Women's Team Memories Part 1

After the annoucement of my resignation, I will be writing a series of posts that include many events that stick in my mind from the last 11 years. There is no way that I will get them all written down, but I will post as many as I can think off and maybe some of you can add a couple in the comment thread.

• The first pair of team shorts that we bought for the women. The length was fine, but the material did not respond well to washing and drying. If you ever wore a pair, you will never forget them. The next pair were far better soccer shorts, until someone (not me this time) washed them with something red and the white adidas stripes turned pink. We still wore them for another three years.


• Kelly Smith's accidential "rainbow" that led to our first goal ever against Mt. Mary.


• Tsunami's do' rag.


• That game against Concordia University -Wisconsin in 1998. We had only one girl who had played high school soccer on our team - Colleen (Schultz) Keppley. On Saturday, we played CUW in our last regular season match and lost 14-0 (might have been worse, I can't remember). Unfortunately we were matched up against CUW for the first round of the playoffs on the following Monday. We ended up losing 1-0 in the 82nd minute. One of the greatest displays of hustle that I have ever witnessed as a coach. I think I can just about name that entire starting line-up off the top of my head: Jacqui, Kelly, Melissa, Michelle, Jaime, Colleen, Vianne, Andrea, Carrie, Jessica, Angela.


• KJ (Kowalcyk) McCuistion (still not sure if I am spelling her new name correctly). There are a million stories about KJ and I think she continues to add to her stack of unforgettable moments. . . there was that time she fell down and everyone stopped playing, her incessant talk about penguins, her toughness . . . and off course, who could forget that van ride back from Lakeland her freshman year? But I won't embarrass her.


• When the freshman class that included Jen and Sommer beat all the returners plus me during a preseason scrimmage. That's when we knew they were good.


• 2003: We won 13 games and had one of our greatest years ever.


• Fenster and the post.


• Beardslee's goal in OT against MSOE.


• Endless games of "kill the coach". I don't think I ever lost. . . :)


• Lindsey's goal in the 97th minute of Parent's Day in her senior year.


• Mrs. Skrade at Parent's Day.


• Steph (Ujvary) Johnson's 23 goals in 2003.


• Frazee's moves, Gavitt's wit, Sommer's gallop, Julie's temper, Shasta's lack of talent, Melissa's free kicks, Sandy's volunteering.


• Our first soccer camp when only three girls showed up. KJ, Jen and I were the staff - we had the same number of staff as campers.


• Our second soccer camp when six girls attended. I think that 4 out of the 6 ended up enrolling at MBBC.


• Lenny's nickname, Skrade's ankle, Kel Mel and Smel, Susies' durability, Christine's perfection, Lisa's knee.


• Eating at Chi-Chi's after our last game.

More to come. . .

Plays, Choir, Soccer?

Maranatha women's soccer player, Jennifer Harley just received a feature on the MBBC website. Jenny has been a three year starter on the women's team and a key member of our defense for the last three years.

It isn't mentioned in the article, but Jenny is also one of the toughest and most physical players on the team. Even though I originally thought she was too small for college soccer. . . She never lets me forget that. As you read the article, you realize that Jenny has done a lot more than just play soccer at MBBC.

If you are in the area, stop by and see her in Pygmalian this spring!

Catching up. . .

I have not posted much lately and I need to catch up on a few things.There were several weddings over the last month that deserve mention here at Maranatha Soccer.

First, Sarah Beardslee married Cole Gelderneck on December 15th. Sarah is third all-time in goals scored for the women's soccer team and she was a part of one of our best squads that won 13 games in 2003. This was a tough wedding for us to miss, but we enjoyed checking out the pictures on her sister Karen's facebook page.

Emily Yogerst was married to Dave Marriott on December 21, during a huge snowstorm in Wisconsin. Lack of a babysitter and the weather kept us away from this one, although it would have been great to see Travis and Christine and other former soccer players at their wedding.

Erik Eloe and Erika Licht (their first names are not a typo) were married on January 12. We were able to attend this wedding since it was in Watertown at our homechurch and I was an usher and a nursery was provided (Thanks Elise Jones!) It was a beautiful wedding. Both the bride and groom played on the Maranatha soccer teams and each of the bridesmaids were also former Maranatha soccer players: Shasta Mikolowski, Emily (Yogerst) Marriott and Charell Kukowski.

After observing the number of weddings that I have seen over the last 11 years as the women's coach, I have come to some conclusions:

• I am quickly becoming an expert at running wedding rehearsals. Coaching a soccer practice is just like running a wedding rehearsal.


• While you may want me to run your rehearsal, you do not want me to decorate for your wedding.


• I enjoy being the MC at wedding receptions, although you need to prepare to be embarrassed. Boy, I wish I had been on the mike at KJ's wedding. . . I also do bar mitzvah's and sweet 16 parties too.


• It is fun to attend weddings with your spouse, as long as we can leave the children at home.


• If I ever let a guy come near enough to ask one of my daughters to marry him and I say yes, I will strongly suggest that they elope and I might even pay for the honeymoon if they agree to the plan.

Four Year Players

Here is a picture of the 4-year shirts that have arrived and I will be giving out over the next couple of weeks. If your name is in the picture, stop by my office!

Women's Soccer End-of-the-Year Speech

The 2007 Women’s Soccer season began with a great deal of optimism. While we had lost a large number of starters from the previous year, we were confident in the talent of our new players.

Our defense put up the best numbers in team history with a 1.78 GAA, even after giving up 14 goals in our first three matches. Jenny, Shasta, Shannon, Kat, Sierra, Laura and, of course, Barb all contributed to that accomplishment. Our problem this season was in goal scoring. At one point, we went 8 straight matches without putting the ball in the net (except for a PK by Melissa). We didn’t score in every way imaginable: off posts, off defender’s hands, great saves, goals called back, referee’s inattention, whiffs, shot’s over from 2 feet away, etc.

Yet, we played well enough to win a trip to the NCCAA II national tournament in Kissimmee, FL for the first time in program history. The experience was one that I will never forget and we had a lot of fun with the team – on the airplane, waiting for poor Miss Bolton with the van, having my own room all to myself, taking pictures with Kennedy, squeezing into Sunday School class, and playing soccer in summer weather in November. Good times.

We had a large number of players play in every match this season:
Gerlach, Nichols, Harrison, Harley, Kutz, Dow, Alley, Mikolowski, Muse, Collogan and Delaney

Ladies who started every match include:
Nichols, Harrison, Harley, Kutz, Mikolowski, Muse, Collogan and Delaney

Julie Muse is now 7th all-time in goals scored. Emily Kutz is 8th.
Melissa Nichols is now 6th in goals scored in a single season.
Julie is 4th all-time in assists.
Barbara Gerlach posted the all-time lowest GAA for an MBBC goalkeeper at 1.59 GA.

Our awards went to the following people:
Offensive MVP – Melissa Nichols
Defensive MVP – Shasta Mikolowski
Most Improved Player-Pamela Shetter
Leadership Award-Shasta Mikolowski

Our four-year seniors are Kristen Kowalcyk and Shasta Mikolowski. Both young ladies have great discipline and faithfulness. Kristen was especially good at making sure that we run things according to plan – she often reminded of statements that I have made and did not follow through on. I appreciate it a great deal. I hope Kristen goes on to coach this game. I think she understands it and can communicate effectively.

Our second senior was Shasta. Shasta’s leadership abilities grew immensely during her four years. I remember a younger player once telling me that Shasta had yelled at her so bad during a match that she cried. Forward that scene to this year, and Shasta’s encouragement was always positive and constructive. She truly helped the players around her to become better.

We need a picture

This annoucement just came through the on-campus, electronic newsletter called the Trumpeter:

Winner of the Girl's Dorm Decorating Contest - 12/7/2007

- The girl’s side of campus had a Christmas Spirit contest to see which dorm could generate the most Christmas spirit through decorated doors, dorm participation and overall holiday cheer throughout the dorm.
· The winner: HILSEN (Punch and homemade cookies will be delivered to their dorm on Saturday)
· MOST CREATIVE and FUN overall: Second Floor Day Dorm -Twelve Days of Christmas Maranatha style
Other creative and noteworthy doors the judges really liked:
· Hilsen: Hot Cocoa and Cookies
· Day: "'Twas the Night Before Finals" Poem
· Day: Fireplace with Ledge
· Weeks: All I Want for Christmas - Wish Lists
· Weeks: The soccer player poster door--very funny!

We need to see this door!

Pics From Kristen

I have been very lax (that is another form of the word 'lackadaisical' for Myles K.) in posting lately. I hope to get back to a regular schedule of posts very soon. One of our graduating seniors, Kristen Kowalcyk dropped off a CD of pictures the other day and I plan to post a large number of them. Kristen is faithful at taking good pictures throughout the season and I am always thankful for her work when I go to post on this blog during the off-season. Here are a few:

We are especially thankful for our Russian player, Babushka Dow.

Our goalkeeper shows off some of her outstanding technique. We think she learned this when she was a volleyball player.

Don't ask. All I can say is "I won".

Everyone knows the rule is: No dating until your senior year. Kristen followed it and look at how things worked out for her!

You can view more pictures from our season on the Men's and Women's Soccer homepages at www.mbbc.edu. More pictures to come! - C

The Last Match

We had a nice day on Sunday. Most of us attended the Bible Baptist Church of Kissimmee and went to Cici's pizza the after the morning service. We need a Cici's in Watertown.

I am at the airport getting ready to board for our trip home. Everyone except for Ann Bolton has checked in - she is returning the rental van. She spent many hours in that van while down here. I appreciate all the driving she did for us.

We played in the fifth place match this morning against 3rd seeded Southeastern University. It was the hottest of our matches in Florida. We played our usual game - hustled, played good defense, sketchy possession and several quality opportunities on the net - but no goals. Melissa hit the crossbar on a free kick and Julie made a great shot that went just wide right. Southeastern scored on a far post header after the ball bounced around the box in our end. We came away from the match having learned many lessons about tournament play, travelling to Florida and many of us know exactly what we need to work on for next year.

See you in Wisconsin - C

Toccoa Falls - Second Round

We arrived to the field on Saturday, determined to overcome any challenges from the day before. The ladies warmed up well and our possession, defense and even finishing showed much improvement.

Melissa Nichols recorded a hat trick, Amanda Moses finished a nice cross from Pamela Shetter and Lisa Collogan scored on a shot from about 25 yards as we went on to defeat Toccoa 5-0. It was also nice to be able to play everyone - except for Elise Jones who is still struggling with her knee. We will play Southeastern on Monday in the 5th place match.

We are still disappointed with our loss on Friday. We think that we could have had a good performance against Crown in the second round, but it is sometimes difficult to play well when so many things are new. We are still excited to be here and if the Lord allows us to come again, this year's experiece will be invaluable. - C

The First Round

We had a disappointing performance in our first round match versus Manhattan yesterday. We ended up losing 3-0 - despite outshooting them 15 to 7 and recording 17 corner kicks to their 1. Their first goal was a breakaway that caught or defense by surprise - as MCC had a couple of very fast players up front. Their second two goals were on free kicks. We had some trouble adjusting to the level of physical play - the referee allowed far less than what usually goes on in the NAC other D3 contests. Both free kicks were on fouls that were more than questionable.

But the biggest problem is finishing. We hit the post and had several balls cleared off the line yesterday. We seem to be able to do everything but score. Please pray for the ladies to stay strong and positive - we have another match today against a quality team from Toccoa Falls.

We are enjoying out time in Florida and we are looking forward to a chance to sight-see a little bit over the next couple of days. - C

We Have Arrived

I had hoped to post more pictures, but I need to download them from some of the girls. We arrived in Orlando with no problems. Airtran was on time and delivered our luggage. We can't ask for much more from airlines these days. We attend a dinner put on by the NCCAA II immediately after arriving. It was nice to get at least one free meal. Unfortunately, most of Ann Bolton' time in Florida has been spent driving the rental van. We have to take two trips everywhere we go, we finally got everyone back to the hotel by 11:30 pm last night.

I was optimistic about the hotel when I first saw it. There is a nice view and the rooms are very large - almost suite sized - however there have been a few problems. I have to slam my door has hard as I can to get it to close, I think the frame is bent. Last night it was a little cold and so I turned on the room heater, but it set off the smoke alarm. The room was cold this morning so I was looking forward to a hot shower only to find no hot water - and I am certain that I was up before the rest of the team. I have called the front desk several times and gotten no answer, so I am trying to get up the courage to go in and shower with cold water. Maybe I don't need one. . .

We are excited about our match today. It has been almost two weeks since we have played a game. Our adjustment to that much time off will be interesting. Stay tuned - C

Why Did They Give?

I am in the process of writing thank you notes to the many folks who have donated to the Women's Soccer trip to NCCAA Nationals and it struck me that many of the individuals are people whose gift was their first to the college. Many of them have had a relationship with the college for a long time, so the question is - What changed? What motivated them to give this time and not all of the other times that we have expressed a need for money?

I don't know the exact answer to that question, but at the risk of being presumptuous, let me float two theories:

Theory #1 - There has always been a perception, real or imagined, that athletics do not get the support from the college administration that many of us on the athletic side would hope for. The perception may not always be true, but it has been a fairly constant comment or viewpoint for the 15 years that I have been a part of Maranatha athletics as a player and coach. What is different about this trip is that there is no doubt that the administration is behind us and has given us our best shot at a quality performance by stepping out and giving us the opportunity to fly. Flying reduces travel stress, reduces missed class time, and allows our nursing students avoid missing clinicals in order to participate. If we had missed more class time, there is a high likelihood that two starters may not have been able to make the trip. Many donors gave because they saw initiative on the part of the college to support this endeavor.

Theory #2 - The second theory is that many who gave a gift have a strong connection to Maranatha soccer and they saw an opportunity to help something that they believe in.

Maybe they just gave because they needed a tax break this year. . . Anyway, I want to thank all of our donors and we are excited about this opportunity. The ladies are working hard to make sure that their studies and jobs are prepared for their absence.

Please pray that we are a good representation of our team, our school and our Lord. -C

Trip to Utica

Our soccer program has had a strong relationship over the years with a small church and school about 40 minutes away in Utica, WI. Many of their young people have attended Maranatha - and done quite well academically and athletically. A good sized group from their school has always been a big part of our soccer camp, even going back to the first couple of attempts at a girl's soccer camp. I think that three out of the six campers in 2002 were from Utica. Several of our college men's and women's soccer players attend their church and help with various ministries while at school in Wisconsin. I don't have any 'hard data' on this, but I think that Utica Bible Baptist might be the strongest per capita supporting church that Maranatha has. Three young ladies on our soccer team graduated from their school and I hope to get a few players for the men's team over the next several years. We usually go down and run a boys and girls soccer clinic on their field every spring. Furthermore, their church also made a generous donation toward our 2006 Mission's Trip to Germany.

Last Sunday, about 15 members of our women's soccer team had the privilege of attending a Singspiration at their church. I often joke that as the soccer talent on our team has increased, the singing ability has decreased - but last Sunday proved that assertion wrong. We have at least four young ladies who are in choir at the college, several others who play instruments and all the rest can sing very well. All in all, the ladies were able to provide eight different pieces of special music and several testimonies that were a blessing. Utica also took a love offering and made a generous gift toward our trip to NCCAA Nationals.

The ladies who were able to attend included: Shannon Delany, Elise Jones, Jenny Harley, Shasta Mikolowski, Lisa Collogan, Sierra Miller, Emily Kutz, Emily Dow, Laura Kennedy, Melanie Killingsworth, Cara Harrison, Julie Muse, Hillary Lockhart and possibly someone else who I am forgetting. . . I'm sure someone will chime in on the comments below - wait, Barb Gerlach, our goalkeeper was there. Not sure how I forgot her.

The ladies were a great testimony and truly ministered. It was a blessing to attend the service and I appreciate the hospitality afforded us at Utica Bible Baptist Church.

JBoe's Team Advances

One of the objectives of the Maranatha Soccer program is to produce young men and women who can coach soccer and disciple young people at the same time. Whenever possible, we like to highlight alumni who have moved on to the coaching ranks and who are coaching with an eternal mindset.

I did not coach Jason Boe. I was his teammate for a time - you might remember him from the Top 11 Men post from a year or so ago. For several years now, Jason has been the head men's soccer coach in Minooka, IL. Here is a news article about how his team is advancing through the playoffs. It is a good story and we wish Jason and his team all the best. In the article, Jason has an opportunity to reference his faith in Christ in a public way. I am certain that even though Jason is coaching soccer in a secular setting, his players know for Whom he lives:

"This is business for us," Minooka coach Jason Boe said. "We're not surprised by this win. Even though we upset Bloom, it's not a surprise to us. Because we know what type of players we have on our team, the leadership that we have, the ability that God's given us. And it's not a surprise. We're basically telling the world, 'We're here. Welcome to our world.' "

Here is the thing: Jason would not have the opportunity to coach and mentor and disciple in a public school if he did not possess athletic talent and training. The doors of ministry for someone who knows their sport and walks with God are wide open right now.

There are three young men and two young ladies who will be graduating from our soccer program this season. All of them love God and know the game of soccer. Furthermore, a person who can survive the rigors of 4 or 5 years at MBBC, can survive almost anything. Their character has been proven. If you are looking to hire someone for your business or ministry in the coming year, you must consider Daniel Kaminski, Tim Reinert, Andrew Swift, Kristen Kowalcyk or Shasta Miklowski. I can't promise that you will compete for a state title like JBoe, but you will never question their faithfulness or competence.

I'm just trying to get a couple of them to stick around and be my assistants next year. . . -C

Happy Birthday, Susie!

Susie on the left, Lindsey on the right. Lindsey will hate me for that picture, but she knows that she is still my all-time favorite player. (By the way, shortly before this picture, she had just scored her first collegiate goal with three minutes remaining in the match, on Parent's Day, in her final home game as a senior.)

I'm terrible at birthdays, so the rest of you should not expect a mention. I only have to remember one birthday a year and on April 27th. However, when Susie was on our team, she remembered everyone with a card - even though she was the busiest person on campus - choir, band, orchestra, work, soccer, local church ministry, ministry society, etc. So I thought she deserves a post.

Wish Susie (Ferris) Yuen a happy birthday with an email to ferrismusic at gmail dot com. I think it was actually yesterday the 23rd. If you haven't seen pics from her wedding yet, click here.

If you would like to write a post recognizing another MBBC soccer player's birthday, you can write it in an email or Word document, send it to jcaucutt at mbbc dot edu, I will edit it, and post it. Even anonymously if you so desire. - C

Alumni in Chicago

After the women's game on Saturday in River Forest, IL, our ladies team was invited to the home of Laura and Tony Shaver who live about five minutes (depending on traffic) from CUC. They have a cozy apartment into which we squeezed (not a fat joke) 23 players, 2 coaches, 4 soccer alums, and 3 soccer alumni husbands - two of them are actually football alums. They dont' really know what is going on, but we like them at games because they make a lot of noise. They served pizza, veggies and lots of desert. It was a great time for me to catch up with some former players and a chance for our current players to meet them.

We had five members of the starting line-up from our 2003 squad that won 13 games in attendance: Jen Adam, Hayley McGrail, Laura (Frazee) Shaver, Kim (Gavitt) Terpstra and Angie (Fenstermacher) Aulph. It is really difficult to keep up with the name changes sometimes, but I am doing better - we did decide that Angie will always be "Fenster". We also argued about who was a better player: Melissa or Laura. We had a great time of fellowship - we just wished we could have added a victory to the evening. . .

The last few days have brought a lot of contact with alumni. Some of whom have donated for the Women's soccer nationals trip. I don't want to embarrass any of them, but here are some email excerpts:

Wow, I cannot believe how many life-lessons, exciting memories, solid, godly friendships and an assemblance of decent health I can attribute to Maranatha
Soccer!

I am so excited for you guys getting to go to the tournament! That is absolutely awesome...wish I was going =) I can't afford much, but I want to do what I can to help the team since the time I was on the team made a huge impact on my life.

We wish the rest of you could come as well. We consider all of the soccer alumni out there to still be a part of our program. I hope to blog often while we are in Kissimmee - don't forget that the men also have a chance to earn a trip to nationals this week- we play NAC opponent Marian today. We earned the #2 seed in the Midwest Region and so we will play Moody at 3 pm on Friday, if we defeat Moody, we will advance to the region final on Saturday.

Women v Concordia Chicago

The women's team experienced another tough loss against conference opponent Concordia-Chicago last Saturday. We are really struggling to put the ball in the net. It has been five games since we have put the ball in the net during the run of play. We have "scored" several times and had goals called back because of off-side, fouls, out-of-bounds, ball-over-the-line-but-the-ref-didn't-see-it, and on Saturday, Julie was taken down in the box, the foul was whistled, but the referee pointed the wrong way and awarded the other team a free kick instead of giving Julie the pk.

Really.

It happened.

The referee told Julie later that a mistake had been made.

Anyway the girls have continued to push hard. We are still young and talented. One of these days, our talent is going to burst out.

Women's Team Going to Nationals

Most of you know that the women's team has qualified for the NCCAA II National Tournament in Kissimmee, Florida by defeating Northland earlier this season. Once again, it is the first time that the NCAA III dates have allowed one of the soccer teams to go to this tournament in many years. The tournament dates are November 9-12th in Kissimmee, Fl near Orlando.

Normally, our teams drive to such events, but this year, the college administration is throwing their support behind flying the team to Florida. This will greatly reduce missed classtime and lessen the physical strain that 20+ hours of driving would create. We are extremely thankful for this opportunity, however there is going to be a budget shortfall because the original plan was to drive. We are asking anyone who is interested to make a tax deductible donation toward this effort. Yesterday, the team recieved a pledge of $1,000 from a parent! It was a great email to find in my inbox and we are on the verge of booking the flights.

Will you give to send the Maranatha Women's Soccer Team to the NCCAA II national tournament? We will be representing you. All donors will recieve an MBBC soccer t-shirt and sackpack. If you or your business is interested, please contact me by email: jcaucutt at mbbc dot edu or cell: 920 248 8034.

. . . and the guys get a chance to earn the trip next weekend at Northland! - C

Pictures Posted at www.mbbc.edu

Lot's of good men's soccer pictures here. Some of the best are near the middle of the slideshow - from our match against MSOE. My favorites include: 21 (orange socks), 34, 48, 53, 83, 119, 121, 145, 166, 181, 194, 201, 207, 278, 282, 284, 285, 287.

Lot's of good women's soccer pictures here. My favorites include: 33, 38, 48, 52 (some of you remember my post about the photogenic abilities of Bryan Oliver), 57, 62, 79, 149, and 154.

Let me know which ones you like.

A Good Win and a Tough Loss

The men travelled to Lake Forest College on Monday night for our last non-conference match of the season. LFC are members of the tough Midwest Conference and while they're record was not that great, they play a very difficult schedule. We started the game a little flat - it always takes us a while to get used to field turf, but we managed to not give up any goals during the first half. That is the difference between last year's team and this year's team. We have not had a huge upsurge in talent, but we are able to shut teams out - even when we are not playing our best. In 2006, I think we gave up a goal in the first 15 minutes in 3/4's of our games.

The score was 0-0 at half-time, but our men came out very strong at the beginning of the second half. Even though we were controlling play, LF managed to spring a break-away that resulted in their first goal. We did not let down, however and a couple of minutes later, Reinert finished a very nice cross from Hollenbeck and Solarek stuck the ball in the net from the left side off another feed from Hollenbeck. The end of the game was pretty crazy, but we made the final score, 2-1 stand up. This was a good win for us. We have been floundering a bit over that last few weeks as we adjusted our formation after Josh Marino went down for the season with an injury. Our midfield defense is improving and we are retraining some of our bad possession habits that we fell into in blow-out wins over Great Lakes and Lincoln Christian.

The women's team came into last night's match against Marian College with a 5-5 record, 3-2 in conference. MC was also 5-5, 3-3 in conference. A very big game with playoff implications. Unfortunately, we were bit by the "finishing bug". We controlled the match, outshot them (12 shots on goal, 22 total), but could not seem to put anything away. Kutz, Nichols, Jones, Dow, Collogan and others all had great chances, but we could not shake the net. The match went to OT and we controlled play once again, but shortly into overtime a MC player struck a nice ball with the wind that went into the corner of our net, just out of Barb's reach to give them the win.

This is the kind of loss that sticks with you for a few days. Our team has a lot of potential and we look forward to improving even further over the next couple of weeks. - C