Peter Sanger, a senior on the 2010 Milwaukee men's soccer team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website. Today is his sixth blog entry.
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Riding the momentum of our encouraging tie against San Diego State, we went into training feeling confident, but still with much to prove. Don’t get me wrong, it was great to pull of a tie against a top-quality team, but winning is the motivation behind all the hard work we put in. We know we can play quality, attractive soccer with the best of them, but there comes a point where everyone needs to see results, which is exactly what was on the agenda for us at Valparaiso Friday night.
The start of conference play is similar to starting a new season. There’s a renewed buzz of excitement overtaking the teams as you’ve followed other conference teams results so far, but now there’s finally a chance to get a look first hand. Going into the game on Friday, Valpo was undefeated and had only conceded one goal in six games. Instead of fearing their regional ranking, we knew it was a golden opportunity to get off on the right foot in Horizon League play.
We started the game with a long spell of possession and within the first 10 minutes we were ahead 1-0 courtesy of a teasing delivery from Ross van Osdol from a set piece, finished superbly by Greg Rosenthal via his head. Our confidence was high and we all felt Valpo was probably considering themselves lucky to hear the half-time whistle with the scoreboard at only 1-0. About 13 minutes into the second half however, Valpo struck back. A through ball caught us exposed at the back and Bryce Boyd had no chance but to take their striker out in the area on a breakaway. The Crusaders tied it up 1-1 on the resulting penalty kick and the real battle began.
From then on was a perfect example of a typical conference game. End to end soccer, which was only intensified with some fireworks going off in the near distance. We ended regulation at 1-1, but all believed we’d be grabbing our first conference ‘W’ in the overtime. Robbie Boyd was the man to deliver some fireworks of his own towards the end of the first overtime. A great ball from Ryan Whitehead found him in the corner, with two defenders closing in. He somehow turned the corner and despite my pleas with him from the sideline to go down, he carried a defender on his back for a couple yards before blasting a left footed shot below last year's Conference Goalkeeper of the year. Our sideline exploded, with Coach Shepherd leading the charge, nothing felt better than celebrating our first conference win, on their field, especially following some unfortunate events that unfolded last year at the same location in the conference tournament.
Saturday brought a recovery day and more English Premier League action. Unfortunately, Arsenal chose to turn in an uninspired performance resulting in a home loss to West Brom. Without Cesc Fabregas, they looked a bit lost and lacking leadership and focus on the field against a lesser opponent. Time will tell if it will prove costly, but this is the type of game Champions win, especially considering Chelsea’s shock loss to Man City earlier that morning. Thankfully, Man United also drew, keeping Arsenal near the top of the table with a lot of football left to be played.
Butler came to town on Sunday, boasting an undefeated record and a national ranking of No. 17. We played at nearby Concordia, due to Engelmann’s lack of a finished playing surface. It wasn’t an ideal first home game, but it was nice to travel to a field within half an hour van ride.
We started the game a little bit slow, but ended the first half feeling the dominant of the two sides. Andrew had a brilliant chipped goal called back due to a dubious offside call and Butler’s opportunities were few and far between. They seemed content to settle for long throws and corner kicks, while we were trying to get the ball down and play. Early in the second half we paid the price for not having put away any of our chances in the first 45 minutes and coming out flat after half time. A set piece was the result of their first goal and a penalty kick provided their insurance goal. We spent the remaining 25 minutes of the half chasing the game, but in the end we just couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net.
It was a frustrating way to end the weekend, but sometimes that’s just the way it goes. We left the game knowing we can play with and beat them, yet there’s plenty reasons why they’ve started the season so well. We still need to be more ruthless in front of the goal and translate our dominating possession and play into more goals and wins. All in all, it was still an acceptable start to conference play and we’ll be headed into our road trip to Detroit and Cleveland State next weekend with two wins on our mind.
For this weeks shout-out, I’d like to give a big thanks to all of you who made it out to our game Sunday and those who made the trek down to Valley Fields for our game against Marquette on September 1st. Although neither have been real home games, all of the fans who have come out to support us have made it feel like it. Although I spend the majority of the game tuned out from the crowd, there’s something special about when it’s late in the game and you’re chasing after a 50/50 ball with your opponent and you can hear your fans cheering your name. I really hope that what we do on the field can continue to warrant such support from you and that you’ll all feel implored to continue to come out and cheer us on. Engelmann Field should be done and ready come October 9th when we take on UW-Green Bay for the Chancellor’s Cup at our real home opener and we’re hoping for another electric atmosphere come kickoff. Until next time,
Joga Bonito
Monday, September 27, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Home Sweet Home...
Peter Sanger, a senior on the 2010 Milwaukee men's soccer team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website. Today is his fifth blog entry.
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Following our trip to the East Coast, we knew were still in for a rough couple of games as we hit the road again to IPFW, Madison and then Valpo before getting a home game. Things didn’t exactly get going on the right foot at IPFW and we lost a game to a team we should have been able to play off the pitch. It was a physical, ugly game and a towering header from their center forward proved the difference in the match.
The one pro of the trip was to see a familiar face in Fort Wayne. A fellow senior from my incoming class at UWM, Raphy Martinez, now plays there and despite the loss and him not being able to play because of injury, it was good to see an old friend.
We immediately put the game behind us and started focusing on what was ahead: Madison’s tournament. Madison’s tournament has brought mixed results for us in the past, but what we knew for certain was there would be two quality opponents waiting for us. Friday’s match against Dayton was one of those games where you’re doing everything right, but you just can’t quite get a finished product. We started the game on our front foot and really had the Flyers pinned back for the opening 20 minutes, but one costly defensive error accounted for another goal against and we found ourselves behind again. We knew it was an uphill battle from there, but we continued to play our brand of soccer and felt like we were knocking on the door before an unfortunate drop of the ball gifted Dayton the insurance goal they were looking for. For the rest of the game we attacked and attacked, but the final ball just wasn’t there. Our service was not good enough or when it was, the finishing wasn’t there to match it. The game ended at 2-0 and with a sour tastes in our mouths once again.
Saturday was all about recovering and refocusing. We went to the Union for some bowling to take our minds off the rough stretch we were enduring. It was a good way to relax and have some fun again. Andrew Wiedabach was the bowler of the day, bowling something like six strikes in a row at one point. He finished somewhere in the 200’s, but I have to make sure you all know I was a close 2nd-coming in at 187. I’ve attached a picture, but my phone’s camera doesn’t really do it justice.
Sunday was all about just going out and enjoying ourselves on the field. We talked about how we know we’re a talented team and that even the best teams go through ebbs and flows during seasons, it’s just about believing in what you’re doing out on the field. San Diego State came into the game receiving votes in the national polls and figured to be the best team we’ve played so far this season. Once again however, we started quick. Yet this time our fast start came with reward; not long into the game we found ourselves up 1-0 off of some slick wing interplay between Cody and Rosie, leading to a cross and class finish by Weedy. SDSU is a tough team though and we knew they’d have a rebuttal. Unfortunately, we conceded off of a corner in the dying minutes of the first half to even things up.
Still, as the game progressed we continued to believe and it seemed as if though it had finally paid off when we were awarded a penalty kick in the second overtime after Weedy was fouled in the box. The build-up to the play was perfect soccer; intricate, penetrating passing, leaving the keeper no choice but to take Andrew down in the penalty area. Much to our dismay, the crossbar denied Cody’s penalty and we were left with a draw at the final whistle.
It’s frustrating, because I thought their keeper should have been sent-off and you never know what would have happened had another keeper had to come in cold from the bench for that shot. Their keeper was the last man back and he fouled Andrew, denying a goal-scoring opportunity, which in the laws of the game calls for a red card ... but hey, that’s officiating for you, right? You love it when a ref makes a mistake for you and hate them when they get something wrong. All in all, it was an encouraging weekend for us. We put an end to a losing streak and have started to produce the best soccer yet this season.
This week brings the start of the conference season for us and we’re chomping at the bit to get after it. Friday is all about unfinished business in Valpo; followed by a chance to give Butler it’s first loss of the season. The slates are wiped clean and we have a real chance at making some noise.
This week I just want to take a moment to thank the Sweeney family. They were the people to introduce me to competitive soccer and provided me with countless rides along the way. A great family and great soccer people, thanks John-O, Barb, Danny, Mikes, Thomas, and of course Maggie. Until next time…
Joga Bonito
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Following our trip to the East Coast, we knew were still in for a rough couple of games as we hit the road again to IPFW, Madison and then Valpo before getting a home game. Things didn’t exactly get going on the right foot at IPFW and we lost a game to a team we should have been able to play off the pitch. It was a physical, ugly game and a towering header from their center forward proved the difference in the match.
The one pro of the trip was to see a familiar face in Fort Wayne. A fellow senior from my incoming class at UWM, Raphy Martinez, now plays there and despite the loss and him not being able to play because of injury, it was good to see an old friend.
We immediately put the game behind us and started focusing on what was ahead: Madison’s tournament. Madison’s tournament has brought mixed results for us in the past, but what we knew for certain was there would be two quality opponents waiting for us. Friday’s match against Dayton was one of those games where you’re doing everything right, but you just can’t quite get a finished product. We started the game on our front foot and really had the Flyers pinned back for the opening 20 minutes, but one costly defensive error accounted for another goal against and we found ourselves behind again. We knew it was an uphill battle from there, but we continued to play our brand of soccer and felt like we were knocking on the door before an unfortunate drop of the ball gifted Dayton the insurance goal they were looking for. For the rest of the game we attacked and attacked, but the final ball just wasn’t there. Our service was not good enough or when it was, the finishing wasn’t there to match it. The game ended at 2-0 and with a sour tastes in our mouths once again.
Saturday was all about recovering and refocusing. We went to the Union for some bowling to take our minds off the rough stretch we were enduring. It was a good way to relax and have some fun again. Andrew Wiedabach was the bowler of the day, bowling something like six strikes in a row at one point. He finished somewhere in the 200’s, but I have to make sure you all know I was a close 2nd-coming in at 187. I’ve attached a picture, but my phone’s camera doesn’t really do it justice. Sunday was all about just going out and enjoying ourselves on the field. We talked about how we know we’re a talented team and that even the best teams go through ebbs and flows during seasons, it’s just about believing in what you’re doing out on the field. San Diego State came into the game receiving votes in the national polls and figured to be the best team we’ve played so far this season. Once again however, we started quick. Yet this time our fast start came with reward; not long into the game we found ourselves up 1-0 off of some slick wing interplay between Cody and Rosie, leading to a cross and class finish by Weedy. SDSU is a tough team though and we knew they’d have a rebuttal. Unfortunately, we conceded off of a corner in the dying minutes of the first half to even things up.
Still, as the game progressed we continued to believe and it seemed as if though it had finally paid off when we were awarded a penalty kick in the second overtime after Weedy was fouled in the box. The build-up to the play was perfect soccer; intricate, penetrating passing, leaving the keeper no choice but to take Andrew down in the penalty area. Much to our dismay, the crossbar denied Cody’s penalty and we were left with a draw at the final whistle.
It’s frustrating, because I thought their keeper should have been sent-off and you never know what would have happened had another keeper had to come in cold from the bench for that shot. Their keeper was the last man back and he fouled Andrew, denying a goal-scoring opportunity, which in the laws of the game calls for a red card ... but hey, that’s officiating for you, right? You love it when a ref makes a mistake for you and hate them when they get something wrong. All in all, it was an encouraging weekend for us. We put an end to a losing streak and have started to produce the best soccer yet this season.
This week brings the start of the conference season for us and we’re chomping at the bit to get after it. Friday is all about unfinished business in Valpo; followed by a chance to give Butler it’s first loss of the season. The slates are wiped clean and we have a real chance at making some noise.
This week I just want to take a moment to thank the Sweeney family. They were the people to introduce me to competitive soccer and provided me with countless rides along the way. A great family and great soccer people, thanks John-O, Barb, Danny, Mikes, Thomas, and of course Maggie. Until next time…
Joga Bonito
Monday, September 13, 2010
Back to Business...
Peter Sanger, a senior on the 2010 Milwaukee men's soccer team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website. Today is his fourth blog entry.
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From the beaches on the East Coast, we headed back to classrooms on the East Side. A week off of games gave us plenty of time to recover and prepare for the upcoming week of action. In the classroom, it was a bit of a wake-up call as professors doled out the first homework assignments. Personally, I’m still struggling to remember my schedule and find my self constantly pulling out my laptop to check where I need to be and when.
It was a good week of practice though. We got a chance to talk over what went right and wrong during the weekend and trained accordingly. This week called for a heavy dose of crossing and finishing drills and some conditioning. For me, there’s nothing better. As a winger, it’s what I do every game, so the opportunity to fine-tune my game is always a plus.
On Friday night, a lot of us players got to head to Pantherfest for the first time. Since I’ve been at UWM, we always missed it due to having games, so it was a pretty cool experience. The Marcus Amphitheater was packed and the performances were pretty cool. I’m not a huge fan of the type of music that went down in the first act, but seeing Kid Cudi perform was sweet. I saw him at the Rave last winter and he did a lot of music off his new album, so that was a good change of pace.
The one good part about school starting is that it’s soccer season in Europe as well. So on Saturday’s, I spend about as much time as the typical American spends watching college football watching soccer games played in England’s Premier League and Italy’s Serie A. Thankfully Fox Soccer Channel was broadcasting Arsenal’s game this week, so I got a chance to watch my favorite club simply outclass Bolton Wanderers in a 4-1 thrashing. They’re only two points off of the leaders Chelsea, so this season looks promising. Something that made me even happier was to watch the other so called title contenders: Man United, Tottenham and Man City, all tie. Every season everybody says that Arsenal will be the team knocked out of the "Big 4" because they don’t spend a lot of money, but it just goes to show you that money doesn’t always buy success.
Going into this next week of games, I’m feeling pretty good about our chances. Tuesday will give us a good chance to test ourselves on the road again against IPFW and the Madison Tournament is always a good acid test for where your team stands going into conference play. Hopefully we’ll come away with three wins this week and be going into Horizon League play on a high. Furthermore, they got a new layer down on the turf field this past week at Engelmann, so hopefully come September 26 we’ll have a brand new field to play on in front of all our fans against defending regular-season champs Butler.
To finish this entry off, I’ve decided to start throwing in some thank you’s to the people who’ve helped me get to where I am today, whether they read this or not. Tonight I just want to give a shout-out to a lot of former Panthers who helped me make it through some of the tougher times. So a big-ups goes to Kenny Ogorzalek, Elliott Dunn, Calvin Mai, Van Hong, Evan Bartzis and Sam Alexander. With the amount of time you spend with your team, it’s not hard to believe that some of your teammates become your better friends, so here’s to those of mine who’ve since graduated or moved on to other schools. Until next week,
Joga Bonito
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From the beaches on the East Coast, we headed back to classrooms on the East Side. A week off of games gave us plenty of time to recover and prepare for the upcoming week of action. In the classroom, it was a bit of a wake-up call as professors doled out the first homework assignments. Personally, I’m still struggling to remember my schedule and find my self constantly pulling out my laptop to check where I need to be and when.
It was a good week of practice though. We got a chance to talk over what went right and wrong during the weekend and trained accordingly. This week called for a heavy dose of crossing and finishing drills and some conditioning. For me, there’s nothing better. As a winger, it’s what I do every game, so the opportunity to fine-tune my game is always a plus.
On Friday night, a lot of us players got to head to Pantherfest for the first time. Since I’ve been at UWM, we always missed it due to having games, so it was a pretty cool experience. The Marcus Amphitheater was packed and the performances were pretty cool. I’m not a huge fan of the type of music that went down in the first act, but seeing Kid Cudi perform was sweet. I saw him at the Rave last winter and he did a lot of music off his new album, so that was a good change of pace.
The one good part about school starting is that it’s soccer season in Europe as well. So on Saturday’s, I spend about as much time as the typical American spends watching college football watching soccer games played in England’s Premier League and Italy’s Serie A. Thankfully Fox Soccer Channel was broadcasting Arsenal’s game this week, so I got a chance to watch my favorite club simply outclass Bolton Wanderers in a 4-1 thrashing. They’re only two points off of the leaders Chelsea, so this season looks promising. Something that made me even happier was to watch the other so called title contenders: Man United, Tottenham and Man City, all tie. Every season everybody says that Arsenal will be the team knocked out of the "Big 4" because they don’t spend a lot of money, but it just goes to show you that money doesn’t always buy success.
Going into this next week of games, I’m feeling pretty good about our chances. Tuesday will give us a good chance to test ourselves on the road again against IPFW and the Madison Tournament is always a good acid test for where your team stands going into conference play. Hopefully we’ll come away with three wins this week and be going into Horizon League play on a high. Furthermore, they got a new layer down on the turf field this past week at Engelmann, so hopefully come September 26 we’ll have a brand new field to play on in front of all our fans against defending regular-season champs Butler.
To finish this entry off, I’ve decided to start throwing in some thank you’s to the people who’ve helped me get to where I am today, whether they read this or not. Tonight I just want to give a shout-out to a lot of former Panthers who helped me make it through some of the tougher times. So a big-ups goes to Kenny Ogorzalek, Elliott Dunn, Calvin Mai, Van Hong, Evan Bartzis and Sam Alexander. With the amount of time you spend with your team, it’s not hard to believe that some of your teammates become your better friends, so here’s to those of mine who’ve since graduated or moved on to other schools. Until next week,
Joga Bonito
Monday, September 6, 2010
On to the East Coast...
Peter Sanger, a senior on the 2010 Milwaukee men's soccer team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website. Today is his third blog entry.
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Giving up your social life, pushing through that last set of sprints, fighting through injuries and overall body pain ... it’s all worth it when you win. And since I’ve been at UWM, I’ve never enjoyed a win quite like our dominant 4-2 win over Marquette last Wednesday.
It was a perfect night to play; it was as if the rain gods knew we had an important game to play as the stormy weather we had been experiencing transformed into a beautiful evening. Just warming up you could feel the heightened atmosphere from our other exhibition games so far. Not only was this our regular season opener, but also it was against our cross-town rivals; fighting for the bragging rights of Milwaukee.
We started the game well and it felt like it was only a matter of time until we scored. We just kept throwing attack after attack at Marquette as they resorted to booting hopeful long balls to their center forwards. Finally a fine passing combination from Robert Jarosz and Cody Banks slotted Andrew Wiedabach through into the box. He brushed off the center back and made no mistake with a clinical left-footed finish at the keepers near post. Our players exploded, it felt as if there was no way we could lose. Even though we made a silly mistake at the end of the first half, allowing Marquette an equalizer, it never felt as if the game was out of our hands. We survived a bit of a scare with a Marquette shot off the post, but a moment of brilliance from Ross Van Osdol put us back on top. After receiving the ball just inside of midfield, he surveyed his options and saw nobody was on him, took a touch and let fly from about 30 yards out, putting it in off the upright.
The Marquette fans who had finally come to life following their tying goal in the first half were stunned silent. Two late goals from Edison Crespo were just the icing on the cake as he showed composure beyond his years to land us the Milwaukee Cup. As the final whistle blew, I can’t even describe the emotions that went through me. I just wanted to soak it all in. I’ve been here, putting so much work in with the other seniors since our freshman year, yet we had never won like this. I was overjoyed, yet on the verge of tears at the same time. In front of my city, it finally went like it was supposed to; Milwaukee was the best team in town.
Waking up on Thursday morning was pretty brutal. Class started for the semester and it really hit me by surprise. For so long, all we had been doing was soccer-related and now the school year began. We had a light practice, mostly focused on getting our bodies recovered. We knew we had to start looking forward to the weekend.
Friday morning we all gathered at Engelmann at 5:30 a.m. to catch an early flight out to New Hampshire. We lucked out as Hurricane Earl decided to hold off until after we landed in Boston. An hour drive to New Hampshire awaited us and all I could think about was getting into our hotel beds when we finally arrived at our Hampton Inn. Following a much-needed nap, we drove a couple minutes to the University of New Hampshire to get in a light practice on their game field. What awaited us there was quite a surprise; a very odd turf field. It was really spongy, short, and had faint dark blue lines for soccer.
Saturday, during the day, we went as a team to go mini-golfing. It was a great time and a good way to get loose and relaxed before our first game vs. University of New Hampshire. All of my memories of mini-golf as a kid involved a lot of fighting and ended in tears with my family. I grew up in a pretty competitive family where we fought to the death over everything, whether it was the first one into the car or who could drink their milk the fastest. Saturday night was our first game and it was definitely a battle. UNH was a very physical team, similar to Marquette, but probably better at it. They put us under pressure every time we had the ball and it took us awhile to get going. Eventually we fashioned some pretty good chances, but in the end we tied 0-0.
Sunday was a recovery day and we went pretty light at training. We also took a trip to the beach, which was a fun change of pace and went out to eat for a good dinner. Monday morning we woke up early and took on Vermont in our final game of the tournament. It was another hard-fought battle and we went down early due to some mental errors. However, Weedy got us back into it with an awesome goal and we had the run of play for most of the first half. Eventually we went to overtime and lost on another set piece. It was definitely disappointing, but during the season you have to move on and start getting ready for the next game. So that’s what we’ll do, we’ll get back to Milwaukee and start gearing up for IPFW a week from this Wednesday. Until next time,
Joga Bonito
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Giving up your social life, pushing through that last set of sprints, fighting through injuries and overall body pain ... it’s all worth it when you win. And since I’ve been at UWM, I’ve never enjoyed a win quite like our dominant 4-2 win over Marquette last Wednesday.
It was a perfect night to play; it was as if the rain gods knew we had an important game to play as the stormy weather we had been experiencing transformed into a beautiful evening. Just warming up you could feel the heightened atmosphere from our other exhibition games so far. Not only was this our regular season opener, but also it was against our cross-town rivals; fighting for the bragging rights of Milwaukee.
We started the game well and it felt like it was only a matter of time until we scored. We just kept throwing attack after attack at Marquette as they resorted to booting hopeful long balls to their center forwards. Finally a fine passing combination from Robert Jarosz and Cody Banks slotted Andrew Wiedabach through into the box. He brushed off the center back and made no mistake with a clinical left-footed finish at the keepers near post. Our players exploded, it felt as if there was no way we could lose. Even though we made a silly mistake at the end of the first half, allowing Marquette an equalizer, it never felt as if the game was out of our hands. We survived a bit of a scare with a Marquette shot off the post, but a moment of brilliance from Ross Van Osdol put us back on top. After receiving the ball just inside of midfield, he surveyed his options and saw nobody was on him, took a touch and let fly from about 30 yards out, putting it in off the upright.
The Marquette fans who had finally come to life following their tying goal in the first half were stunned silent. Two late goals from Edison Crespo were just the icing on the cake as he showed composure beyond his years to land us the Milwaukee Cup. As the final whistle blew, I can’t even describe the emotions that went through me. I just wanted to soak it all in. I’ve been here, putting so much work in with the other seniors since our freshman year, yet we had never won like this. I was overjoyed, yet on the verge of tears at the same time. In front of my city, it finally went like it was supposed to; Milwaukee was the best team in town.
Waking up on Thursday morning was pretty brutal. Class started for the semester and it really hit me by surprise. For so long, all we had been doing was soccer-related and now the school year began. We had a light practice, mostly focused on getting our bodies recovered. We knew we had to start looking forward to the weekend.
Friday morning we all gathered at Engelmann at 5:30 a.m. to catch an early flight out to New Hampshire. We lucked out as Hurricane Earl decided to hold off until after we landed in Boston. An hour drive to New Hampshire awaited us and all I could think about was getting into our hotel beds when we finally arrived at our Hampton Inn. Following a much-needed nap, we drove a couple minutes to the University of New Hampshire to get in a light practice on their game field. What awaited us there was quite a surprise; a very odd turf field. It was really spongy, short, and had faint dark blue lines for soccer.
Saturday, during the day, we went as a team to go mini-golfing. It was a great time and a good way to get loose and relaxed before our first game vs. University of New Hampshire. All of my memories of mini-golf as a kid involved a lot of fighting and ended in tears with my family. I grew up in a pretty competitive family where we fought to the death over everything, whether it was the first one into the car or who could drink their milk the fastest. Saturday night was our first game and it was definitely a battle. UNH was a very physical team, similar to Marquette, but probably better at it. They put us under pressure every time we had the ball and it took us awhile to get going. Eventually we fashioned some pretty good chances, but in the end we tied 0-0.
Sunday was a recovery day and we went pretty light at training. We also took a trip to the beach, which was a fun change of pace and went out to eat for a good dinner. Monday morning we woke up early and took on Vermont in our final game of the tournament. It was another hard-fought battle and we went down early due to some mental errors. However, Weedy got us back into it with an awesome goal and we had the run of play for most of the first half. Eventually we went to overtime and lost on another set piece. It was definitely disappointing, but during the season you have to move on and start getting ready for the next game. So that’s what we’ll do, we’ll get back to Milwaukee and start gearing up for IPFW a week from this Wednesday. Until next time,
Joga Bonito
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Game Day is Here!
Peter Sanger, a senior on the 2010 Milwaukee men's soccer team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website. Today is his second blog entry.
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As we creep closer and closer to September 1st, the anticipation is definitely growing. Since my last post, we started Coaches Preseason and the three-a-days have now come and gone. Having only done two-a-days in the past, this preseason has really been a full emersion of soccer.
Each morning begins with the alarm going off and wondering where the night went. Following that, you crawl out of bed and make your way over to Engelmann, where the coaches have provided us with some light breakfast food to get you through the morning session. The potential treatment session with our head trainer John Ochsenwald is thrown in there too before you even get underway with any soccer. A short jog over to Shorewood High School around 9:30am gets your legs warmed and we usually the next hour and a half is spent refining the technical aspects to our game. Crossing, finishing, passing, dribbling; all areas are covered. Next, lunch is delivered to the locker room from either Qdoba, Noodles or Jimmy Johns is usually on tap to refuel our bodies with some much needed energy. I usually spend the next hour off passed out on the couch in the locker room, only to wake up for the afternoon session at 2:00pm. I look forward to the afternoon sessions though, because the majority of it is pure playing soccer. From small-sided to full field 11v11 games, the quality of play is improving daily and it really gets me excited to get our season going. Following the completion of the afternoon session, we usually take a ride over to local Downer restaurant VIA for some delicious pasta and pizza. With an evening fitness session looming, it’s always tough to know when to cut yourself off at the dinner table. The wait for the 8:00 p.m. fitness session is pretty painful, you don’t know exactly what’s coming, but you know it’s going to be painful. Upon completing the final team activity of the night, you just about have enough energy to crawl back to your apartment, house, dorm, etc., to crash for the night until you start it all back up again the next morning…
Tonight finally brings our first real opportunity to showcase all of the hard work we’ve been putting in since the beginning of August. Convincing wins over the Alumni and Whitewater were steps in the right direction, but the hunger to test ourselves against another fit, well prepared, Division I team is at an all-time high.
Marquette is one of the biggest names on the schedule every year, as we prepare to do battle for the Milwaukee Cup. Unfortunately, this season we’ll be playing away for the second year in a row, but hoisting the cup on their field will make the victory that much sweeter. Thus, I implore any of you who read this to make your way down to Valley Fields for a 7:05 p.m. kick-off to the 2010 season for the UWM Men’s soccer team.
Joga Bonito
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As we creep closer and closer to September 1st, the anticipation is definitely growing. Since my last post, we started Coaches Preseason and the three-a-days have now come and gone. Having only done two-a-days in the past, this preseason has really been a full emersion of soccer.
Each morning begins with the alarm going off and wondering where the night went. Following that, you crawl out of bed and make your way over to Engelmann, where the coaches have provided us with some light breakfast food to get you through the morning session. The potential treatment session with our head trainer John Ochsenwald is thrown in there too before you even get underway with any soccer. A short jog over to Shorewood High School around 9:30am gets your legs warmed and we usually the next hour and a half is spent refining the technical aspects to our game. Crossing, finishing, passing, dribbling; all areas are covered. Next, lunch is delivered to the locker room from either Qdoba, Noodles or Jimmy Johns is usually on tap to refuel our bodies with some much needed energy. I usually spend the next hour off passed out on the couch in the locker room, only to wake up for the afternoon session at 2:00pm. I look forward to the afternoon sessions though, because the majority of it is pure playing soccer. From small-sided to full field 11v11 games, the quality of play is improving daily and it really gets me excited to get our season going. Following the completion of the afternoon session, we usually take a ride over to local Downer restaurant VIA for some delicious pasta and pizza. With an evening fitness session looming, it’s always tough to know when to cut yourself off at the dinner table. The wait for the 8:00 p.m. fitness session is pretty painful, you don’t know exactly what’s coming, but you know it’s going to be painful. Upon completing the final team activity of the night, you just about have enough energy to crawl back to your apartment, house, dorm, etc., to crash for the night until you start it all back up again the next morning…
Tonight finally brings our first real opportunity to showcase all of the hard work we’ve been putting in since the beginning of August. Convincing wins over the Alumni and Whitewater were steps in the right direction, but the hunger to test ourselves against another fit, well prepared, Division I team is at an all-time high.
Marquette is one of the biggest names on the schedule every year, as we prepare to do battle for the Milwaukee Cup. Unfortunately, this season we’ll be playing away for the second year in a row, but hoisting the cup on their field will make the victory that much sweeter. Thus, I implore any of you who read this to make your way down to Valley Fields for a 7:05 p.m. kick-off to the 2010 season for the UWM Men’s soccer team.
Joga Bonito
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