Dubuque

Both teams played against University of Dubuque today. UD is one of our tougher non-conference opponents and a good early season test. The ladies jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a great hustle goal by Hillary Lockhart from Danville, IL and we led after the first half. The second half was another story as inexperience and poor early season conditioning took its toll. We ended the match with a 5-1 loss and are anxious to move on to the next game tomorrow at Ashford. It was only the second day that we had been on a full-sized pitch with 11 players on a side, however, we had hoped to perform better. Junior Melissa Nichols had a strong game on both ends of the field. Freshmen Cara Harrison and Lisa Collogan showed some early promise.

The men actually played relatively well against Dubuque today. I liked our strength in the air and physical play. We need to finish better - but that will come. Today was the first day that I was able to get a real picture of where people will play this season. We made a couple of critical mental errors and a penalty kick added up to a 3-0 defeat. Sophomore Brett Hollenbeck and transfer Alex Board did a nice job in the middle controlling the attack and starting our defense. Freshman Timoth Solarek from Greenwood, IN had a very good first collegiate game. -C

Weddings (and preseason)

This has been the worst weather that we have ever experienced for a preseason for as long as I have been at Maranatha. In fact, it has been so depressing that I don't even want to post about it. So, "Let's be positive!" (as Swifty keeps telling me) and look at pictures of Susie (Ferris) and James Yuen's wedding here.

As well as send congratulations to Kim (Gavitt) and Caleb Terpstra who were married last Saturday in Alaska. If anyone (Laura) who was there can send me a few pictures, everyone (Mrs. Coach) will be very happy. - C

One More Time

Just in case you did not see this post or this post or this announcement, the arrival times for preseason have been adjusted per NCAA directive.

Athletes who have travel plans that cannot be altered will be housed and fed starting the evening of August 17th.

The dorms will be available to preseason freshmen athletes on Saturday, August 18th, however the first required activity for preseason freshmen is Freshmen Testing that begins at 1:15 pm on Sunday, August 19th.

The first required function for all preseason athletes is an eligibility/insurance meeting at 8 pm on Sunday, August 19th in DC 102. Plan to be on time and check this page to make sure that all of your paperwork is in order. We have a training session for women's soccer at 7 am and men's soccer at 8:45 am on Monday morning. You cannot practice until all of your paperwork is finished - make sure this is done! Tryouts will begin on time and we need everyone there.

See you on Sunday. . . or Friday. . . or Saturday! - C

Recently Brought to My Attention

This is a sad post and somewhat belated, but I thought it would be a good idea to bring it to the attention of the Maranatha Soccer family. Tyler Burcalow, a student athlete from Edgewood College, passed away this summer in a car accident. You can read the story here. Even though the accident took place around the Fourth of July, but I am sure that his family is still hurting and in need of prayer. It is also a sober reminder of the brevity of life on this earth and a challenge to focus on the eternal.

This incident brings to mind another tragedy that, oddly enough, also involved Edgewood College - when a referee passed away during a soccer match between EC and MBBC in 1993. These events emphasize the sovereignty of God and should affect how we interact with fans, players, and referees in the arena of athletics.

"Only what's done for Christ will last." - C

KJ's Baby

I have been out of town and finally got around to posting this announcement:

Andi Rae McCuistion was born Friday, August 3rd at 12:54am. She was 21 1/2 inches long and 7 pounds 1 ounce.

. . .a little small for college soccer, but we'll take her.

KJ (Kowalcyk, now McCuistion) was a four year player from 1998 to 2001 for the Maranatha Women's Soccer team. Congratulations, KJ and Drew! -C

2007 Soccer Camp

I am finally getting around to the 2007 Maranatha Soccer Camp blog post.

We have been dealing with preaseason date issues all week. The NCAA made a late ruling that affected a lot of schools and a lot of student athletes. If you are planning to attend preseason, you can get more information here.

We had a great week with 62 campers in attendance. The Lord has steadily grown our camp over the past four years:

2004: 26

2005: 43

2006: 49

2007: 62

First, I want to thank the staff. All of them did an outstanding job and worked very hard for very little money. You can check out the staff who helped out in this messed up post. Sixty-two campers is about the limit for what our facilities can handle here on campus and we are looking into other options for next year.

Campers came from the following states: MI, IN, WI, IL, IA, MN, VA, AZ, and OR. We hope it was worth the trip for all of them. One team took advantage of the team discount - we always enjoy Randy Lightcap and his group of South Side soccer players.

We had our largest group of girl's soccer players this week with 14 and there were some really nice players in that group. I am excited to see the women's side grow. I also enjoyed meeting and working with several men who will be seniors in high school this fall. I believe that all of them have the potential to be contributors on the college level. There was another senior who missed camp this year because of a boy scout trip. He has been one of our faithful attenders at soccer camp. Hopefully I can get to one if his matches this fall.

Here are some more pictures of soccer camp. You may also want to check out the gallery on the MBBC website.

- C