Valparaiso Women's Soccer

Welcome back Crusader fans!

Welcome back to the Valpo women’s soccer blog! If you are new to the blog, welcome! Be sure to read the previous blogs in case we bloggers refer back to something, like the Crusader Cup. Also, we have a facebook page and a twitter account, which can both be accessed from the Valparaiso women’s soccer website, so check those out as well!

I apologize in advance because I know this blog will be longer than most. So much happens in the first week or so of preseason!

Another year is starting, so we are on campus for preseason. As a player, I have to admit that the hardest part of being in a fall sport is leaving home three weeks earlier than all your friends in order to… kill yourself by training twice a day. In the end it’s worth it, but sometimes it is hard to think of the benefits down the road when the sacrifices you are making are right in front of you.

Anyways, preseason starts off with medical testing and fitness tests, the first one being boring and the second being painful. However, we did have FIVE girls make time on all 10 cones (a shuttle fitness test), which is pretty darn impressive. So congrats to senior Sarah Melhorn, sophomore Luisa Desario, and freshman Amanda Ulin, Lauren Gagnon, and Kristin Manski!

After the tests was Christmas! That is what we jokingly call the meeting when we receive all of our team gear, like practice uniforms, training shoes, bags, rain gear, and cold weather gear. It’s pretty cool to get that stuff and start wearing it, because you finally feel like you are representing your university. Since then, we have been training twice a day, mostly focusing on organizing ourselves defensively, and we have had a meeting almost every night.

During one of the meetings, we did the “marshmallow challenge”, where teams of three people had to build the tallest free-standing structure that could support a large marshmallow using nothing but a yard of masking tape, a yard of string, and 24 uncooked spaghetti noodles—in under 18 minutes. Amazingly, we had two groups with the winning height of 24.25 inches! To determine the winner, we tested how each structure withstood a shearing effect of the opposing team trying to blow the spaghetti structure over. Casey, Kristin, and Hailey’s structure fell down into second place, while Brooke, Amanda, and Becky’s structure stood solidly in first.

One of the days we didn’t have a team meeting, a large group of us went out for ice cream! It was a great opportunity to get off campus for a while and enjoy each other’s company and a sweet treat. I got one of the summer specials, key lime pie with raspberries, and it was super scrumptious. I have to mention that the servers were great. They sang lots of songs, joked around with customers, and even threw globs of ice cream across the store for another server to catch in a cup! How could we not have a great time when we have fun servers, fun teammates, and delicious ice cream?

On Tuesday we entered our first exhibition match, against Illinois State. We were the first Valparaiso sports team to play a fall game, after only 5 days of preseason. Visit our Valpo athletic website for a rundown of the game. I will say that we won 1-0 on a goal by Hailey Chmela. As a team, we achieved many of the goals we laid out for ourselves during team meetings. Also, we didn’t let the heat beat us. I didn’t check the weather report because I didn’t want to psyche myself out before the game even started, but it was HOT! And humid. Let’s just say that everyone on the team was completely soaked in sweat by the time the game started. It was great to start the season off on a good note and I am sure we will keep progressing as a team.

The day after the game, Coach Marovich surprised us by telling us to report to the ARC for weight training instead of outdoor practice. But, being the sneaky and surprising coach he is, we watched a film instead! It was one of the best gifts/surprises we have received this preseason so far. The film we watched was called Pelada. Here is the website if you want to check it out (which I highly suggest): . Basically, it’s a documentary made by a young couple who traveled around the world playing pick-up soccer games. I really enjoyed the film and if you are the sort of person who is just as interested in the culture of soccer as the end result of a match, you should watch it.

Well, I think that’s more than enough for now. I will let the other bloggers, Sammy Olsen and Kristin Manski pick up from here!

HOO-HAH
Trisha Wladecki

Hey Crusader fans!

Sorry the blog has been basically non-existent since the season ended. I wasn’t really aware that I was supposed to keep going in the off-season. But I believe that next year the bloggers (including me) will be writing year round. So if you liked our blog during the season, you will get to enjoy the entertaining tales we tell for a longer period of time!

Anyways, the end of the year is absolutely insane for student-athletes. Heck, it’s crazy for just plain students. There are end-of-year projects for just about every class, in-class exams, and finals to study for. Hence, I am actually blogging about an event that happened 2-3 weeks ago. On Thursday the fifteenth, our women’s soccer team helped out at St. Teresa of Avila. Every Thursday St. Teresa has Café Manna, which is in essence a soup kitchen. Only so many people are needed for help at once, so our team worked in two shifts. We did not help to cook any of the food (which is probably for the best!) but we served the food, made nametags, and assisted with setup and cleanup. As far as I know, the whole team enjoyed the experience. Plus, after we were finished and had cleaned everything up, we were allowed to eat the leftovers! As I’m sure most of you know, our team adores food and will never say no to a home-cooked meal.

It was much more rewarding than I anticipated. While I enjoy community service, I will admit that the main reason I enjoy it is because I either feel good about myself afterward or the particular service I choose to do involves fun activities. Serving food is not one of those activities that happen to be inherently fun. But Café Manna allowed me to interact with the people that needed the help as well as joke around with other community members that have devoted their time to helping Café Manna. At the end of my shift, when we had cleaned up all the food and were waiting for everyone to finish their meals so we could clean the tables, I was roped into a delightful conversation with one old man. We must have talked for at least half an hour on various topics including my major and career path (biology/chemistry, pre-med), barrel racing (a type of horse race often seen at rodeos), and politics. Although my dinner got cold during the conversation, I am glad I was able to connect with this man and share ideas and experiences. Although it is too late this year, I am hoping that next year I will have the time and opportunity to help at Café Manna.

God bless,
Trisha Wladecki

Well…believe it or not, we are still alive and kicking! I am not going to lie, I never would have expected this after the first half of the season… I thought we were in for a long ride. But! We kept pushing through the adversity, and this year we have peaked at the right time, when it really counts! It seems unreal that we are going to playing in the conference championship tomorrow! But I think we deserve it; outsiders have overlooked us all season, but they are now kicking themselves for it (especially Wright State)!

So far this weekend has been amazing! And it all started with bd’s Mongolian Barbeque for dinner on Thursday night. That restaurant is always a hit for our team! For those of you who have never been, you are missing out, the basics of the restaurant is that they have a buffet of uncooked noodles, meat, vegetables, sauces, and spices. You fill up a bowl with whatever you think will taste good (hopefully it does…), and then your food is grilled on this huge circular grill. And if you are lucky, the grillers will show off some mad grilling skills! On the bus after dinner, we had the best bus ride of the year. We had a massive sing along, singing songs ranging from “Baby Got Back” to “Part of your World” from The Little Mermaid. We even had some people, namely Trisha, step up and show off her singing skills (the rest of us really aren’t that great…). It was quite humorous observing the age divide! When us grandmas in the back of the bus (you know, those born in the 80s! haha) started singing The Little Mermaid and other old school Disney songs, the babies didn’t really know the lyrics! It is crazy what a difference a few years makes! But nevertheless, we had an unforgettable bonding experience on that bus ride!

Friday was pretty laid back…That is until game time!! Blah, blah, blah…Then we won the game!! (You can look at the run down of the game on the website. No need for me to bore you with that information. But I will tell you, it was a pretty stressful game!) After the game, Jessie and Brooke were interviewed for the Horizon League Network TV, and we were all smiles. Back in the locker room, we put on “The Cupid Shuffle” for our newly started tradition. The past 3 games we have danced to that song before and after the game. (Before the game it has really only been myself, Jewell, Sammy, and Janine dancing, but still fun!) But today after the game many more people were participating and singing along. I mean, who wouldn’t when something so exciting just happened! It was a wonderful atmosphere to be a part of, and looking back now, something I will never forget!

Later that night we went to Noodles for dinner. The parents were allowed to come on the bus with us. And let me tell you, my mom was soo excited! She loves being a “fly on the wall” and this was just that opportunity for her! Love you mom! And that was the end of one of the most exciting days I have had in a long time!

As a senior, this has been the ride of a lifetime. After freshmen year, finishing 1st in regular season conference play, but losing in the semifinals of the tournament, we all thought we would have 3 more great opportunities to make it to the NCAA tournament. But…our sophomore year we switched to the Horizon League, and deep down we knew making it to the NCAA tournament would be a much more challenging feat. Especially after the blow last year…having to play in the 8/9 game and when it was all said and done, we didn’t even make it to the tournament. But look how far we have come!! It has taken a lot of hard work, determination, and heart, but we have exceeded all expectations this year! And it is not over yet. We have a HUGE game tomorrow, and let me tell you, we are not done playing!

Hey Crusader Fans!

Sorry it has been so long since I last wrote. Things have been so busy!
Anyways, the weekend of the 16th-18th was fall break. But soccer players don’t take breaks. Instead, we took a trip to Cleveland. Being a Cleveland girl myself, I was pretty excited, but I don’t know how everyone else viewed it.

Coach did a pretty good job of telling about the weekend, so I won’t have to reiterate everything. But I was soooooo happy to go home and see my parents and eat food my dad makes and see my pizza oven and backyard wallmen. I didn’t realize how much I missed home until I was there again. It felt wonderful. And yes, I admit it. I cried a bit on the bus ride home.

The nicest thing about the trip was how the team was able to hang out with each other and sort of forget about everything except food, soccer, and the team. During the school year we spend time together, but it is hard to get everyone together at once because there is always someone who has to leave for a night class or studying. I feel a lot closer to the team now that we have taken that trip and spent the weekend together. I will remember the Cleveland trip for many reasons. We had 2 rockin wins, lots of good food, shared stories, fun activities, and of course a few instances worthy of the Ha-Ha shirt. I think my favorite was at my house when Tracy was amazed that you can eat pumpkin, despite the fact she loved Mrs. Henderson’s pumpkin cookies so much the day before. Things like these are what make it so much fun to be on the Valpo women’s soccer team. I am so happy that I am a part of such a great and fun group of girls.

LIVESTRONG, Joga Bonito
~Trisha

When you hear of team travel, most people think of the difficulty of setting up food, hotel, transportation and entertainment for a group of 27 people. However, our favorite part of the schedule here at Valpo is when we TRAVEL our team. This is where our team connects with each other and creates memories that last forever. The bond that develops between players creates a excitement to work for one another on the field, the “WE not ME” environment emerges. When I visit with former players and alumni the stories always seems to revolve around travel, for example the “Who’s Line is It Anyway” team activity in Cleveland several years ago. I still laugh myself to tears every time I think about the hilarity of that event. This past weekend was no different!

The Valpo family is always present and willing to lend a helping hand to assist our team during the time away from the comforts of their dorm room beds..lol. The Henderson Family (Brooke Henderson – So. – Westlake, OH) fed the team on Thursday evening with pasta, salad and pumpkin cookies that I really need the recipe for. The best part of the evening was the post meal – ski jumping and soccer heading on the Wii Fit.  It was great to see the excitement of landing a jump or the laughter when they were hit by a shoe in the heading game. In the end, Jackie Kondrako proved to be the best Ski Jumper in the Group and Luisa Desario was the master header in the soccer game.

Saturday afternoon, the Wladecki Family (Trisha Wladecki – Fr. – Avon Lake, OH) had their turn and hosted the team. The lunch menu had traditional Italian pizza cooked in an authentic wood burning stone pizza oven (amazing), pork, delicious soup and finished it off with S’mores. The relaxing afternoon saw the team play bags, climbing the backyard rope and others had their hand at Harry Potter in the woods.

Sunday morning and Friday post game, the Lytle Family (Janine Lytle – Fr. – Wooster, OH) made awesome sandwiches post-game and pancakes and eggs on Sunday morning pre-game. I loved the energy the Lytle’s had which energized our group early on a Sunday morning. The bright smiling faces needed some energy at 8:30 am on a cloudy downtown Cleveland morning.

For our big team activity on Saturday night we played a three team competition of Jeopardy. The topics may have been difficult because I tend to forget that some of the people I recognize are not always the individuals our players will remember or know..I might be getting old…lol However, those of you following the blog should know that “yes” the “Ha Ha shirt” was earned on this night and a few other times this past weekend.

Oh – by the way, We won both of our games 2-0 over Youngstown State and Cleveland State and we were really ROCKIN’ in Cleveland. These victories were big because they qualified the team for the Horizon League tournament setting up a big game on Friday October 23 at 3 pm at Eastgate field against Butler. If we win, we finish 3rd in the conference and would host a first round tournament game. I always wonder what comes first the chicken or the egg? In our case, the team bonding comes first and the results are sure to follow. So, when I hear our team is traveling, I have nothing but excitement and energy.

Go Crusaders and I am so proud of our team !!!

Well, the season is now more than halfway over, and school is definitely in full throttle. Needless to say, we have all been a bit busy! Although we have been keeping busy, soccer does not let up, and everything moves on as normal, including our traditions.

Our team is full of wonderful traditions! Since I got here my freshman year we have done a lot of the same things and some traditions have even been added.

Fun-day Mondays:
Mondays are usually pretty drab. It is the beginning of a new week, you might have a test (I have one this Monday in Biology…), and you start thinking of all the things you should have done over the weekend. Our Mondays at soccer practice usually start off with some F.U.N.! The team has about 15 minutes to play whatever game we want. We might play log-tag, soccer tennis, or the juggle gate game (a game where you try to do certain juggling combinations in four different boxes to get a point for your team). Fun-day Monday is always a good way to start the week with some laughing and a light warmup!

Wives:
Sammy already told you about wives, but I would just like to add one thing. My FAMILY is the best! Some might say that we are the hoarding family, but I think we just have so much love to go around that we want to share it with a lot of people. I was married to Kendall Brown when I was a freshman, my sophomore year there was an odd number so we took a “love child,” Sarah Melhorn. My junior year, Sarah got married to Reva and they took a “love child,” Candice Partee, who left Valpo after one semester. This year, Sarah took another “love child,” (my grand”love”child) Rachel Hoaglin. So…although Kendall and Reva are no longer playing soccer, they are both still on campus! So our family is still as big and wonderful as ever! Yeah… we do have a confusing family, but I love it!

HAHA shirt:
Since I can remember we have had something we call the HAHA shirt. It usually takes a while to get one made, but the HAHA shirt is a crazy colored shirt with crazy decorations. If someone does something worthy enough (that is very funny) they get the shirt to wear to practice. Before they wear it they have to write what they did on the shirt. One such worthy event to earn the HAHA shirt is when Erin Suckling didn’t know how to spell Bananas, or when people (aka Dana McGlone or Janine Lytle) get snipered in the middle of a game. We are just trying to add a little fun to our lives!

Fight Song:
This year we have added a new tradition! Every preseason the football team makes the freshmen learn the fight song and sing it at meals. We have always joked that we were going to do that to the freshmen and say we have done it forever. Well this year, we did it. We made the freshmen learn the fight song and they had to sing it for us once in the union at lunch. After we beat IUPUI, someone yelled “Freshmen, Fight song!” Well, they don’t know it that well and they were being shy, so I said, “Why don’t we all sing it!” So there began a new tradition. After every win, we have sung the fight song in the locker room! Yeah, for school spirit!

Crusader Cup:
You have all heard about the Crusader Cup in earlier blogs! What a tradition!

Circle before game:
Before every game we circle up as a team. In this circle we go around and each say one thing that we are going to focus on during the game. Most people just think of things that they are feeling during that day but some people have certain things they say every game. Lori Johnson, for example, always said “Determination.” This year, Rachel Hoaglin has started making “Faith” her word. Some other things that have been said are “WIN”, “First Touch”, or “Score.” There has been many things said over the years, and each one is supposed to help us get focused and pumped up for the game!

HOO-HAA:
If you have ever been to a game you might have wondered what we say in our huddle right before each half starts. Well, that would be “HOO-HAA!” I am not sure when this tradition started…Most likely way before my time, but we say “HOO-HAA” because it is part of our fight song. I think it is something very special for us because, well…let’s just say “HOO-HAA” is a very unique part of our fight song and what we are about!

Three Claps:
“Three Claps” is something that again started before my time. I have heard that it comes from a film that we used to watch as a team called “FISH!” The film is about workers at a fish market who really disliked their job until they started making the most of it! They had four different philosophies, “Play”, “Make Their Day”, “Be there”, and “Choose your attitude.” For us, “Three Claps” is a part of “Make their Day.” If you think someone does something great you can say “Three Claps for ____. 1-2-3.” It is always great to be recognized for something you do! That is why we do “Three Claps for our fans” after every game. We wouldn’t be who we are today without the support of our fans! You are great!

She’s Got Game:
She’s Got Game has also been around for my whole career. After every game a player is picked for She’s Got Game. This is essentially a “player of the game” award. For our first Friday and Sunday game each year nominations are taken and the player is chosen by the team for She’s Got Game. After that every Friday, the player who had it the previous Friday picks for that game, and the same is true for Sunday. Again, this is just a way to show some recognition to players who played a great game.

Traditions are amazing things that everyone who goes through the program can share. It is great to have alumni come back and learn some of our new traditions and see the old ones still shining bright.

I wasn’t expecting this to be so long, but…it turns out we have more traditions than I was anticipating!

Big game Sunday! UWM at home! Hope to see you there!

Later,
Drako

After a rough first part of the season and some disappointing losses, the general mentality and spirit of the team was a bit low. It was a downward spiral that was preventing our team from reaching the best of our abilities. We would lose confidence and have a negative attitude, and as a result we would get scored on, or some other bad thing would happen. This would lead to us think even more negatively. It was a vicious cycle. Then, on Thursday, coach brought in a life success consultant to help us turn things around. His name is Michael Joesten. I really liked how he explained the power of a positive attitude to the team. I have read books and sat in on lectures about these kinds of concepts before, but Mr. Joesten expressed the ideas more concretely and clearly than I have ever heard. The biggest thing he showed the team was the “stick man”.

The picture gave the team a concrete image that explained how we could use a positive attitude to improve our performance. In our conscious mind, we choose to have positive imagery and thoughts. This trickles into our subconscious mind, which is purely deductive. In other words, the subconscious mind will accept as true anything the conscious mind throws at it. The subconscious mind causes our emotions. This, in turn, turns physical and is expressed through the body. The body performs actions based on these emotions, and these actions lead to results. The flow shows that if we think positively, we will eventually get positive results, where as if we think negatively we will get negative results. In addition, if we choose to visualize ourselves doing a particular great play and we picture it as distinctly and vividly as possible, it primes our bodies to perform that great play.

I saw a felt a huge difference during our Friday game vs. Green Bay. There was a wonderfully exciting positive attitude flowing through the whole team. It was an almost tangible energy one could feel while we warmed up and gathered into the pre-game huddle. During the game, when a player on the team would make a mistake, there was not a negative reaction. Instead of someone shouting something along the lines of, “It has to be better than that!” in a disappointed or angry tone, there were positive shouts of, “Next time!”, or “Now let’s win that ball back!” There weren’t any thoughts of, “Oh no! It’s 0-0 at the end of the first half! If we don’t pick it up we are going to give away a fluke goal and lose!” We were confident and positive at halftime. There were thoughtful suggestions about what little things we could do better and confidence that we would go out and actually do them better. We were not thinking about the negative things and we weren’t worried about the other team. We were focused on playing the best game we could. I cannot say if this will completely turn around our season, but it improved things for us for one game.
See you next week!
Trisha

My wife Courtney

When you become a member of the VU Women’s soccer team, you’re committing to a series of arraigned marriages. Coach Anthony once told the team (props to Dana McGlone for giving me the exact quote), “You guys have to think of us as one big family. We are your first commitment. All of us are like wives.” (And someone corrected him by responding, ‘or sisters…’). From then on, whenever someone new comes to the team, they’re automatically given a wife. During preseason, every freshman’s name is put into a hat, and any sophomore, junior or senior whose wife left them that year (as in graduated) is randomly assigned to their new wife. When I was a freshman, my arraigned marriage ended up being with Courtney Gwinn. She’s a redshirt junior this year, so by the time she graduates we will have been together for 4 years, which if I’m not mistaking is a team record, and should be recognized as the best wife-relationship that anyone has ever had on the team.

The point of having a wife is to have someone to lean on when the going gets tough (and believe me, it always does at one point or another). Your wife is your designated go-to teammate when you need someone to carry you that day because you feel like you can’t make it on your own. I’ve always thought that my wife and I have a special relationship, and she’s never failed to be there for me when I’ve needed someone to help pick me up. I can say that metaphorically, but it also applies literally… During preseason when we were running our cones fitness test (everyone’s favorite), my wife was standing at the last cone to literally hold me up in between runs because otherwise, I’d probably collapse. But Courtney Gwinn has been there for me on my worst days… The days when I’m worn down from school and emotionally drained, and feel like I won’t be able to make it through training that day. My wife is always there to talk me through it, and there to help me get my head straight. There are plenty of girls on the team that I can go to for support, but Courtney and I put it upon ourselves to always look out for each other when one of us is struggling. When I’m a 5th year senior, I’ll have a new wife for the first time of my VU soccer. I can only hope that I can give my new wife everything that my Courtney gave me when she was here. That’s something great about being an incoming freshman…. You get paired up with someone who has already had a wife to support them, so that they’ll be fully prepared to be a support system for you when the time comes.

My advice to the incoming freshman for years to come is to take advantage of everything that having a wife on the team offers. Coach said the other day that something our team doesn’t struggle with is chemistry… And I hope that that never changes. Having a wife on the team is just another reason to get to know each other better, and to create an amazing friendship that you’ll carry with you beyond graduation…. Having a wife is just another one of those great things that you’ll be able to look back on and remember why being a part of this team was so special.

To my dearest wifey, Courtney Gwinn… Thank you for everything!!!

Jackie Thomas and I.

When you’re on a team, your life is changed. You grow from being pushed beyond the limits that you THOUGHT you had, you learn to be responsible from being held accountable and being depended on by your 20+ teammates, and you gain more experience than you ever could have on your own by learning from those that have already been in your shoes. There were 6 people in the graduating class of ’08 and 8 in the class of ’09, and each person individually impacted me whether they realized it or not. That’s 14 people that have already graduated that I had the privilege to learn from. And if I really want to get crazy with numbers…. there are 5 people (really 4, but just because I know it means too much to Courtney Gwinn, ill include her) people in this years senior class, 2 girls in my class not including me (and 2 that transferred, but I still hold them near and dear to my heart), 5 in the sophomore class, and 8 in the freshman class. In total… that’s 36 girls that have been a part of my life, and each of them have taught me something unique. And since I’m the proud owner of a brand new ACL as of my freshman year, I’ll be a 5th year senior during the 2011 fall season. That means I still have 2 more years of freshman classes to get to know.

The graduating class of ’09 was really special to me. When we started our off-season workouts without them last year, it felt like there was a giant hole on the team. I always looked up to these girls… They had a presence about them that any member of the team could feel on a daily basis. I didn’t realize how much I had learned from them until they were gone. I had always looked up to them for their amazing leadership and dedication to the team. Also, they had about a million horror stories to tell about the classes before them… and they never let me forget as a freshman that I should be forever thankful for the fact that they were ‘so nice’ to us in comparison, and therefore should carry all the equipment and supplies with a smile on our faces.

My life as a player was especially changed by Jackie Thomas, or Jackwad as we all know her. She played center back during her 4 years here, and was a source of inspiration for many of us. Due to my injury, I only got to play with her for a couple games my freshman year. However, my sophomore year I was switched from a center mid to play center back next to her, which was absolutely terrifying for me. But I came to realize that there was nobody else that I would want to play next to, especially as a new defender. She never looked nervous, and there wasn’t any opponent that she didn’t feel confident to defend against. In the locker room during pregame (while my legs were shaking with all my nervousness) nobody looked more prepared or confident than she did. She was someone that everyone wanted to learn from… whether it was during practice, a game, lifting, or even preparation for a game the day before the match. Even though I could always go to coaches with my questions on the field, I constantly looked to her for advice before asking them because to me… there was nobody else that could give me a better answer than someone who had impacted the team so much in her previous 3 years of play.

I don’t want the rest of the ’09 class to feel left out…. This blog doesn’t do KB, Murph, Tiff, Erin, LJ, Dana and Reva justice for all that they’ve done for me. Actually, I could never accurately describe all that every single one of my teammates has done for me. But some of those indescribable things are just part of what you get to know and carry with you forever when you’re on a team… That’s what’s so great about being part of something greater than yourself.

Hey Valpo Soccer fans!

Today is our off day (as Tuesday’s always are) and I am somehow actually finding myself with down time–no homework, meetings, or soccer. What a perfect time to catch up on life’s little joys, like updating you on what is going on on the inside of Valpo soccer! As you have probably already read, with regards to soccer, this weekend turned out to be a pretty successful one. We went 1-1 on the weekend, beating Ball State and falling just short of #14 ranked Purdue.

We beat Ball State 3-2, but it was definitely no walk in the park. We went into the game knowing from our scouting report that they played a high line, and we worked on how to beat the high line during practice. We knew that we needed to use our width and find the runner over the top. The game began and we got on the board first when Trisha found Lu, who put the ball in the back of the net from around 15 yards out. It was a beautiful goal! We went into halftime with a 1-0 lead as we had a few times before. We started the second half and found ourselves in the deficit that we had seen so many times before when they scored two quick goals. This game turned out to be different though, we fought back. On a quick counter later in the game, I found Lu behind the defenders, and she tallied her second goal of the night (and season)! Rachel Hoaglin scored our game winner off of a scrum in the box! This was the game that really defined our team. We fought to the end, and showed a lot of character doing it!

Saturday we went back to Purdue to take on the Boilermakers. They scored their lone goal with 30 minutes left in the game. While we weren’t successful getting the win, we competed and held our ground for most of the game. Throughout the game we were very organized defensively in our block of 8, and we even got a couple chances on goal. Our back line was nearly unstoppable with Mele, who played an outstanding game, and Melhorn leading the back line. Coming off the bench in the second half, the 4th official told Berg (Laura Romberg) and I that we needed to take Mele out to dinner after the game… How right he was! haha

Sunday we had a light recovery practice and then we were able to go to the guy’s soccer team’s home opener against Michigan. We cheered loud and gave the Michigan keeper a hard time like the guys do for us. Must admit, I was laughing more than I was watching the game, but it was worth every minute of it! Although they played well and held the lead for most of the game, they ended up losing 2-1 (sounds famililar, huh…)… But it was good to support them and spend some quality time bonding with the team in a different way!

This week we are preparing for our lone game weekend. We will be heading to Central Michigan on Thursday for our game Friday morning (at 10:30 Valpo time…Geez). Time for victory #3 of the season! Hope to see some of you fans from our northern border state there!

Later,
Jackie