Greetings Panther Fans!
Morgan LaPlant and Kelsey Holbert here, honored to take on the task of weekly women's soccer updates for the 2014 season! With some inspiration from our predecessors: notably Keara Thompson of Keara’s Korner, Helen Steinhauser and Demi Price of Notes from the Midfield, and Hannah Kaul and Sara Stern from Post Game Gossip, we hope to bring you soccer notes, funny jokes, and everything in between.
Since we started a couple of weeks ago, we have a lot to catch you up on. We’ve narrowed it down to just ten of our favorite moments.
1. The Panthers. We think we speak for the rest of the team when we say we are not only excited to be back but we are also ready to see what 2014 holds for us. 29 girls, 1 team, 1 dream.
2. The First Annual Milwaukee Women's Soccer Mini-Golf Outing. Huge thank you to Jenny Gryniewicz for making everything go smoothly. Culver’s, mini-golf, friends, family, raffles, and a beautiful night.
3. The Food. Noodles, Qdoba, Chipotle, Buca di Bepo, Panera, Jimmy John’s, Erbert’s and Gerbert’s. Repeat. Thank you to Dave and Jon for organizing such great meals—they are much appreciated.
4. Blog Name Brainstorming. We gave Anny West the task of brainstorming blog names for us. She came up with a few great options- Typing with Our Feet: A Soccer Blog, Yellow Card: A Mildly Offensive Blog, and Blog It Like Beckham. After days of deliberation, we chose Blog It Like Beckham. (All complaints on the name can be filed under Anny West, Sandburg Dorms, East Tower, not a corner room.)
5. Panther Painting Day. One day this preseason, we had professionals come to campus, and (thankfully) walk us through painting the Panther logo step-by-step. Most of them turned out great. Jon, we think you should stick to coaching J.
6. The Alumni Game. Great to see so many Panther alumni!! Huge thank you to all of those that played. Let’s just say the alumni will be pretty stacked next year, wink wink. Also, nice to know Helen is just as loud, and Demi is just as clumsy as we remember them.
7. Our first weekend playing. Two tough losses to two very good teams: The University of Tennessee and the University of Oregon. Definitely not the start we were looking for, but we took a lot of positives from the weekend, especially in Sunday’s match vs. Oregon. After a hard loss on Friday night, we felt we improved in many areas on Sunday afternoon. With a couple of early chances and two shots off the crossbar, we felt we created enough opportunities to win the match. We are hoping to continue with this attacking mindset this weekend in Columbia against the College of Charleston and the University of South Carolina. We also hope the 90 degree, 93% humidity weather in Madison prepared us (a little bit) for the heat of the South!
8. The FCKC vs. Chicago Red Stars Game. We took a trip to Chicago to watch Panther alum Sarah Hagen play for FC Kansas City in the NWSL. It was great experience to see a women’s professional game and even cooler to see Apple out there. We wish her the best of luck this weekend in the NWSL final! (Sunday 2pm ESPN2)
9. Iron Chef- We were split in to four teams, given a budget, a ride to the grocery store, and the task of providing an edible meal for 35 hungry Panthers. Long story short, all the meals were fabulous. Stay tuned, we are still waiting for Bobby Flay and his sui chefs to reveal the winner.
10. Finally, our awesome families for the treat bags, pre-pre-season meals, the alumni game picnic, post-game hugs and continued support (both at home and one the road). Special shout out to the West family (Dale and Tina, not Kim and Kanye) for having us all over for dinner. Best gourmet hot dogs this side of the Mississippi! Also thanks to the Henschel family for hosting us for a delicious lunch, Sunday bar, and Egg Drop contest!
That’s all we have for you this week folks, catch back up with us next week to hear about our games, if we survived the heat, the winner of Iron Chef, and more. As we always say, if you can’t Bend it like Beckham, just blog it.
Kelsey & Morgan
Note: We’re trending on twitter! Join us this weekend as week head down south to take on the College of Charleston and the University of South Carolina by tweeting pics and posts with the hashtags #pantherwsoc #howdypanthers #blogitbybeckham
