zhan said. “I hope the team can last a longer period of time.”

Lehigh Chinese Soccer continues to practice and play consistently.

This past weekend they competed in Philadelphia in a four-team tournament where they defeated Rutgers to finish third after losing to Temple and UPenn.

Zhan said that Lehigh Chinese Soccer is important to its players because, beyond all the pressures of adapting to living in the United States and attending school, there’s still a place that makes them feel connected to their home and the sport they love.

“What we really enjoy about soccer is just doing something you are familiar with and passionate about,” Zhan said. 

Junior goalie Kevin Chen watches as his teammates on the Lehigh Chinese Soccer team warm up during a tournament on Sept. 30 in Philidelphia. Chen was the starting goalie for all the tournament games. (Ruby Chen/B&W Staff)