Good to be Back

As much as we all look forward to spending a weekend on the road, there’s nothing quite like the feeling of being back home (despite the hassle of unpacking all of our dirty laundry from the weekend when we get back).

Our road trip began by heading to Macomb, IL. There isn’t much there, so we arrived late Thursday night at the hotel, rested up, and woke up ready to rock and roll for the game that day. We ate breakfast on our own in the hotel, and then got lunch at Steve’s favorite sandwich shop from when he was in college and would visit Western Illinois. Let’s just say Steve’s favorite, wasn’t our favorite. We stopped back at the hotel, packed our stuff, and headed to the field.

Despite a slow start, and an all-around slow game, we found the back of the net on four occasions. I started the scoring in the 15th minute on a slotted ball back post. Marissa Stovring scored her first goal as a Panther on a ball from Lolo in the 43rd minute; hopefully there are many more to come from her! The second half brought two more goals, and first of the season for Anna Smalley and Maddie Tetzke.

We left straight from Western Illinois’ field and headed to Des Moines, Iowa for a matchup with Drake that was to come Sunday. We stopped at Olive Garden, the endless breadsticks really hit the spot, although the gluten-free girls were a bit envious ... Abbey even smelled a breadstick to get as close to eating it as she could. Once at the hotel, it was straight to bed, although the party in the lobby was tempting. We trained on Drake’s practice field, grabbed some lunch, and had some free time to explore downtown.

The morning started with a good breakfast at the hotel, a quick meeting, packing our bags, and we were off to the field. We came out strong, getting ourselves out front to a 1-0 lead, but a late first half goal from Drake had us tied going into the break. We gave up a late goal, and unfortunately traveled home 1-1 on the weekend, but we came back ready to go this week at practice.

I would like to give a big shout-out to all of the Panther fans that made the long trips this weekend; there’s nothing like seeing the familiar faces in the crowd when we are miles from home!

Two big games lie ahead this weekend, and both will be here in Milwaukee. Friday night is our crosstown rivalry with Marquette at Valley Fields at 7 pm, and Sunday we play a strong Iowa State team at home. Come out and support as we play our last few nonconference games of the year!