Hello Panther Fans!
We first hope that you will accept our apology for not updating you on the ins and outs of Panther Women’s Soccer last week. We know you (and Tim Prahl) were all patiently waiting at your computers wondering how you must go on without us but, worry no more…we are back! In our defense, school started up last week and after a weekend of travel, we had lots to catch up on. Including sleep, now that our 6:30 AM practices have begun. We also got the unfortunate news that I, Kelsey, have two injuries, both more serious, that have caused me to miss our last four games. For anyone who knows how much I love this team and playing soccer, you can imagine how disappointed I am. On the bright side, I am now certain I can not bend it like Beckham with a large boot and crutches, so I will be blogging it with everything I’ve got. All jokes aside, I am still so excited to see what we can do this year, and I will be looking to help the team in any way that I can while I'm out.
South Carolina: When we were greeted at the airport with free hotdogs, popcorn and sno cones by a University of South Carolina football tailgate (literally, this is not a joke) we knew it was going to be a good trip. Then we stepped outside.
It was a great trip, but it was HOT and it was BUGGY. A lethal combination, really. When you weren’t wiping the sweat, you were swatting the bugs. We googled hot and Columbia, South Carolina came up. Even hot would say that it was hot. Like a sweating when you’re not doing anything at all kind of hot. (Yeah, call me out, Morgan??!) I’m almost not sure what’s worse… the great Wisconsin winter or the heat box known as South Carolina. (With training comes complaining, ya know?)
We played the College of Charleston and the University of South Carolina while we were in Columbia. It was a great facility, a top-notch field, and we thought we took some good steps forward from our opening weekend. We beat the College of Charleston 4-2 on Friday and saw two great goals from senior Kelly Lewers. (If you haven’t seen it, check out the UWM website for a feature of our two favorite people- Kelly and Juicy J!! Just kidding, but really, check out Kel, men’s soccer’s Laurie Bell and volleyball’s Kayla Price. Great people.) We also saw sophomore defender Kelly Manski and freshman forward Sydney Senn’s first collegiate goals—so proud of them both. After a nice day off complete with some true southern barbecue and an intense movie When the Game Stands Tall we were all ready for the next days match up. It was a quick turn around and before we knew it, we were warming up ready to take on The University of South Carolina. The now ranked #9 South Carolina gave us a good match and they came away with a 2-0 win. We were encouraged by our play against a nationally recognized team, but weren’t satisfied with the result. We created good scoring chances and know that we have more in us.
Our very own Morgan LaPlant and Rachael Van Keulen earned well-deserved All-Tournament Team Honors. If you see a blindingly pink Under Armour sweatshirt on either of the two of them, you’ll know why.
Let us not forget…in the last minute of the game, literally out of nowhere came an absolute monsoon. Not the best weather for loading the vans and getting to the airport, or for doing anything really. On the bright side, it definitely masked all of our sweat and maybe even counted as a shower for some of us (Amy), so that was definitely a plus.
Many thanks to Jon for organizing such a well planned and smooth trip- even driving us to Charlotte, NC instead of flying there, after the rain delay would have caused us to miss our connecting flight. We think Jon had such a good itinerary that Boston University, who was also there for the tournament, copied it. We were at the same hotel, same restaurants for dinner, same movies, same airports, etc. Little obvious, you know? Two Panther paws way up to all of the parents who made the trip out, it was great to have such a loud crowd at an away game. And a special thank you to all the parents that contributed to the post-game treat bags! They were excellent and actually my (Morgan) second favorite thing after a game, falling behind sleep of course.
Fast forward to Friday night, under the lights, beautiful night at Engelmann Stadium for a game against Boston College. Another tough opponent at a top-notch field with a great crowd- what more could you ask for? After going in to the locker room tied 0-0, we ended up losing 2-0 and were again disappointed with that result. We could not dwell on that result too long, as we played again on Sunday vs. undefeated DePaul. After training Saturday, some post-practice Noodles and Co. and the afternoon to rest, we came into Sunday feeling prepared and excited—and it showed. We took a 2-0 lead after 17 minutes, with two absolutely stellar goals from Morgan. (Isn’t she so braggy?!). Just kidding, Kelsey writing, and they really were great. The first was assisted by Maria Stephans and the second assisted by Kelly Lewers and Krissy Dorre. Morgan did a great job getting in to the box as these players were able to get serves across in to the box. Right place, right time. x2. We were pleased with this start, but extremely frustrated with a 3-2 result after two first and one second half goals from DePaul.
We know we are capable of more, and we know we will get to a place we want to be. In the meantime, we will be working hard each day! Follow us along this week as we take on the Marquette Golden Eagles for our cross-town game of the 2014 season and travel to Auburn University for a cross-country game on Sunday. Not cross-country running though, we’d be really bad at that.
Pretty confused why our hashtags were never trending in South Carolina, probably a Twitter malfunction, but we’ll try again this week.
#PantherPawsUp #MKEPantherPack #Rise&Roar
We promise to write again soon!
Yours,
Kelsey and Morgan
