The Beat Goes On!

Wellesley College Soccer put in another week of solid team performances to increase their NEWMAC record to 4-0.  On Tuesday October 7^th The Blue came out with purpose against US Coast Guard Academy and were first to strike just two minutes into the first half.  It took the USGA 65 minutes to answer but a cool finish by Catherine Caruso in the 83^rd minute was enough to secure the win.  This game was the debut of our new 4-5-1, while there were a few unsteady moments overall we were pleased with how we played.  Some more attacking presence allowed us to produce more dangerous chances and took some of the pressure off our back line. 

Saturday October 11^th WSC matched up against MIT in another NEWMAC contest.  In 2007 the Blue were upset by a score of 4-1 so we had something to prove.  Both our goals were a result of some great combination play.  While MIT has their fair share of chances we managed to keep a clean sheet and got a much-needed result.  As a group we are continuing to develop our understanding of how best to work with each other in the new system of play but looked stronger as the game progressed. 

While we are pleased to be sitting at the top of the NEWMAC table the meat of our schedule still ahead so we are focused on maintaining our momentum and not resting on our performances.  It’s an exciting time for the Blue and, as always, the team thanks you for all your kind words and support!

Joca Bonito,

WSC

Soctober!!!

It’s hard to believe it's October and NEWMAC Conference play has finally arrived! Currently undefeated with a 2-0-0 record, we opened up 2008 with a 1-0 win at home against Smith College. Despite difficult weather conditions we were able to control the majority of the game out shooting them with 16-8 edge. The game’s lone goal came just under 16 minutes into the contest when Haley Gellar drove a ball past Smith’s goalkeeper from 18 yards out.

After a disappointing outcome against Brandeis on Wednesday October 1^st we were committed to learning from the experience and regrouping before our next competition. Our second consecutive conference win came by way of Mount Holyoke College with a 1-0 margin. Because it was Friends and Family Weekend at Wellesley, we had more parents than normal which was great to see. The added support proved to be especially useful as Mount Holyoke was tremendously hardworking and riding on emotion. Despite their unrelenting efforts, we were able to take the lead with only three minutes left in the first half when Catherine (Scrappy Doo) Caruso played a great pass through to Ashley Farnswoth. Ash’s sliding effort and big toe were enough to nudge it past Mount Holyoke’s keeper for the winner.

As is often the case with any competitive team, we have been battling a fair share of injuries and illness the past few weeks but by and large we seem to be on the mend. In fact Saturday’s game against Mount Holyoke was the first time we had our full roster dressed to play! With two well-fought NEWMAC Conference games behind us, and a bit of adversity overcome, we are confident to that the remainder of the 2008 season will continue to be an exciting challenge.

As always, we appreciate your continued support and hope that we will see you at a game soon!!

All the best,

WSC

The Return of the Wellesley College Soccer Blog...

Dear Friends of Wellesley Soccer,

The Wellesley College Soccer Blog is back in action!  In an effort to maintain a link between Wellesley College Soccer and all our supporters including program fans, alumnae, families, friends, and prospects, we have created this Blog as your resource for information about our program.   Besides mundane scores and redundant schedules here you’ll to get an informed, informal, intimate and interactive prospective on what's been happening inside our locker room and on the field.  So please enjoy and be sure to check back, or subscribe for weekly updates straight to your inbox!  Of course if you have any news or comments you would like to share just let us know and we’ll gladly pass them along.

Season Update:  The fall season is off with a bang.  We are currently running with a 2-1-1 record after our first four matches.   An early highlight was an exciting 1-1 tie with Endicott College in double over-time. They are the defending ECAC champions so we were pleased with the result. Our strong level of fitness, as well as our unrelenting work ethic, proved to be valuable in this game.  With sheer determination we were able to steal a goal with one second left in regulation to send it to overtime.  With heavy legs both teams pressed hard in the two overtime periods to follow, each with chances kept out by the woodwork, but neither team could undo the knot.  

We are also proud to share that we won the Wellesley Invitational for the second time in as many years.  The weekend was particularly exciting for many of our players as so many families and friends were able to bring their voice and energy to the sidelines to cheer us on.   On Saturday September 13^th we enjoyed a 2-0 victory over Simmons College in the first round of the Invitational and our home opener.  On Sunday September 14^th we beat Skidmore College, the 4th ranked team in the country, 2-0 in the final of the invitational to top off a great weekend.  While we can't take credit for the first goal (since their fullback lashed one past the GK from about 50 yards out for an OG) our second goal was class and demonstrated Wellesley Soccer at it's best, we wish we had it on video!  

Although we suffered a brief setback at Bates last week we still believe this year can be one of the best in recent history.  This week we travel south to face off against the UMASS Dartmouth Corsairs.  Apparently a 'Coarsair' was a french privateer who attacked enemy shipping in the Mediterranean, translation- they are pirates.  No matter, the team will tell you this is the most important game of the season…because it’s the next game.  UMD played us tough at our place last year so we’ll be going in with something to prove. 

2009 Brazil Tour Update:  Fundraising for our tour of Brazil continues to move forward. This once in a lifetime opportunity has been an exciting undertaking and will truly enhance our program and our student-athlete’s experience.  Our ‘Finals Survival Kits’ and skills clinics were a huge success last spring and a few very generous donations have really helped energize our efforts.  We are significantly closer to our goal but still have some work to do.  We have some fun and creative projects underway so please keep an eye out for opportunities to get in on the action!

In closing, thanks for all your support and messages from near and far, the team appreciates all that you do, and we look forward to sharing our successes as the 2008 campaign kicks on.   

Remember 'Go Blue or Go Home!'

All the best,

WSC

the deutsche saga continues...full of FUSSBALL!!

hallo!!

I just got back from my wednesday soccer match and finished a mean tuna melt--let me tell you guys, i've developed some SKILLS in the tuna salad department. Anyhow, I'm playing on Mondays and Wednesdays with ALL BOYS (its amazing). It's funny though because I showed up to the first Monday game and the Trainer (coach/teacher who oversees things) asked to see my student i.d. and then asked me if I realized that there weren't many "Frauen" here. I said I realized that and I liked it because it would make me better and tried to explain to him that "Ich spiele fuer meine Uni in den USA" (I play for my university in the US) and his eyes got really big and he said "well I can see that you've certainly played before, I just wanted to make sure you knew." And then the conversation continued with me explaining that women's soccer is huge in the US and I can't understand why it's not here because the German women are so good!! Today I talked to my teammates about this and they were like "well yea, its like saying you play football in america!" aka the boys football. No worries, they're super nice to me and respect that I play!!

Anyhow I also told these guys about how I went to see Hertha BSC play on Saturday--that's the professional team here in Berlin--and told them how it was the craziest thing I'd ever seen and I just loved it and they said that Hertha was nothing special and that at the real games people are much more wild!!! I'm going to try and upload my photos so that you guys can see it, which, unfortunately, brings me to the next topic of my CRASHED COMPUTER>>>

My computer crashed about three weeks ago and my roommate studies what I think is the equivalent of German Computer Science or something so he brought it back to life but I lost everything and he rebooted it in German...My parents sent the wrong windows discs so I could choose whether I wanted my computer in French or German. Obviously I chose German but seriously some of the messages that pop up are uncomprehendable!! I meant to post on here a while before but FirstClass on the web is absolutely no fun and hopping around between my German or French roommates' computers was quite the task. In case you're not familiar, the y's and the z's on the german keyboards are mixed up, the @ sign is extremely hard to come by, as is capslock, etc. On the French keyboard you have to hold down shift to get any kind of number and then there's all these other combos and they would try to explain it to me and it was so frustrating!!!

In happier news--I went to Hamburg three weeks ago, Ireland/Dublin two weeks ago and then this past weekend my friend from home who's studying in Dublin came here. It's been hectic and exhausting but it was so much fun!! The weather here is absolutely incredible. I don't understand Celcius but I know that it's at least 70 F and sunny everyday and I've spent SO much time in the PARK! We've had a couple cookouts which have been amazing but there's a really cool park (parks are the thing here in Berlin) right by my house and I've been sunbathing some there...caution, large topless women also like to lurk there!! Just in case you all were worried, my sweating is in full force and I don't think there's anyway I'm going to make it until the end of July without buying a fan for my room...it's preparing me beautifully for preseason!! Also! there's no word in german for "dehydration!" They just say they didn't drink enough water, etc. I tried to explain that it's way more complicated then that and failed. You guys understand!! I feel like I could go on and on with fabulous things but I'll keep it to this: 1. FREE CONE DAY here was AWESOME--complete with a dj and blaring techno music in true German style 2. my good friend here found a CALIFORNIA BURRITO place RIGHT BY MY HOUSE!!!!!!!! I had a double class yesterday which means 4 hours, plus my other 2 hour class and basically I was ravenous afterwords and wanted nothing more than a burrito. Love it.

Ok I promise to try and post on here more often and to try and get my pictures up and going--don't forget that I lost a huge chunk--my mom had sent me a huge memory card and I have at least 1000 pictures to pull off of there...wish me luck! I wish all of you at swells luck with exams and hope you're getting pumped for the FITNESS PACKET!!! I've already joined the gym and started hunting for tracks...I think I'm just getting myself psyched to see all of you again!!

love love love
kg
p.s. the pictures are downloading, i'll make a separate post! <3

Awards Banquet 2008

Sunday night was the Department of Athletics Annual Awards Banquet. It's a fun night for everyone to get dressed up (some teams take this more seriously than others) and enjoy a nice evening/free meal together to celebrate individual and team successes. Soccer got a couple solid shout-outs during the night, including a footnote in President Kim Bottomly's speech when she recalled some of her most exciting 'spectator' moments came by way of watching us play! Of course she was referencing our WC Invitational Championship thriller when Katie 'Puma' Martore stiffed three out of four PK's to clinch the title for the first time in seven years...or was it when we beat the #25 team in the country to advance into the NEWMAC final four? Maybe she was alluding to the Wheaton performance when we played out of our skin. Hard to say really but still pretty cool to know K. Bot's a soccer aficionado. All in all a fun night, remembering good times, saying good-bye to four year vets, and pondering what next season might bring...Where will you be when Wellesley Soccer makes history?

For your perusal we've included some sweet pix courtesy of Llama.

Top: Catherine 'Scrappy Doo' Caruso arrived at 5:59:59pm as her personal protocol mandates and did well to keep a smile when her less punctual friends arrived...

2nd from Top: Llama as herself, Taylor 'Don't call me Tater' Harvey and SD stop to provide the paparazzi with a photo opp. (although the women behind them was less psyched about it)

3rd from Top: Lauie expresses her enthusiasm for the legendary 'W' cupcakes that adorned each table...or had developed severe hand cramps from all the clapping...

4th from Top: Sugar effects everyone differently, for Taylor it's a permismile...

Soccer in the Airport

Trying to get a game with these guys on tour in '09...

Laura Chilson '11 Gives Keynote Address to Prospective Student Athletes

First Year Laura "Chili" Chilson addressed a packed house of prospective student-athletes and their families as part of this year's Spring Open Campus held April 17-18. Chili’s speech was a great balance of serious, drawing parallels with her participation in athletics to Plato’s argument regarding the Tripartite Soul, to the not so serious, when she made reference to Is Your Mama a Liama? (a book she gave her big sister on the team…) It was a really cool opportunity for Chili to represent our program and she did an amazing job!

Spring-ing Forward

Well, the harness of winter has finally passed and spring is officially in the air! The Blue have been kickin it full time, as part of our non-traditional training segment, since the week after spring break and will finish up just in time for finals...sweet. With all of our two-sport athletes and the famous Katie Guynn abroad in Deutschland (see below) we're a smaller group but working hard non the less. What has been cool is that we've been incorporating different parts of our summer training program like speed & agility training, lifting, technical work, and fitness testing (yikes) into our sessions. When you consider the weather has been fantastic, the fields are amazing, and the girls are awesome to be around, you couldn't ask for a better way to spend an afternoon!

On the recruiting front we have very accomplished players joining the squad next year and everyone is excited about getting them into the fold. Stay tuned for a more formal announcement in the upcoming weeks.  Here is one we are looking at for the Class of 2009...

Berlin Part I

Hi, all!

Just a forewarning: I'm already having a hard time switching my brain back and forth from German to English so if this is at all awkward, let's blame it on that. Anyhow, I'm loving everything here--the people in my program are great, my host family is great (although I move out today and into dorms and then in 2 more weeks into an apartment), the food is delish and I'm definitely staying busy. I played soccer with some of the kids from my program last week but we're really trying to find some Germans to play with. Hopefully that will happen once classes at the FU (Freie Universitaet Berlin) start in April. Meanwhile I'm running and we have to walk alllll over the place--things are especially bad because the U-Bahn (=T in Boston) is on strike and apparently it is the longest strike in history here. Needless to say, unpleasant, but the S-Bahn station that I commute to has many varieties of chocolate croissants and I feel sure there's no need for explanation there.

Today we toured the Reichstag and earlier this week we went to the Opera. Both beautiful, however the Opera was REALLY hard to follow. In terms of my schedule, we're doing a language class right now which meets from 9-1ish Mon-Thurs and then we do cultural things on Fridays (i.e. Reichstag)

I'm talking to some people in my group about getting tickets to see Hertha Berlin play so hopefully that will also happen soon once everyone gets settled down. The apartment finding process is stressing everyone out! The good news is, playing soccer is an in with everyone here and if all goes as planned, one of my classes this semester will be something along the lines of "how fussball structures the culture in europe." Ok, it's more interesting and articulate in German but my memory has failed me and I am a bad translator!

Anyhow, I am going in search of Kindereiier (delicious chocolate eggs with toys on the inside...my host mother laughs at me because they are geared towards small children) and they're on sale at this one store. I also need some notecards to study for my first TEST. Missing all of you all and thinking of you--I'll try and post again soon!
**I tried to upload a picture but I can't get it to work...next time

First Annual 1v1 Coffee Pot Challege

The games for the first annual COFFEE POT CHALLENGE have just been set. Tensions are high. Frazee starts with a bye, leaving six to battle it out among themselves. And the matches are (drumroll please)....

GAME 1: Caroline vs. Chili
GAME 2: Catherine vs. Courtney
GAME 3: Llama vs. Lau

To our competitors I say good luck and play fair and don't forget to have some fun. Join us later this week for updates. NOTE: These matches were drawn out of a Wellesley College hat and are thus completely fair. Continuity in the first letters of the names was completely unintentional.

Check in later for a posting of the rules. Competitors are encouraged to set up the games themselves and then post on the conference so that any fans may attend. Once again, good luck.

Welcome Wellesley College Soccer Fans!

Your new home for up-to-date information about Wellesley College Soccer has finally arrived! In addition to game recaps, schedules, and stats, here you'll get access to our program directly from the source! So keep an eye out for player interviews, post-match analysis, tour plans, upcoming recruiting events, and much much more...