It’s not easy for sports fans to understand what it’s like to be an athlete. Fans are able to understand the joy of a win or the sting of a loss. But how does it feel to be sidelined by an injury, forced to watch the season go by without making an impact? GCU men’s soccer star Kyle Ciliento has experienced that feeling — twice.

Here’s a look at the prospects for GCU’s fall sports teams, featuring men’s and women’s soccer, women’s volleyball and men’s and women’s cross country. Visit gculopes.com for schedules, news and features on GCU student-athletes and teams.

History remembers national championship teams, but rarely does it remember those who fought to reach that goal — and the people they are. Even rarer are those who achieve athletic excellence yet consider the striving more important than the success. GCU’s longtime men’s soccer coach, Petar Draksin, is that kind of person.

Photographed at the new Prescott Hall, soccer players Mitchell Garcia (senior, sports management) and Melanie Johnston (junior, nursing) prepare to dive into a new season. The women’s team has more than 30 new players. The men, coming off a season that led to an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance, also have an abundance of fresh faces. “Our eyes are on the Final Four,” Garcia says. “We have the squad to do it.”

Eight Antelope fall and winter sports teams participated Wednesday evening in “Clash of the Titans,” an end-of-the-year event organized by strength and conditioning coach Chuck Howard and his Performance Athletics staff. On the men’s side, the soccer team prevailed against a field that included basketball, wrestling and swimming. On the women’s side, volleyball came in first against the same three sports.

GCU honored three new inductees into its athletics Hall of Fame at the 2010 Homecoming Hall of Fame Dinner, Friday, January 29. The honorees included former baseball star Tim Salmon, ex-men’s basketball coach Ben Lindsey …