March 07, 2024 | SPORTS | By Veronica Bianco
Until Curtis Hale’s sophomore year of high school, baseball was his sport of choice. Now, he’s the co-captain of CC’s men’s soccer team and one of the program’s most decorated players.
Hale helped lead CC to its second NCAA Elite Eight appearance in program history, anchoring a back line that posted shutouts in six of CC’s eight Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) games. Hale started at center back in all 21 contests, playing the full 90 minutes in all but one (a 5-0 win at Centenary in Shreveport, Louisiana). He was named SCAC Defensive Player of the Year in his sophomore and junior years and made the All-Freshman team following his first season on the team. He made the SCAC First Team and the United Soccer Coaches All-Region First Team after both his sophomore and junior campaigns and is a three-time SCAC Academic Honor Roll honoree.
His accolades don’t stop there as his excellence isn’t just relegated to the soccer field. Last December, Hale was honored as a College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-American for his efforts on and off the pitch. He is the first men’s soccer player to receive the distinction since 2015, and is the ninth recipient in program history, the most of any Varsity CC program.
Head Coach Scott Palguta says it’s no surprise that Hale has racked up honors. “Curtis has emerged as a top player and strong leader” he says, “I believe his post-season accolades are simply a reward for his tremendous and selfless commitment to the program.”
Hale grew up in Richmond, Virginia, and has played soccer his whole life. The sport did, however, take a backseat to baseball for most of his youth athletic career. That changed in high school, when he got hooked on soccer and didn’t look back. “I just kind of fell in love with it a little bit more than baseball,” he says.
Hale’s older brother went to CC, which put the school on his radar. Even though COVID-19 threw a wrench in his recruiting process, things ultimately fell into place, and he landed himself a spot on the men’s soccer team.
“I really wanted a small school that would push me academically,” Hale says, “And I sort of wanted to get out of Virginia and come to Colorado and be in a beautiful place.”
Hale enjoyed successful freshman and sophomore seasons, starting all but one game in his inaugural year and every game in his second. The team finished fourth in the SCAC regular season standings in both campaigns.
“We were a young team, so we were a little inconsistent, but we were definitely there with just about every team and last year was sort of the same,” Hale says.
He was promoted to team co-captain alongside midfielder Alexander “Spud” Ward ’24 ahead of his junior season, which brought a set of new challenges. “Being the captain of my best friends was a bit of an adjustment for me,” he says, “It’s still taken me, you know, a while to get used to it. I’m learning something new pretty much every day, but now I’m definitely a lot more comfortable.”
He leads well, his teammates say. “He really brings the intensity whenever we’re playing,” Wyatt Linggi ’27 says. “He leads by example.”
Ward, his co-captain, agrees: “Curtis is constantly raising team standards,” he says. “He’s also a natural leader off the field, always checking in with guys and making sure everyone’s doing well. I’m very grateful to have him as a co-captain.”
The Tigers struggled to gain momentum in their preseason games, being unable to record more than two wins in a row. But after a 3-2 win vs. Christopher Newport University at home on Stewart Field, they didn’t stop, winning their next 13 games, save for a narrow loss to St. Thomas in the SCAC tournament semifinals.
Hale says that the difference between his first two years and his junior campaign was that instead of losing or tying close, one-goal games, the Tigers were winning them. “I felt like that came down to kind of everyone buying in,” he says, “It really took us to another level.”
The Tigers went on to make a historic NCAA tournament run, during which Hale stepped up to provide Teddy Libby ’25 with the game-winning overtime assist vs. Ohio Northern that would send them to the NCAA Elite Eight for the first time in over 30 years. CC narrowly fell on penalty kicks in the following round, bringing their emphatic season to a close. They ended the year ranked #6 in the nation.
Hale was honored as an Academic All-American in December after being one of six Tigers to earn a place on the CSC Academic All-District team. “I was definitely super happy,” he says, “It’s always meant a lot to me to work hard in the classroom.”
The award recognizes his work both on the field and in the classroom, where he’s studying Mathematical Economics. “Everyone at this school is extremely smart and the teachers are great,” he says, citing CC’s academics as a paramount reason for his choice to attend. “I don’t come across as the smartest person sometimes but what I like about academics is just putting my head down and working hard.”
The Tigers are hungry and excited to pick up where they left off last year. “I just want to keep pushing in a more and more positive direction,” Hale says, “Our program can be a top 10 or 20 team every year.”
As for Hale’s individual goals, team success is again at the forefront. “I just want to continue to grow as a leader and help the team to a conference title and a deep NCAA tournament run in any way possible.”