What a Weekend...

Laurie Bell, a sophomore on the 2012 Milwaukee men's soccer team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website. Today is his second entry of the year.

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This weekend left the Panthers with mixed emotions and a 1-1-0 record following the first two matches of competitive play. Being beaten 3-2 by Marquette, with a goal literally at the buzzer, saw the whole team leave Valley Fields feeling as bad as the nearby slaughterhouse smelled. The build up for Friday’s showdown rivalry had been exciting to be involved in and, for some, emotional. Lifelong Panther Luke Davey, starting his first Milwaukee Cup game, secured over 100 likes on Facebook for his heartfelt pre-match status – a testament to both the scale of the event and the cheesy word choices by our popular left back!

It was a game in which we showed moments of real quality with two great goals by Cody Banks and Declan Rodriguez. We also showed some naivety as a team though, making some mistakes and not completing the job when we got ourselves in a winning position.

The match’s scoring pattern was reminiscent of the Manchester City vs. QPR game on the final day of premier league last season. From a losing position, City managed to come back to win 3-2 in the final minute that day. As a Mancunian and City fan, the way that game worked out left me elated, whereas Friday’s defeat left us all gutted and in disbelief. But that is the beauty of soccer. It continually produces excitement and stirs emotions and that is the reason it is so keenly watched all around the globe.

It was our turn to provide a comeback on Sunday though, albeit slightly less dramatic but just as valuable, recording our first win of the season in our opening home fixture against Northern Kentucky. It is important for us to make Engelmann Stadium a venue that oppositions will dread coming to this fall. We took steps towards achieving that goal with a very strong second half performance, coming from a goal down to win 2-1 with another goal from Declan and a PK for myself. On top of the two goals we scored, we outshot the opponents and had numerous attempts saved or crashing back off the woodwork. This is encouraging and suggests that when we polish our finishing we can go on to score many more goals in the future.

Following a deserved day off, we will go on begin preparations for the 38th Panther Invitational. With pre-season over, the rhythm of the fall schedule will now take over as we also look to enjoy our final week of summer before the school semester starts up again.

Rise of the Manthers

Laurie Bell, a sophomore on the 2012 Milwaukee men's soccer team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website. Today is his first entry of the year.

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Welcome to Bell’s Blog, where I’ll be keeping readers in the loop with the goings on of the Milwaukee Panthers men’s soccer team throughout the upcoming season.

As pre-season draws to a close, we look back on what has been a successful first month for a program that has undertaken so much recent change. This summer has seen new staff, new players and a healthy new atmosphere come to Engelmann Stadium. We now hope to continue the group’s positive start into competitive action as our season gets underway with the defense of the Milwaukee Cup tonight at Marquette’s Valley Fields.

There has been a great mood around the locker room since arriving back at UWM following a refreshing summer. Almost half our roster is made up of new guys who have all mixed in well with the returning squad members to create some great team chemistry throughout an intense time of the year. Pre-season has consisted of two sessions per day in which the coaches have introduced us to some fresh tactics and new styles of play. Alongside training, we have been provided with daily team lunches and dinner and completed all other necessary preparations for the coming fall. This has meant an enjoyable period of meeting new Panthers, competitive practicing and a whole lot of pizza!

Without schoolwork to concentrate on yet the busy days have been offset by some team socializing too. This has included group trips, the team’s new longboarding craze and even some of our male panthers (widely known as Manthers) producing some, let’s say interesting, music videos.

But now is the time to concentrate on the serious business, as our new season commences with a mouth-watering curtain raiser against cross-city rivals Marquette Eagles. We go into the game as holders of the Milwaukee Cup after winning the corresponding fixture last year. With more fall victories over Green Bay and NIU we are currently in possession of the LeWang Trophy and the Chancellor’s Cup too. It’s the first time we have held all three since 2005 and the trio of successes was definitely the program’s highlight last year. We are now hungry to keep our hands on all the silverware this season and our defense begins with the most coveted of all the trophies in tonight’s derby game being played at Marquette’s Valley Fields, kicking off at 6:30PM.

As always, we are hoping for some great Panther support and willing all our fans to make the short journey across town, showing their colors and cheering on the team.

Welcome to: Bell's Blog

With the start of the 2012 season right around the corner, it's time to introduce you to the men's soccer blogger for the new season...

And the new must-read will come from ... sophomore Laurie Bell.

Look for the first installment to come Sunday at the latest. Given the timing, he may be able to give us some thoughts heading in to the "Milwaukee Cup" matchup, but I will take the blame if he does not...