Coming off a victory at the Region IV North Tournament, the K-State men's club soccer team found itself scrambling to come up with the funding to send it to the national tournament in Florida.

On Sunday, the team breezed through the regional tournament in Columbia, Mo., but after the celebrations died down, they realized there was uncertainty about whether or not they would be able to compete in the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association's national tournament, held in Pensacola, Fla.

With a cost of almost $1,000 to enter the tournament, and additional money needed for travel expenses, the squad found they would need about $10,000 to make the trip possible.

The Student Governing Association provided funding to the Peters Recreation Complex for the team's entry fee and travel, but the $1,500 they received was hardly enough to cover the cost.

Chris Coffey, team treasurer and junior in management information systems, went to the rec and SGA looking for additional funding, but no more funds were available.

Coffey said it is difficult for people who are in charge of the clubs to really see the team's position, because they don't often have to deal with sports clubs that are in this situation. However, Coffey said he thinks everyone is doing everything they can.

Travis Redeker, assistant director of sport clubs and outdoor rental, said there is not any more funding available in the rec's reserve funds, but he would like to help.

"If I had my way, we'd love to be able to pay for the whole thing," Redeker said. "We only have so much money to divide up for different stuff."

Matt Wagner, student body president, said SGA already had done more than it normally would in situations like this.

"We're providing more than we've ever provided before, in the area of $1,500 through the rec services sports club funding pot," Wagner said.

Coffey then turned to Pat Bosco, dean of student life, in a last ditch effort to get financial support from K-State, but the answer still was the same.

Bosco said he congratulated the team for its great accomplishment and said he wished the resources were available to assist all the universities' teams and clubs.

"I pride myself on trying to be a problem-solver for students, but sometimes I can't solve all of our challenges," Bosco said.

Despite words of encouragement from the university organizations, the team still did not have the funding it needed to make it to Florida.

"Since we've kind of been around everywhere we can think of around the university, we've kind of given up on help from the university," Coffey said.

After failed attempts with the university, Coffey and his teammates turned elsewhere to come up with the money. "We've just started out trying to get in contact with businesses around Manhattan," Coffey said.

So far, the only donation the squad has received was from GTM Sportswear, but they have been going door to door trying to find other donors.

Coffey said the difficult part about trying to get private donations is they are limited on time.

"The regional championship was just this past weekend, so we didn't know until Sunday night that we were actually going," Coffey said.

The tournament begins Nov. 15, and the team still needs to make flight reservations and get everything in order.

If they fail to come up with the money in time, Coffey said it would be a real disappointment for the team, which practiced all year, dominated at the regional tournament and ended with an 11-1-1 record on the season.

Coffey said the team is much stronger this year than it has been in a long time, and he is confident of what the team will do if given the chance.

"If we're able to make it, I have high hopes for the team that we have this year," Coffey said.

Coffey said if anyone is willing to donate to the team, they can contact him at ccoffey@ksu.edu.