Welcome back for the 2008 season! For those who are new, I post once a week giving my inside accounts of how things are going here on our team, how the games went and any other information a supporter may want to know while we are on the road or if they are unable to make a game. As a warning, my opinions and thoughts may tend to be bias and at times potentially harsh to opposing teams as well as my humor exceptionally dry and finally I have a lot of pride for Milwaukee and show it!
There is going to be an exciting season in store for everyone this year and a lot has been going on the past couple weeks. This entry will be a longer then most in the future, so to quickly catch you up...
Preseason's two-a-days went well, more people then ever have passed the Panther Fitness Test, which has allowed us to get straight to technical business and are hard work was shown early. We beat Toledo 3-0 in exhibition and presented an all around organized and balance team. We followed that up with our final exhibition against the Alumni which we also won.
From there we continued preparing for our season opener against a huge instate rival, UW-Madison.
The past two years we have beaten UW 1-0, and this year would be no different, except for the 3-0 score we ended with. The almost record-breaking crowd of 718 was witness to this to strong all-round performance. Although we did not score in the first half, our goal chances greatly out numbered their one chance. Hagen had a breakaway as well as shot from inside the 18 box, Kreuser and Talbert also hit dangerous shots, we didn't put any away in the first half, but if I were their backline I wouldn't want to leave the locker room after halftime.
We continued to attack in the second half, with (goalkeeper Erin) Kane rarely seeing the ball. It finally came after about a 12-pass possession, I played the ball into Kreuser, who put me in behind the defense, completing a give-and-go between us. Hagen, meanwhile, was covering ground and getting into the box behind their defense. I served an early ball in, and Hagen finished with her head.
1-0 Milwaukee
The next two goals came from corners, Sperl from the left corner to Hagen who volleyed it in for her second goal -- 2-0 and the icing on the cake. I hit a corner from the right, near post and junior Louise Vraney finished.
Overall our defense was solid, Madison got one good shot off, but Kane came up with the save. On 1vs1 we were solid, and as a whole we were solid, them never really getting in behind. Our midfield connected passes and played dangerous balls to our forwards, and our forwards obviously dangerous, scoring three goals.
We decisively beat Madison and left no second guessing. The only time they were close to our goal was on corners, which they had a lot of, but we easily defended them well.
Being from Madison I am a Badger fan, and it is Madison... but this is Milwaukee and three years in a row we have won and continue to grow as a team. This was the first step for winning the state, with Marquette and Green Bay left. Until then, Ohio State on Wednesday. Hope to see you there.
