Originally posted by IUPNation
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Just using three years ago as an example (same venue and ironically same opponent on Saturday) ...
The Saturday game was fairly even between IUP and ESU fans -- but nothing special.
Sunday, however, the IUP fans really turned out for the final and just about took over the gym. Ship had gone on Spring Break that year which is always helpful to the visitors. I'm not sure if Spring Break started yesterday or not.
That said, IUP's travel contingent has really grown over the past three years. The weather also looks favorable for tomorrow so I do expect IUP to have at least 250-300 or so make the trip. Perhaps more. A lot of IUP people I know said they'll make the trip 'if' there is a Sunday. Usually in this instance only the diehards make the trip both days. It's short enough you don't really 'need' to get a hotel.
The oddest thing you'll ever see is when the home team doesn't make it to Sunday. The Sunday game, when that happens, usually has a very empty feeling, crowd-wise. If they are lucky they may have 400-500. Mercyhurst doesn't travel well at all -- likely 30-50 people max.
Ship is a good venue for the West teams (on years the East hosts). It's a relatively short trip compared to the other usual suspects. Parking is very easy at Heiges. It's an older venue but they've done some nice upgrades to it.
I'll never forget IUP beating Ship in that final three years ago. About two days later the world shut down due to Covid and the following weekend's Regional was cancelled. That weekend was about 70-75 degrees and everybody had shorts on at the game.
Anybody else notice the two games tomorrow are an exact duplicate to when Ship hosted in 2020?
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