#14 Jocelyn Maneval, '10

Over the next weeks, we'll be posting a quick question and answer session with each of our three seniors.

How'd you end up at Lake Forest? I wanted to go to a school far from home and also play soccer. My Mom knew about LFC because she grew up in the area and thought I'd enjoy the community; the facilities were also the best I had visited.

Best soccer memory? Any overnight road trip

Nickname? How'd you get it? Joc/Jocey: always had it

Team you most like to play? Team you least like to play? Team you love to beat? St. Norbert; Knox; Grinnell

Favorite practice drill/game? Butts-Up

Words of wisdom for freshmen or recruits? Live on South campus and avoid classes that go 'til 3:50 while in season, if you can.

Other organizations, activities, etc... you participate in on campus? Academics

Favorite teammate? My fellow seniors, fine group of ladies

Regrets? Not studying abroad*


*In an illustration of the enormous benefits of attending a small school, Joc wrote these responses two weeks ago. Last week, she learned that a group of Lake Forest students (including two of her teammates), who have been planning on going to Greece for four months this spring, were one student short of the quota needed to go. On a Wednesday night, Joc decided she was going to try to appeal the school rule requiring seniors to be on campus their last semester. By Saturday, she had talked to her parents, who gave the okay; spoken to her advisor, who greased the wheels for the appeal; emailed Coach Bell, who wrote a recommendation; and had her appeal granted by the Administration. She is currently waiting to hear if her application to the program will be approved...Good luck Joc!


Teammates and coaches were asked to submit a word or a short summary of Jocelyn.

Teammates say: Hardworking (5 different people used this same word), motivated, hilarious, dexterous--since throughout her time at LFC she played in several positions, passionate (three teammates used this word), I don't know if I'll ever have another teammate people refer to as the silent killer, always there, destructive, dedication and hustle, determined, Jocey Bear, scary, Definitely a player who is "silent but deadly"--she doesn't say much but she can run circles around people on the field. Her stoicism and hard work cannot be replaced and will be greatly missed by all.

Coaches say: silent killer, competitive, crazy, run-through-a-wall type of player.**

**Apparently her family has noticed many of these same qualities. Her brother, Jordan, was the one who scanned the photos posted above. In the email he wrote to her he included this little tidbit: Not really sure what you are thinking in these photos. One makes you look like a demon, as if to say, "Let's get these dumb photos over with. I've got goals to score and hopes to kill!"


There is a motto painted on the wall of one of the locker rooms at Monmouth College. I've seen it before, but I took special notice it this year. We had just finished up our last regular season game--a victory over the Fighting Scots, and I was thinking about the seniors and their four years on the team when I saw this:

Don't brag about you've accomplished
Don't tell people what you are going to do
Keep your mouth shut
Keep your mind on your own business
SHOW THEM

That's Jocelyn. She showed us all.

Early Success In The Winter Season

For those soccer players who only play one sport, the end of the season usually means learning how to stay disciplined when one suddenly has loads of free time in the afternoons and on the weekends.

But for those athletes who aren't content to merely represent the Foresters on the soccer field, life has remained busy.

Mira Trebilcock, the soccer program's favorite Canadian, was an immediate help to her "other" team, despite missing the preseason practices and the team trip to UW-Superior. She scored two goals at Augsburg College (MN) last weekend to help her team twice defeat the Auggies 6-1. Although Mira has been ill with the flu this week (get well, get well soon, we want you to get well) the Women's Hockey team has continued to win against conference rival Finlandia University (MI). Mira will be back on her feet soon and skating with the Foresters, who are currently ranked #10 in the country.


Emily Weber hasn't had to deal with the flu, but she did have to get her shot back after spending the soccer season avoiding touching the ball with her hands. Luckily, for both her and her teammates, she is a quick study. After a not-so-great showing on the offensive end of the court last Tuesday against UW-Oshkosh, Webby poured in a career high 18 on Friday against the Alverno Inferno and followed that up with 12 more (along with taking a sweet charge and picking up 4 assists) against Loras College on Saturday. With those two victories the Women's Basketball team won their Tip-Off Tournament and Webs was one of two Foresters named to the All-Tournament team. Congrats!

BZ Greene did not compete in the Illinois Handball Association's Contenders Tournament over the weekend, choosing instead to rest on her laurels. BZ was the C-Division champion in last weekend's Singles Tournament, and we look forward to more handball victories from Beezer and her teammates soon.

Coming Soon--Your Seniors!

Over the next week or two we will be featuring our three seniors. The three wise (wo)men will offer advice, counsel, and perspective, along with a little humor. I think you'll find that their responses will pretty accurately reflect their personalities. Jocelyn's approach to words remains the same: less is more. E-Money is considerate, contemplative, and thoughtful. And Mon, well Mon is late getting back to me, so maybe that says it all... :)

The first one will be up by the end of the week. Check back!

Soccer, Soccer Everywhere

One of the very cool things about attending school at Lake Forest is the proximity to Chicago. The train is so safe, clean, accessible, cheap, and easy to use that getting from campus to downtown is a fairly regular event for most students.

And there are infinite number of things to do in the country's third-largest city. Of course, this being a soccer blog, I have to mention that one of them is attending soccer games.


Chicago has one of the best soccer-only stadiums in the country in Toyota Park. It is home to The Chicago Fire (MLS) The Chicago Red Stars (WPS) and has hosted more than a few U.S. National Team games. Last spring the Men's and Women's soccer teams took a group trip down there to watch a Fire game. Last fall the Women's team caravan-ed to see the U.S. Women's National Team play Japan. And hopefully, this spring, we will travel to see the Red Stars in their second season of play.

Saturday night though, was all about the Chicago Fire. They were playing in the Eastern Conference Final against Real Salt Lake. The winner would earn the right to play Landon Donovan, David Beckham, and the rest of the L.A. Galaxy in the MLS Cup Final.


Forester Molly "Goggles" Shaw was among the 40 or so Utah natives cheering for Real. The rest of the 21,000+ in the sold out stadium were definitely pulling for the Fire. (Headline photo: the loyal fans of Section 8 roll out banners during the pre-game player introductions. Above: Section 8's flares get a little out of control.)

After a scoreless 90 minutes of regulation and 2 15-minute scoreless overtimes, the game went into a shootout. After the first five PKs both teams had made three. On the 6th kick the Real GK made a save and the Real kicker missed. But the Fire were not so lucky on the 7th. The Real GK made ANOTHER save (his third of the shootout) and then the Real striker buried his PK for the victory.



The home crowd was extremely disappointed but it was a memorable match.

(A blurred shot of Molly Goggles--in green jacket, texting other Real fans after the match. Nice seats Molly!)

So, soccer in Chicago is over until next April. Hope to see you at Toyota Park next year!

[Photo credits to Molly Goggles, who had field-side seats]

Offseason, Week 1

Well, obviously our result on Friday was not what we wanted. And certainly we are sad that the season is over and are already feeling a bit of nostalgia for what was a really fun year. But I can't say that there are many "what ifs" here. It was a really fun game, a well-contested game, a very even game. And at some point in any competition one side has to lose, that's part of what makes winning so great.

We scored, they scored, we scored, they scored. And then, with 10 minutes to go, they scored again, but up until the final second of the game, when the SNC GK punched away our final chance, we felt like we could tie it up. Final 2-3.

Carroll University beat St. Norbert the following evening to advance to the NCAA Tournament. They play Illinois Wesleyan this Friday in St. Louis, MO. We'll be cheering for our MWC peer to advance in the Tournament, but come Fall 2010 we will be looking to exact our revenge on both St. Norbert and Carroll. Grrrr!

Despite the end of our 2009 season, we will be continuing to update the blog. Please check back!

Off To Wisconsin To Dominate

After a team pasta dinner and movie night the Foresters are ready to rock today. The battle begins at Carroll University, 4pm CST.

The game can be watched online (free) here or barring that, just send us good karma.

Thanks to all our fans and supporters! We'll try to make you proud today.

RTL

For a few weeks now the Foresters have been striving to live up to the slogan "Refuse To Lose." This past weekend, with two more victories against Conference opponents, we continued to "resist the loss" and are currently on a 6 game win streak headed into our most important game(s) of the year.

This past weekend's games, played during the course of a road trip to southwestern IL, while fun and occasionally intense, were not the highlight of the weekend. Of course we wanted to win, and would have been extremely disappointed had we not beaten both Illinois College and Monmouth, but a team celebration of Halloween ended up being the most memorable moment of this Friday/Saturday overnight.

Earlier in the week everyone's name (including coaches) had been put into a hat. Each team member then drew a name and spent the week getting together a costume they could wear as that person. Saturday night, at a lovely AmericInn in Monmouth, IL, we all put on our "costumes" and went around trying to guess who everyone represented. A few stood out: Webby in a bathrobe representing Monica, TR with a skateboard as BZ, Isabel as Kylie "I'm just so tired" Mannion, a silent Bri doing a perfect imitation of Care, and finally, Christine Sorensen looking pretty darn good as TR.

Post-costume party, pizza was eaten, candy was distributed, we all went off to enjoy our extra hour of sleep (thanks to the end of DST), and drift asleep with visions of beating the Fighting Scots dancing in our head. Our post-victory routine was the same as usual--shower, eat, come back and cheer on the men. Sunday's routine was spiced up a little with a 1-0 Forester Men's win and the consumption of lots and lots of Halloween candy.



This Friday we play St. Norbert College at 4pm in Waukesha, WI and will attempt to avenge our regular season loss to them. A victory against the Green Knights will put us in the Conference Championship game at 7pm Saturday where we will meet the winner of Carroll/Lawrence. If you can't join us in person please send us your good thoughts and well wishes! You can view the game online here, although a link may not appear until close to game time Friday.