When the men’s soccer team was informed that Coach David Lilly, Milligan alumnus and citizen of the United Kingdom, would not be able to return for the rest of the season due to visa issues, the team banded together to bring both the team and fans together during the midst of this difficult transitional period through a single hashtag: #freelilly.
The seniors of the soccer team came up with the hashtag as a way to keep a high morale and give a way for their fans and family to show support of Coach Lilly. It was made popular on campus after faithful fan Gibson Mills held up a cardboard sign displaying the hashtag at the first soccer game after losing Lilly.
“We made shirts for the seniors of the team, then our friends also wanted some,” senior soccer player Jonathan Russell said. “We did not have the ability to make more shirts, so Amanda Blevins and Sadie Buchannan from the cheer team graciously printed the shirts for us. All the money has gone to them to cover their costs.”
From signs being held at soccer games to the distribution of t-shirts during Rush Day, support for #freelilly has been spreading around campus.
According to Russell, the focus of #freelilly was to share the “story on the difficulty [that] Coach Lilly has faced personally, the challenges it created for [the soccer] team, and the great support the Milligan community has shown during this time.”
Russell says that the team is very appreciative of Kyle Findlay, who is “working non-stop” as interim head coach of the team, though they continue to hope that Lilly will regain permanent status.
“He has worked especially hard for this program and the school, and he has a powerful vision for men’s soccer to regain the level of accomplishment it had when Coach Lilly was a player at Milligan and led the team to the National tournament.”