Completed Event: Women's Soccer versus Sam Houston on September 5, 2025 , Loss , 0, to, 1
W Soccer
vs Sam Houston
L 0-1
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Lopes Up!
Traditions » Lopes Up!
In 1996, Grand Canyon student Jim D'Apice felt assaulted by the barrage of "Hook 'em Horns" from his Texan roommate and needed a way to show his Lopes pride at sporting events and in their campus home.
In the heat of a friendly argument with his roommate, D'Apice scrunched his fingers together and contorted his hand in a way that gave him a horned animal to retaliate. His thumb, middle and index fingers met together in a tight point to resemble a snout. He kept his pointer and pinky fingers angled low across the top of his hand to form antelope horns.
The new sign was slow to catch on with the student body. Fellow students initially mocked D'Apice with rolled eyes and sarcasm.
In 2009, freshman Taylor Griffin, son of GCU's Dean of Students Tim Griffin, approached the cheer team with an idea for when Lopes basketball players shot free throws.
To this day, about 7,000 fans in GCU Arena go silent and the cheerleaders yell "1-2-3... Lopes Up!" as 14,000 hands with Lopes Up signs shoot to the ceiling.
Now, foam hands with the Lopes Up hand sign and T-shirts with the symbol are prevalent as students and employees say "Go Lopes!" to any passerby on or off campus and get a Lopes Up sign in return. New employees are taught how to put their Lopes Up on their first day of work. Incoming freshmen are indoctrinated with the symbol during orientation. Student-athletes throw their Lopes Up after big plays and big wins to interact with students.
