Ashford University

The first game of the season is always one of the most exciting of the season. We really did not know what to expect from Ashford, and NAIA school from Iowa. Both of the men's and the women's programs had been up and down over the last couple of years. Their new coach seemed to be building some momentum, however and it looked like it would be a quality match.
The Ashford women's team had some very athletic players who never quit the entire match. I have been worried about our ability to possess the ball this season after Laura Frazee, Kim Gavitt and Christine Yogerst graduated, however we did reasonably well in this area. Abby Kalscheur continues to improve and Melissa Nichols carried over her strong shooting from a year ago. Abby had a great hustle goal in the second half and Sarah Beardslee had a shot that went through the keeper's legs for the two goals of the game. As a team, we had put several outstanding shots that hit the post, so it was kind of ironic that our only scores were "pick up the trash" goals. I would also like to recogize Angela Fenstermacher for another strong game. She has been our most consistent player for the last 3 years and this game was no different.

I expected a strong game from the Ashford men's team, it would be a real test for our young team. We started three freshmen: Mike Knepp, Brett Hollenbeck, Joel Smith; three sophomores: Andrew Solarek, Kirk Riffel, Brian Oliver; three juniors: Dan Kaminski, Tim Reinert, Mark Scally and two seniors, Steve Dow and Justin Monge ( two year player). Ashford came out strong and it took us a moment to adjust to the speed and level of physical play. The first half ended with a 0-0 tie that included several outstanding opportunities for us and a save on the goal line by Monge.

Our first goal in the second half was a hustle goal all around, while giving the assist, Andrew Solarek sustained a pretty good hit that took him out of the game for 15 minutes. Mark Scally took Solarek's pass in front of the net, but managed to get the ball in the net even while his feet were being grabbed by Ashford's goalkeeper. Mike Knepp then scored on a beautiful header off of a free kick by Brian Oliver. Our next tally was an own goal that was forced by the play of Tim Reinert and the final goal was on a great header by Oliver off a corner kick. The men played a great all-around game and we were able to get every one into the match. - C