Laura Bauman/The Ithacan BEING THE ONLY MALE on the club field hockey team doesn’t bother junior Alick Gordon (right).

It’s a calm Sunday morning on South Hill, and few things are stirring. On the Lower Yavits extension, where the club field hockey team plays, the bustle of dozens of feet pounding the ground and sticks clacking together are the few sounds on campus.

While the women splash the fresh morning dew about, an intramural softball team approaches the field, readying for its own contest. Finally, one of the field hockey players fires a shot that the goaltender effortlessly kicks away.

“Nice save,” one of the softball players says. “Must be tough being a girl having to play goal.”

“Actually,” says one of his teammates, “that’s a dude.”

Enter Alick Gordon.

Perhaps in Europe, Gordon wouldn’t seem so out of place. Men dominate the game of field hockey overseas, taking it to levels most Americans never see. Here, however, junior Alick Gordon stands out because he is the only male on an all-female team in an female-dominated sport.

Gordon didn’t come to Ithaca College planning to get started in a sport he had never played before, although he had played roller hockey.

“It’s a very different game,” Gordon said, comparing field hockey to the other two hockey games. “Basically I just keep in mind to keep the ball out of the net. Most of the other rules I don’t know, but as long as I keep the other team from scoring, that’s the most important thing.”

One day his freshman year, while playing floor hockey in the fitness center, Gordon was spotted by Megan Hickey ’03. Hickey’s club field hockey team needed a goaltender and was desperate for help. After Gordon was done playing, she approached him about being the goaltender. He obliged.

When Gordon stepped on the field the first day, he said he was a little uncomfortable. Fortunately, he knew that his job was to stop the ball, and he could do that. Gordon relied on his own instinct from roller hockey to play the new game. Senior Amanda Brochu was just happy to have somebody in the net. “We were really excited to actually have somebody who wanted to play goalie for us,” Brochu said.

“Nobody wanted to move out of the field and play in net. We thought it was awesome that he would come do it.”

Of course, being a male playing against mostly females is bound to generate some discomfort and controversy. Gordon had never played on a team with any women, let alone an entire team’s worth. Eventually he realized that the team needed him in order to be competitive and that the other members had definitely accepted him as a teammate.

For the most part, other teams have been understanding of Gordon’s presence. Most teams don’t argue because Gordon plays goal and not in the field, where he could make more of an impact physically. Ithaca also plays other club teams, such as Cornell, that have several men, so in those cases the gender difference isn’t much of a problem.

Still, there are some who still voice their displeasure about playing against the opposite sex. Gordon has heard the grumblings but shrugged them off without any controversy.

“Last year one girl was talking trash to me,” Gordon said. “I shut that team out, so I think I won that one in the end.”

Gordon has worked hard with members of the coaching staff to better his game in the net. Over the past two years, he practiced on learning how to cut down different angles and become more aware of his positioning in goal.

Gordon’s teammates have benefitted from his improvement. He now helps the team to realize what’s happening around them on the field. Instead of being an outsider, Gordon has worked to become part of the game.

“He’s a good help from the back of the goal,” Brochu said. “It’s hard for us to see what’s [happening] on the field, so he’s always letting us know what players are open that we need to mark up on.”

Despite being of the opposite sex, Gordon’s teammates appreciate him and all that he’s done to learn the craft of goaltending in field hockey. Players like sophomore Emma Zack know that Gordon treats the game with the same level of importance as the rest of the team.

“I was impressed to see how much he knew about field hockey when I first played with him,” Zack said. “He treats field hockey just like he treats [roller] hockey. He takes it very seriously.”