Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Badger Culling

Laurie Bell, a junior on the 2013 Milwaukee men's soccer team, will once again be blogging all season long on the UWM website. Today is his ninth entry of the year.

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Tonight we face the Wisconsin Badgers in an exciting in-state match up. This fall’s fixtures between Wisconsin’s four big soccer playing universities – Milwaukee, Marquette, Green Bay and Madison – have seen action-packed games and mixed results. Anybody can beat anybody in rivalry games and this season has proved it. This evening’s Engelmann showdown features two teams having good seasons. The Badgers are 9-3-1. We are an impressive 10-2-1 and looking to add to our wins.

Those in attendance tonight might want to dress warm because, as my Wisconsinite readers will be aware, it has gotten cold here. Very cold. It felt like summer a fortnight ago, but yesterday was forecasted to see snow. Snow in October. Kiwi Liam Anderson says he has never seen snow before. Hopefully, that remains true for a little longer. I've heard people from this state repeatedly say how they love the Wisconsin fall. "Light jacket weather," coach Kelderman called it, with a smile. But that kind autumnal attire was good for about one beautiful week when golden leaves danced in the blustery wind and the air was cool and crisp.

Not anymore. In the last few days, I've been bundled up in long-johns, wooly hats and the warmest of several coats that I've acquired over my two years of Milwaukee thrift store shopping. Now, the trees are basically nude, and Zach and I are heading to Goodwill for more pre-owned layers.

If you can’t make the game, you can tune in at home to the Time Warner Cable SportsChannel. From your own home you’ll be able to see competitive soccer and close ups of our team’s edgy hairstyles, specially manicured for the TV cameras. Pay attention to Patrick Ruhland’s – I’m giving him a pre-game trim once I’m done writing.

We had no game this weekend so were given some time away from soccer to relax. During this time, Aaron Cranfill decided to brawl with a dog and ended up coming off worse. I’m no expert on dogs, so I couldn’t tell you what breed Luke Goodnetter’s pet is. All I know is it was tough enough to leave Cranfill with a gash on his nose and running to the hospital for a tetanus shot. Some good came of it, though. It has made Aaron’s babyface more menacing, giving it a don’t-mess-with-me look that all good centre backs should have. Stone mastered this a long time ago.

The free time was spent by Ruhland enjoying his 20th birthday. For some reason, he took this opportunity to record a video thanking his adoring fans for all their kind messages on his special day. It was a nice idea, but those who watched it were left more confused than touched afterwards. Why would a kid from rural Wisconsin talk like he was brought up in the ghetto, they ask? Couldn’t tell you.

But I will sign off the way he does in his video:

“Peace out. Live life to the fullest. Do big things. Peace."

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Quality Time With the Family

Laurie Bell, a junior on the 2013 Milwaukee men's soccer team, will once again be blogging all season long on the UWM website. Today is his eighth entry of the year.

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After a three-game week, we sit in a good position in the Horizon League.

Last Saturday, we cruised to a 3-0 win against Wright State, with good goals from Robbie Boyd, Rami Younes and myself. The defense commanded their area, keeping a clean sheet and our keeper, Liam, even got himself an assist. The victory, on top of our fantastic previous form, earned us a ranking of 24th in the nation. This is a big step for the program and something we are all proud of.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t back up our ranking by retaining the Chancellor’s Cup. We suffered our first loss of the season against state rivals Green Bay on Tuesday. We outplayed and outshot our opponents, but fortune was not on our side.

We didn’t dwell on this though. As good teams do, we returned to winning ways quickly by beating Valparaiso in an ugly, hard-fought encounter. I don’t know if their campus has its own climate, but conditions always seem to be miserable when we play there. There were dark clouds and rain in the air throughout, making the turf wet and difficult to play on. The game was broadly unspectacular but Luke Goodnetter’s goal made up for it. And I think I had the best view of it in the stadium. The ball was cleared high into the air and Luke, about 30 yards out, told me to leave it for him. I stepped aside, presuming he’d control it and chip it back into the area for one of our strikers to contest.

No, no, no. Instead, he wound his supposedly weaker left foot back, held his position as the ball dropped then volleyed it sweetly into the top corner. So, so sweetly. He ran over to our incredulous bench wheeling his arm in celebration of the eventual game-winner. It was so good our media man, Chris Zills, is still campaigning for it to make the top ten plays on ESPN’s Sportscenter. If you haven’t seen it yet, go and watch it online. Now.

LINK TO VIDEO OF GOODNETTER'S GOAL

My Dad, Granddad and Uncle have now returned safely to England. In their week in Milwaukee, they got to see two wins, one loss and, to my Granddad’s disappointment, barely any cows. On one of our days off, I joined them on a one hour, 60-mile drive up the Lake Michigan coast to Sheboygan. By Englishmen’s standards this constituted a road trip. But even when covering the epic distance, we weren’t able to spot the farm animals that make Wisconsin famous.

“America’s dairyland they call it. I haven’t seen one bloody cow!” the oldest Bell repeated as we passed field after empty field. We tried to trick him and pointed to a herd of white and black of horses but even his 90-year-old eyes could tell the difference. We arrived in the pretty town and enjoyed the day paddle board surfing on the Lake and relaxing on the beach. Then, on our way home we spotted them. Huddled together, just peaking out of a barn were six unimpressive looking cows.

“They must be working bloody hard if it’s just the six of them in the state,” said my satisfied grandfather with a chuckle. The Bell’s aren’t farmers.

We’re now in conference crunch time and doing everything we can for success in our last 5 regular season games. We travel to UIC on Wednesday with a lot on the line. Wish us luck!

Friday, October 4, 2013

Real America and International Panthers

Laurie Bell, a junior on the 2013 Milwaukee men's soccer team, will once again be blogging all season long on the UWM website. Today is his seventh entry of the year.

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We started off the week with a victory over last year’s conference champs, Detroit. It wasn’t our finest defensive display but who cares when you have Aaron Horvat? We won the game 5-3 with Horvat netting four times. Yep, four! Deservedly, he has since been named national player of the week and conference player of the week. His performance was so good that I heard rumors he was being considered to be on the cover of the next GQ magazine – apparently it was just his terrible haircut that let him down. Maybe his well-defined calves will get him in Men’s Health instead.

We then traveled a total of about 20 hours on a bus with no DVD player to take on Nebraska-Omaha. We won 3-1 which made the trip home more bearable. So did the post-game dinner. We parked up outside a Golden Corral and I was shown a bit of real America. There was steak, burgers, pizza, pasta, ice cream, fruit, “cotton candy” (I call it candyfloss), marshmallows, a chocolate fountain. Hundreds of eating options spread out before us at the all-you-can-eat buffet. When I’m old, grey and reminiscing about my college experience in the U.S., I’ll be able to tell my grandchildren about the time I stuffed my face in Nebraska. It was truly special.

There will be a fair few international supporters gracing the Engelmann bleachers this week. James Ashcroft’s parents touched down in America on Friday and my dad, uncle and grandfather will be flying the Manchester to Chicago route the following day. Both groups will be there in time for our game against Wright State. With his folks in town, Ashy will be hoping to continue his “goalscoring form,” as he is calling it, after netting from distance with literally a slice of luck against Nebraska-Omaha. His cross ended up in the goal – sneaking just inside the near post – with the miskick deceiving the helpless goalkeeper.

It will be fantastic for both of us to have family in the stands and I know my 90-year-old granddad has been as giddy as a kid before Christmas in anticipation of the trip. And he has made his expectations for his stay clear: nothing less than Panther victories will do. He’s a little nervous about the potentially cold conditions during the three evening games, though. I’ve already offered him three blankets and a UWM letter jacket to keep him covered but I’m not sure he’s satisfied. So, if you see a white-haired bloke in a wheelchair trying to build an open fire by the field, you’ll know that’s Bell Senior, Senior. I’ll be trying to get on the score sheet to impress my Uncle – a legendary goalscorer in his day playing in the minor English leagues. And to have my dad watching will just feel right. Regrettably, my mother couldn’t come because of work commitments but the three men have agreed to sample as much Wisconsin beer and cheese as possible on her behalf. I’m sure Jamie’s mum and dad will be doing the same.

Finally, I must recognize the reformation of the notorious Engelmann Elite. College soccer nearlyman Nick Grbvac has taken control of the Milwaukee soccer firm, acting as the ‘major’. All sports-loving students should get involved, don the (free) t-shirt and earn citywide status as a member of the rowdy supporters group. Check facebook for details. If not, come to the games anyway and cheer us on in a more civilized manner. Just don’t get in my granddad’s way!