Aaron Gibbons, a senior on the 2011 Milwaukee men's soccer team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website. Today is his third entry of the year.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Following a disappointing loss to IPFW, there wasn’t any better way for us to end the weekend than with two solid victories. There were numerous exciting accomplishments that the Panthers earned this weekend, both as a team and individually.
Winning the 37th Panther Invitational was definitely the overall highlight of the weekend. The last time we had accomplished this was back in 2006. It feels good to have won the first trophy of the season. And, with perhaps the most important trophy match on the line this Friday, there’s little time to sit back and enjoy this one.
Not only was winning the Panther Invitational a refreshing feeling, but the style and swagger that the team has started to play with these last two matches is even more exciting, if you ask me. The win over Western Michigan on Sunday marked the first time in my college career that we had scored four goals in a home game and came out on top. This four-goal win was also the greatest margin of a win in my college career. It just goes to show how our hard work and dedication has truly paid off in these first couple of games.
Having two great wins under our belt was a great way to end the week. Though both were exciting, there’s no comparison to the anticipation of the Milwaukee Cup coming up on Friday. Playing against Marquette is always in my opinion the best game of the year. There really nothing like it. The atmosphere and the crowd is always top notch, last year capacity coming to over two thousand.
The Milwaukee Cup not only is known as a rivalry statewide, but nationally as well. College Soccer News posted the game as the 14th-most exciting college rivalry game in the nation, in my opinion should be much higher. Friday’s game is sure to be high intensity, entertaining and a true battle.
Hopefully I will see you all there Friday at Engelman!!!
-Aaron
