Hope fans play critical role in national championship run

HOLLAND — As 16 women clad in orange and blue were on the verge of making history in Pittsburgh on Saturday, a community 438 miles away was holding its collective breath.

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The Hope College women's basketball team accomplished its goal, winning the third national championship in program history in a 71-58 win over Wisconsin-Whitewater. Swarms of fans made the trip from Holland and filled the arena on the campus of Duquesne University to support their team.

The Flying Dutch faithful dwarfed Warhawks fans in attendance at the national championship game, with about 75% of the arena dressed in orange. They were loud too. In a tense game, tied at 34 at the half, the fans in the arena gave Hope that final boost to get across the finish line one last time.

"We have the best fans in the country, I mean we're biased for sure, but hands down I think we have the best fans," said senior Kenedy Schoonveld. "Whitewater traveled very well and credit to them, but to have those people behind us who have just stuck with us through thick and thin this entire year just meant the world to us."

Dennis VanHaitsma, a 1968 Hope grad, was one of the many Flying Dutch fans who made the six-and-a-half-hour trek to the Steel City for the Final Four. He loves watching any Flying Dutch sporting event but has been particularly enamored with the women's basketball team in recent years. They've won 77 of their last 78 games, going undefeated for two straight seasons and losing just once this campaign.

That sort of success has helped build something special around the city of Holland. It's why even though he got to celebrate the national championship in Pittsburgh with the team, he still woke up at the crack of dawn Sunday morning to head back to West Michigan to be on campus when the team arrived back at DeVos Fieldhouse.

He wanted them to know just how important this team is to the community they represent.

"Just being a part of watching those young ladies, you just can't beat it," VanHaitsma said. "They are so excited and so happy and I know they love each other, it really is a [collective] family."

VanHaitsma was one of a couple hundred Hope fans who came to DeVos on Friday afternoon to watch the team's bus roll in with the national championship trophy in tow. Several of them had traveled back from Pittsburgh that morning, but many more had watched the game on TV back on the Lakeshore, either in the comfort of their own home or at the Alumni Association-organized watch party at the Haworth Hotel.

Seniors Kate Majerus, Sydney Muller, Schoonveld and head coach Brian Morehouse addressed the fans, all congregated at the steps outside the entrance to DeVos Fieldhouse. The team was standing in a line, clutching the national championship trophy and facing the crowd, as if conquering heroes returning from a three-season-long battle for Division III supremacy.

They didn't just have the trophy, cut-down net and national champions garb on. Just before they started addressing the crowd, a staffer handed out Ring Pops, an oversized diamond-shaped lollypop, to each of the players. The oversized candy ring serving as a stand-in for the national championship rings COVID potentially robbed the team of over the last two seasons and the very real rings they're going to have on their fingers soon enough.

"The girls all have their ring [pop] that is the stand-in ring, "Morehouse said. "We're getting the real ones and they're going to be about that size."

While not every Hope fan will get a chance to be fitted for a national championship ring like the players and coaches will, they're still just as big a part of the team as anybody else. Because like Morehouse has said time and again all season long, the Flying Dutch don't have this type of success without their loyal and unwavering support.

"Championships also go back to our community because of how important you are and how much you support us," Morehouse said while addressing the fans. "We don't feel like we get to where we are without people like you behind us."

—Contact Assistant Sports Editor Will Kennedy at Will.Kennedy@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @ByWillKennedy and Facebook @Holland Sentinel Sports.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Hope College women's basketball fans play critical role in team's national championship run