A Very Coco Christmas

It seems that one of our freshmen, Courtney Garth, who picked up the nickname "Steamboat" during the season, is now also answering to "Coco." Is this, like the Steamboat name, a reference to her Colorado roots? Is it because she openly lusted after the Swiss Miss cocoa at the Forester White Elephant party? I'm not sure and perhaps it's okay if the coaches remain in the dark on this one...

This is the first of what I hope will be a continuing feature this offseason--a kind of meet-the-team spread. There is much more to us than the roster; there are personalities and stories and roommates and friends and activities that go far beyond a bunch of jersey numbers and hometowns. And the stat sheet, which reduces everything to minutes played and goals scored is far less than the big picture. So here, without further ado, a freshman midfielder from Steamboat Springs, Colorado...Courtney Garth!

Steamboat and her sisters in (wait for it) Steamboat, CO. Love the side-pony Boat. Hello to canines Oreo and Rosie and older sisters Casey and Mallory

What were you thinking when you got to school on the first day of preseason? Were you nervous?

Yes I was nervous entering preseason. I grew up in a small town playing with the same girls my whole soccer career. Now I was surrounded by new coaches and new teammates. Preseason was my chance to prove myself; to show my fitness level, my strength, and my talent on the field. Proving my abilities to the coaches was not the only thing on my mind. I had to prove myself to returning players and upperclassmen, I didn’t want to be seen as the little weak baby freshman. As the week went on though, my nervousness and anxiety turned to excitement and anticipation.

Was it hard to get to know the girls? Were the upperclassmen mean? Were you homesick?

The girls on the team were very friendly and easy to get to know. LA (Lisa Sorensen) was of course very friendly since I was her recruit the year before. There are always the upperclassmen on the team who seem more intimidating than others. For me, the two upperclassmen that instilled the most fear in me without saying a single word to me were Webs (Emily Weber), and believe it our not I actually thought Isabel had somewhat of an intimidation factor. Of course as the season went on my thoughts on these two players changed. They are both very fun, and friendly on and off the field. Since the girls on the team were so easy to get to know, I never really got homesick. The only time I got homesick was during the first two days after I arrived at school when I had to sleep in my room alone because my roommates hadn’t come to school yet.

Kate Fridholm and Boat

What thing do you have in your dorm room that you couldn't do without?

This was a difficult question. There are many items in my room that I wouldn’t want to do without, including my Spongebob Squarepants blanket. The one thing I couldn’t do without though is my guitar. I can’t say I’m a very good guitar player, but it does keep me company when my roommates are away for hockey games, and it provides my room with entertainment whenever Emily (one of my roommates) and I decide we want to sing a duet to our other roommate Maeve. My guitar is also a way for me to relieve my stress from school and soccer.

Do you live with a soccer player? Tell us about your roommate--or roommates in general.

Both of my roommates are hockey players. They are both from Boston, MA. I think I got very lucky with my roommate situation. I love both of my roommates; we all get along extremely well. I was nervous about rooming with them when I discovered that they were friends and had played on the same hockey team. I thought I was going to end up being the third wheel. I figured they would have inside jokes and want to do everything together and almost forget about me. It is the complete opposite. Often times we eat dinner together and lunch, and we also study together in the library. We always find each other on the weekends and make time to hang out. My roommates are great.

A roommate pic. One of these cute kids plays soccer. Can you guess which one?

Were you in good enough shape? Will you do things differently next summer to prepare?

For the most part, entering the season I felt like I was in pretty good shape. I was able to complete the 2 mile test, the shuttles, and most of the lifting tests. That being said, I think I could have come in in a little better shape. I could have been stronger in the weight room, and quicker with the shuttles. This summer I plan to pretty much follow the same routine that I did last summer, but I need to mentally push myself harder. I need to strictly follow the workout packet that coach gives us and I think if I do that, my fitness for next season will be great.


What was your favorite part about playing soccer? Your least favorite part?

My favorite part about playing soccer this season was the higher level of play that I encountered. For me I think my freshman season was one in which I really discovered what it takes to be a strong player at the division III level and for me to figure out how to adapt and adjust to the speed of play. The competitive factor at the collegiate level is also far different from high school and I embraced that as well. My least favorite part of the season was of course the end of our season when we lost in the conference tournament. Honestly I didn’t really have a least favorite part about soccer season, I loved every minute of it.

How were your classes? Was your schedule good for practice or would you arrange it differently? Were you ever completely overwhelmed by homework and road trips and practices?

For the most part my classes were good. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I was done with class by 11am and on Tuesdays and Thursdays I was done by 2:20pm. I always had time to finish my homework or talk to professors and I rarely missed class for away trips since I finished class in the morning most days. There were only a few times when I felt overwhelmed by homework and road trips, but it was because of my great ability to procrastinate. Honestly time management is key during soccer season.



You tried out for hockey but didn’t make the team. Will you try again? Will you miss it?

I was pretty disappointed in myself when I didn’t make the hockey team. I grew up in a ski town where most of my friends skied, but I played hockey. I love watching and playing hockey, so it was very disappointing when I didn’t make the team. My performance in try outs was not what is should have been. My nerves did get the best of me and I failed to prove that I could play at the collegiate level. With that said, I haven’t yet decided if I will try out again. I do miss playing, but it was also nice to have a break after the soccer season. My decision as to whether I try out again will come later in the spring.

I'm sure everyone in this huddle agrees that the hockey team is crazy for thinking that Steamboat couldn't help them. Well, everyone except Bri, she looks a little skeptical



Thanks to Courtney and her sisters for the thoughtful answers and good photos.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you from Maine to Arizona, from South Porcupine, Ontario to Santa Monica, California. Enjoy the holiday spirit, the extra sleep, and the time with your families.

Much love from the Foresters.

Woohoo!

Congrats LA! Named to second team All-Region! Only player from the Midwest Conference on the list. Very impressive.(Must be the headband)

Full release here

On soccer vacation and not getting much sleep

An eventful week here for your Foresters.

Sunday afternoon was our end of the season awards banquet and we learned that we are a pretty smart group. We had 15 upperclassmen eligible to receive an award for Academic All-Conference, 10 of them had won the honor with a GPA of 3.2 or above. Becky Esrock received the award for the Forester with the highest overall GPA last year. And outgoing captain Christine Sorensen, looking stressed out over having to finish 3 papers before Monday, is no doubt going to do incredibly well on each of them.

A quick but hearty congratulations to our MVP Emily Weber, our MIP Molly Shaw, and our newly christened captains Mira Trebilcock and Isabel Brown. I think we have already mentioned our first and second team all-conference athletes, but just in case: Emily Weber, BZ Greene, Becky Esrock and Lisa Sorensen were all selected by opposing coaches for that honor. Well done ladies.


The pile before we started selecting

Yesterday afternoon we had our annual team White Elephant gift exchange/team meeting. We held a gift exchange and most people seemed like they were satisfied. Suzi Milic came away with a new mug and some hot chocolate (with marshmallows!), Wisconsin-native Anya Moran escaped with her green and yellow Packer scarf*, Kate Fridholm secured a children's toy that is sure to give her hours of enjoyment, and Isabel Brown was spotted munching on the Nerds candy that came as part of her gift.

*Anya's family had 48 lbs of Turkey and 10 pies at their Thanksgiving celebration. I suspect if I were a member of the Moran family I would weigh 600lbs.

Of course, there is more to life to soccer, the soccer team, and soccer team meetings as Mira Trebilcock proved when she went dressed as Mario to a hockey team event. She's like Landon Donovan, we're okay with loaning her out once our season is over, just as long as she remembers who butters her bread.

Further evidence of smart kids: these outfits took only 15 minutes to assemble.


Last day of classes today for these kids. They are going to need all those smarts in their finals that begin on Friday. Fingers crossed they all keep doing incredibly well in their studies!

A Big Win and A Good Group

The US Women's National Team just beat Italy in a home-home series to get a bid to the Women's World Cup in Germany next summer. The draw for the 16-team tournament was held this afternoon. The Women's World Cup is set up just as the men's tournament is--with a round robin first round and the top two teams advancing to a single-elimination bracket.

The United States is in Group C with North Korea, Sweden, and Colombia.

Find the other 3 groups and the schedule for next summer here

The Offseason Came Too Soon

The Foresters are still in recovery mode after an extremely disappointing loss to eventual MWC Champion Lawrence University in the conference semifinal match.

Some of us appear to be in the throes of the grieving process and I'm hoping that the final stage of the process: Acceptance, is just around the corner. In the meantime it's hard to come up with anything fun, witty, informative, creative, or playful regarding our season. We had a good run and it ended too soon.

Congrats to Lawrence who beat us 4-3 and Carroll University 2-1, before falling to Wheaton (IL) College in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

You can follow the DIII tournament here. The DI Women's Tournament bracket is here and their Final Four will be on ESPN2/U in a couple weeks.

In addition, the US Women's National Team experienced some rare and unexpected difficulty in regional World Cup qualifying when they lost to Mexico a couple weeks ago for the first time in their history. They recovered with a 5-0 rout of Costa Rica, but still need to beat Italy to advance to the World Cup in Germany next summer. The first of the two-game series is being played in Italy this Saturday, November 20. They will play at Toyota Park in Chicago on November 27. Should they beat Italy it will mean the #1 team in the world is the last to qualify for the 2011 World Cup. Follow the action on ESPN3.com.

The Worst Weekend Ever

The following is an example of how hard it is to complain about our lives.

Us Foresters attend school in a beautiful suburb of one the country's greatest cities. Our campus is less than a mile from one of the world's largest lakes. We live with our best friends, have food prepared for us in an above-average cafeteria, and we don't have to do our own dishes. We attend small classes of our choosing taught by excellent (and occasionally amusing) professors. And with our free time we get to play a game. To help us out the school gives us uniforms and coach buses and pretty great fields.

But sometimes we have to take long bus trips...like to Grinnell, Iowa.
Caroline Stearns catches up on sleep

We had to take one such trip over the weekend. A scheduling quirk meant that we had to travel to Grinnell Friday night, play a tough conference team Saturday, travel back home, and play another conference team Sunday afternoon. Not easy.

But it worked out. We won our game on Saturday and then cheered the boys to victory as well.
Watching the Men's game

Yay! Molly's brother Max scored a goal!

Okay, so it isn't all sunshine and pancakes. We had to eat dinner at a truck stop twice in 24 hours. Our muscles were sore and our legs were tired for our Sunday game and we certainly didn't play the best soccer of our lives against Beloit. But two weekend victories means we are guaranteed a spot in the Conference Tournament.

This upcoming weekend we get to host two games at home, so no bus trips or truck stops. Whew!

Three Priorities, a Fun Hobby, and Two Endorsements

During the season we like to say that our kids have three things that take precedence over everything else. The first, of course, is family. The second is academics. Lake Forest College is an academically demanding school. The Conference, the Athletic Department, and the coaches try to make it as easy as possible for our kids to do well in school in (and out) of season. Finishing a strong third is soccer and the team. In season, all of those priorities mean that there isn't a ton of time for other things. Still, our student athletes seem to find plenty of time for napping, socializing, and watching Grey's Anatomy and Jersey Shore.

Over the week of homecoming a few players competed (I use that term VERY loosely) in a Intramural volleyball tournament. Pretty sure they had fun dressing up and playing even if we learned they aren't terribly good at volleyball.
Rocky spent quite a bit of time on the floor

They might have had a better chance of winning if they could stop laughing for 5 seconds
Rocky takes Webby out. And they still lost the point.


Two extremely unofficial endorsements:

If you see a Forester chewing gum during a game or practice it is most likely Extra peppermint flavor. Coach Geiser provides the gum and prefers Extra peppermint for its long lasting flavor, general chewability, and breath freshening capabilities.


Since our season takes place in the autumn months, many of the Foresters favorite things are associated with apples, pumpkins, apple cider, and changing leaves. A beverage that seems to encapsulate all of those in one warm, yummy package is the Pumpkin Spice Latte. Alumnae who are feeling a little homesick for Forester Soccer have been known to drive far out of their way to pick a PSL up as a spirit-boost.

Playing Our Game

This week has been pretty fun for a number of reasons. Tops on the list has been the weather. Practice is always more fun when the sun is out, the air is crisp, and the grass is green.

The second has been that this week we have a singular focus: Play well against Carroll. "Winning" is something that we can think about, but mostly, if we play 90 minutes of our soccer: smart, hard, skilled Forester Soccer, we will have put ourselves in a position to come out with a victory. We can go into Homecoming Weekend feeling good about ourselves, our effort, our intensity, and our week of practice.

Not to say that we aren't pretty focused on doing all that AND winning. Just saying "victory" is sometimes out of our hands. All that other stuff we can control--effort and heart and soccer smarts, while occasionally elusive, are still more more tangible than a goal of "let's win!"

If you want to see us open up Lake Forest Homecoming Weekend with our best effort against our toughest Conference opponent, please tune in at 4:30pm tomorrow. The game will be available for viewing on the internet here

Wish us luck!

Falling Behind and Staying Ahead

Whew.

A whirlwind week last week for us. Two weeknight games on the road means late nights for both players and coaches. Eating dinner at Taco Bell in Kenosha, WI at 10pm on a Thursday certainly leaves a little something to be desired...

A few positives from a two-loss week: we tried a new formation, had some excellent moments against a skilled team, improved our soccer IQ a bit, and enjoyed a much-needed weekend off.

This week our focus is on one thing: picking up a victory at home against Carroll University to open up Homecoming Weekend at Lake Forest College. Our current seniors have not beaten Carroll in their career and it is beginning to feel like it's time.

Happy Monday! The countdown to Carroll is at 100 hours...

Victory!

We earned our first overtime victory of the season on Saturday at Lawrence University. The game was fairly even--Lawrence had some chances they didn't capitalize on, and we hit the post and the crossbar a couple times in the first half. Both teams had some defensive errors and breakdowns and displayed some nice finishing. Unfortunately we were always playing from behind.

Lawrence scored, we scored, Lawrence scored, we scored. That took us to overtime tied at two goals apiece. Overtime is two ten-minute, golden goal periods. If either team scores, the game ends; if 20 minutes elapse without a goal, the game ends in a tie.

As you can see from the box score, Becky Esrock buried one at the end of the first OT period to win the game. Lawrence has now fallen to 2-1 in conference while the Foresters remain undefeated at 3-0.

A longer practice week awaits us this week, with just two games. We host Concordia College of Wisconsin on Thursday and travel back to northeastern Wisconsin on Saturday to play St. Norbert College in another tough conference match-up.

Hopefully coming up this week on the ForesterSoccer blog: a chance to "meet" some of the players who you never really see in the box score, but who are crucial to our success. Freshman sweeper Courtenay Raymond for example, or backup goalkeeper Angie Chronis, or senior fullback C.C. Hayne.

Stay tuned.

A Little About Appleton, WI

Your Foresters are heading north to Appleton, WI tomorrow morning to take on the Vikings of Lawrence University. Both teams are 2-0 in Conference headed into tomorrow, so it should prove to be a good game. It is certainly one in which we hope to come away with a victory, but the Vikings have been a tough opponent for us I'm recent years.

Some facts about Appleton and Lawrence:

--Harry Houdini spent his childhood there after being born in Hungary.

--The actor Willem Dafoe (played the Green Goblin in Spiderman) was raised there and began his acting career at a local community theater.

--Lawrence is the second oldest co-ed college in the country, having admitted women a year after Oberlin College began doing so. Lawrence was chartered and founded in 1847, a year before Wisconsin became a state.

--Actor Campbell Scott, son of George C. Scott, is an LU alum; as is Terry Moran from ABC's Nightline; and Jeffrey Jones, who played the principal in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

--John Bradley, one of the men in the famous photo (and subsequent statue) of the flag-raising at Iwo Jima, grew up in Appleton and was a graduate of Appleton West High School. After the war he returned there and raised a family.

--Sen. Joseph McCarthy began his political career in Appleton and is buried in a local cemetary.

--If you find yourself in Appleton and notice a not-so-great odor it is, no doubt, the paper mills along the Fox River. Appleton is a center of the U.S. paper industry--Kimberly Clark and others are located nearby.

--The Hearthstone House, now a local museum, was the first residence in the world to be powered by an Edison hydroelectric station. Appleton also was the first community in the national to have an electrically powered street car, was home to the first telephone hook-up in Wisconsin, and the first incandescent light bulb outside the east coast.

--Lawrence University is named after its founder, Amos Lawrence, a Boston philanthropist and abolitionist. Lawrence, Kansas is named after his family as well.

The Art of the Headband

Emily "Webs" Weber has been named MWC Defensive Player of the Week for the second straight week.

Lisa "LA" Sorensen has been named Offensive PotW as well, meaning the Foresters swept those awards.

What I think is important here is the photo. Notice the headbands. Is it a coincidence that our top three scorers and points leaders--these two and Becky "Rocky" Esrock, wear headbands during every contest? Perhaps it is. But athletes tend to be a little superstitious...Hope those headbands are equally effective against the North Park Vikings this afternoon.

The official press release is available here. More information on the Foresters' site.

Heading To The City

Last week, we had a first real test against MSOE. We passed. Barely. We did some really nice things for periods of time and then we did some really ugly things. But hopefully we learned from our (numerous) mistakes and can apply the "lessons learned" in the future.

Saturday we picked up our second conference win of the season against Ripon. Historically Ripon is a team we have beaten, and that was no different this year. We won convincingly and kept the shutout, always crucial in a conference game.

Today is another non-conference opponent we should match up well with. North Park University, located on the Northwest side of Chicago, always has a good team with some speed, something that has given us trouble in the past.

As usual, scores will be posted on the school website and Twitter, though the game is not available on webcast.

Our First Real Test

Do you trust these two to lead us to victory? You're going to have to, as they are among the 11 starters for our game this afternoon against the Raiders of the Milwaukee School of Engineering*.

*It has been suggested that "Raiders" is not a great nickname for a bunch of engineers from Wisconsin...You may leave more appropriate suggestions in the comment section.

But back to the photo above. It was taken on picture day, with the team in their old uniforms. [Pics of the new ones up soon!] Senior and team captain Emily Weber,* has managed to wedge crazy Californian and fellow senior, BZ Greene, into her jersey. Sigh. I just take photos, I try not to ask too many questions...

*Emily Weber has been named Midwest Conference Player of the week for her role in the first two victories of our young season. Congrats Webby!

The game this afternoon begins at 4:30. The weather should be perfect. Let's hope the result is one we are happy with.

Only conference games are available on the webcast, but the results of this non-conference match will be posted on Twitterand the athletics website.

More information on the Midwest Conference can be found here.

1-0 Has A Nice Ring To It

The humidity soared, but the rain held off, allowing our full squad to see minutes during a 7-0 rout of a depleted Cougars squad.

The Foresters scored early and often in the first half and spent the second working more on possession and ball movement. All in all a pretty successful way to begin the 2010 season.

Full recap and boxscore are available here

Game Day, part I

After a short but intense and fun practice yesterday, your Lake Forest Foresters are ready to protect their home field against the visiting Concordia College of Chicago Cougars.

No webcast available for this non-conference game, but positive thoughts and energy sent our way are always greatly appreciated. Results will be available on Twitter and the Athletics website following the game.

Preseason Ends, Is Autumn beginning?

The temperature after sunrise this morning in Chicago was 57 degrees. It is beginning to feel a whole lot like September, meaning that summer may be in our rear-view mirror. So as our players head to their first classes of the year this morning, I'm guessing few of them are wearing shorts and tee-shirts and more are leaning towards long-sleeves and jeans.

The switch to a "normal" college schedule, with classes and without freshman orientation, means that we are in our "normal" practice schedule. You'll see us out on Wasylik field between 4:30-6:30 most days. This Saturday we will hold our annual Red/Black intrasquad scrimmage on the Farwell Field turf in anticipation of Wednesday's season opener...Whew. I just got nervous.

2010 Season Is Underway

The first three-a-day and two-a-day practices are over. The first scrimmage is under our belts. The soreness is ever-present but the blisters are fading. The freshmen are meeting their roommates and dormmates and classmates and the upperclassmen are eagerly anticipating the arrival of their friends. In other words, another season has begun.

We are loving the new Sports and Recreation Center, getting to know our new Athletic Trainer, and getting used to the fact that our conference peers expect us to contend for the Championship this season.

Our full and official roster will soon be posted on the Forester Athletics website.

In the meantime, we will be busily preparing for our first game on September 1 vs. Concordia College of Chicago.

Mira Trebilcock, this one's for you

Happy Canada Day!

From The Mitten (Michigan) to The Boot (Italy)

Incoming senior and team captain Christine Sorensen (AKA Sea Sore) has spent the past semester in Rome, where she just finished up her finals. She sends us a message and a few photos.

Ciao from Roma!

I cannot believe my time abroad is almost over. It has been one of the most wonderful experiences of my life. I've been able to travel around Europe too which has added to the experience. Everyday on my walk to school I pass ruins, Piazza Navona and St. Peters Basilica. Everywhere I go in Rome there is tons of history and also tons of people. The Roman people are a special breed which has taken time to get used to, but I know when I leave I will miss them. For instance, on my run the other day I saw a man walking around in regular man clothes, but with high heels on. He rocked them.

The Roman people also make intense soccer fans. Rome won against Lazio (it is kind of like a White Sox vs. Cubs game) and EVERYONE in Rome went wild. Wild is an understatement actually. The streets were not silent until 1 am. People were waving flags on their Vespas, out their car windows etc. It was madness. I did go to a Roma soccer match. It was the coolest thing to experience. A lot of that had to do with the fact that David Beckham played and he took off his shirt. ;)


Rome has been great, but I am looking forward to my return and to a wonderful season coming up!

Arrivederci,
Sea Sore

Greece, part II

From Webby:

Cliff diving has happened multiple times.

Hostels are okay at best--I have 45 bug bites from our last one which is not ideal..We also are not allowed to flush toilet paper down most of the toilets in them, so that's fun.



Coolest thing I've done is play pick up soccer against cocky Bulgarian guys who thought they were gonna own us and then when we started playing and BEAT them they shut up, it was legit.

Nafplion and Mykonos have been our favorite places I'd say and we've done some pretty sick hikes to see some cool views/sunsets. I attached a couple of pictures. The first is from Nafplion and the second is from the island of Delos which is right off of Mykanos. Third is our view from our hotel:Paradise Beach.

Foresters, The Greece Contingent

Four of our players are in Greece this quarter, touring the country and learning about Greek culture, politics, and history along with 20 other Lake Forest students and professors.

Above is a photo of a couple of them cliff-diving. Below is a short summary of what they have been up to. (Since they wrote it to their coaches it's heavy on the "we have been working out, promise!" type stuff.)

From C.C.:

All is well over here in Greece! I'm working on postcards right now in the lounge of our hostel, about to go on a jog around the Acropolis. Yes, really.

Us soccer girls have been really busy in Greece: we just got back from a 2-day stay in Olympus (Webs and I received the silver and bronze medals in the sprint competition at the site of the first Hellenic games in 776 B.C.E...Joc and BZ were unable to compete due to illness but had they participated the races would have been much closer) and now we have a few days in Athens before we head off to Mykonos for about 4 days. The weather has been wonderful here so we've all been working out quite a bit, relaxing on the beach, and enjoying the fine Greek cuisine--Webs and I tried snails while we stayed on Crete!--but nothing can keep us away from a good ol' Starbucks fix once in a while. Don't fret though, as it is not all fun and games: we have been on-site at sanctuaries, temples, palaces, and have visited a plethora of museums during our stay here.


From Jocelyn:

Tonight, I played soccer with some locals with Emily and Devin (CC was doing laundry, and BZ has been sick). Didn't realize the plan was to jog over to a field to play, so I went in khacki shorts, a fleece, and a regular bra. I looked as ridiculous as the people who ski in jeans, but we won a game and kept up fairly well.

From Webby:

Look at us reppin our LFC soccer gear!






More updates on spring practice and off-campus players to follow! Happy Spring everyone.

Spring Has Sprung!

The Forester Soccer Blog has been quiet lately but the players have been hard at work: in the classroom, in the weight room, on the basketball court, the handball court, and on the (hockey) ice. But the always-indoors time of year in the Midwest has come to a close--it's 70 degrees in Chicago today, so blog and outdoors activity will be picking up quickly.

And now that Spring Break is over, and the end of the semester and the academic year are in sight, the real work begins.

Our Conference recently approved a spring season, so for the next few weeks the Foresters will be out practicing twice a week--getting a chance to officially run around in the sun with their teammates. More on this to come...

Four of our number (Jocelyn, BZ, CC, and Webby) are in Greece for a couple months with an off-campus program. Hopefully we will have a blog update from them in the coming weeks.

So come back soon!