Conference tournament and game update

Greetings Norse fans!

The IIAC tournament kicks off in just over 24 hours. The #5 Luther men will travel to Central to take on the #4 Dutch Tuesday, Nov. 2 (game time TBA). The #4 Luther women will HOST #5 Coe on WEDNESDAY, NOV. 3 at 7 p.m.

Winners move on to the semi-finals this weekend at Loras College in Dubuque on Friday, Nov. 5. Semi-final winners move on to the finals (yup still at Loras) on Saturday, Nov. 6. (See below)

Semi-final matches • Friday, Nov. 5 at Rock Bowl Loras College, Dubuque
Men
#1 Wartburg vs. Central/Luther winner, TBA
#2 Loras vs. Dubuque/Coe winner, TBA
Women
#1 Loras vs. Luther/Coe winner, TBA
#2 Wartburg vs. Dubuque/Simpson winner, TBA

Championship matches • Saturday, Nov. 6 at Rock Bowl Loras College, Dubuque
Men's final, 4:30 p.m.
Women's final, 7 p.m.

GAME UPDATE BELOW

Since our last post, we have gone 1-1. We defeated Cornell, 7-1, and lost to UW-Platteville, 0-2.

Scoring in the Coe match was Renee (an update from the last post) assisted by Kelsey B. Haager stopped two shots for her first shutout of the year.

In the Cornell game-there was a plethora of scoring:

Goal 1: Dani (UNA)
Goal 2: Paige (Kelsey B.)
Goal 3: Anna (Kelsey B. and Dani)
Goal 4: Anna (Kelsey B.)
Goal 5: Renee (Sami)
Goal 6: Kirsten (UNA)
Goal 7: Maggie H. (Kendra)

And a plethora of drama... two-near fights broke out, and were handled by the referees.

In the Platteville game, we just didn't come with our A+ game. We played well, but couldn't stop the Platteville shot, and couldn't find the back of the net. We're sitting at 9-7-1 overall, 5-3 in conference play headed into the conference tournament.

Come cheer the Luther Women on WEDNESDAY, NOV. 3 at 7 p.m. at the Luther pitch. Go NORSE!

WIN!

Another win for the Norse-we beat Coe 1-0 today! More info to come!

Rollercoaster ride

Well the last week has been a roller coaster ride of sorts, playing some great soccer and playing a little too "inside the box." (And I don't mean the 18.)

We beat the Buena Vista Beavers Oct. 13, 3-0. Considering we shot 29 times, it could have been a whole lot worse (for the Beavers). Dani had her fourth goal of the season, and was credited with an assist on each of the other two goals. Kels scored her fifth of the year and Kat had our final goal, on a beautiful corner kick by Renee.

We also took it to Simpson and silenced the Storm Oct. 16, 3-1. Simpson was first on the board, but didn't find the net again after Luther put in the equalizer via Paige, assisted by Kendra. Kat scored her second goal of the week, assisted by Paige, and Kirsten knocked home some insurance with an unassisted goal. Elisabeth made six saves in her first collegiate start.

Sunday was not our finest day (Oct. 17). St. Ambrose came knocking, and we let them in. The Fighting Bees put two in in the first half, and one in the second to slam the door shut for the Norse.

If you can, watch the Norse take on Coe today at 1 p.m. Available via webcast at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/coe.portal#

Update!

AACK! My posts haven't been posting! I'm not sure where they went-so I'll do my best to give you a mega-but-quick-and-easy-to read-update now.

Ok, so it's been a bit of a rough patch for us since our last post. On Sept. 25 we took on the DuHawks at Loras. They're a good team, and when you have to play them on their turf (literally, turf I mean) they're even better. We came out and played ok soccer, not our best... and it felt like we were playing "catch-up" the majority of the game. We had game-ending injuries-Dani had a knock to the noggin that left her loopy, and Katie thought she might have broken her toe (luckily she didn't... was a sprain).

We had a good game against Viterbo, defeating them 4-1 without two of our regular starters. Kels and Kendra each had two goals against the V-Hawks. (Another hawk that doesn't actually exist.) Maggie J. and Kels each had an assist.

Then came the weekend from hell, two one-goal losses. Ugh. We played Wartburg at home, and lost 1-2. Wartburg scored in the 41st and 54th minutes, then Maggie H. (assisted by Ken) flung a bomb at the Knights goalkeeper in the 72nd minute to bring us within one. We really fired up and crushed Wartburg those last 20 minutes, but couldn't equalize the game with a goal.

We traveled to Eau Claire the next morning for another battle with a regionally-ranked team. We played well, and this was a fun game to watch-Durnin came out with some magic today. I was pretty sure this game was going to be a tide-turner for us... but we lost, 0-1.

Ok-so Maggie H. was a super star against Central... they just couldn't handle her. She put in three goals against the Dutch. Her first two came in the first half at 32 and 33 minutes in. Her third was a PK, after the Dutch goalkeeper denied a goalscoring opportunity when she dragged Kirsten down in the box. Anna and Kendra each had a goal in the first half, and Kirsten wrapped up scoring for the Norse in the 88th minute. Molly M., Kat and Paige recorded assists. Bekah got her first collegiate minutes in goal-a prelude to what was to come Saturday.

Saturday... uffda. A small defensive hiccup cost us the game. We out-played the Spartans in my humble opinion. Our defense stepped up to protect the goal, flinging themselves in front of shots and Bekah made five saves in her first collegiate start. The gals adapted to our coaching changes with ease. We asked them to do a lot on Saturday-and they did it without question.

We're looking forward to hosting BV this Wednesday at 7 p.m. The game will be video streamed, just go to this link: http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/luther.portal# and click "Luther Women's Soccer Vs. Buena Vista." The men start off play at 5 p.m. Come watch both Norse teams attack the Beavers.

Alumni Event!!!

Check out this beautiful invite Christina made for the Oct. 2 Alumni Event!

I throw my hands up in the air sometimes...

What a great game! We had some girls play their best game of the year vs. Mac on Sept. 19. The Luther women's soccer team defeated Macalester (1-0) for the first time in school history.






The BEST part of the Mac game... ok one of the best parts... was the fact that we didn't even play our best team soccer. We still have more to give. Kelsey's goal was a beauty-a team effort if you will.




Prior to the Mac game, we lost to St. Olaf, 0-4. Our worst loss in recent history. We played well, up until the PK that Olaf made... then it was sort of all downhill for us.

We bounced back with a win over St. Mary's, 2-0. Both goals were scored by Dani, assisted by Paige. Those were some pretty goals. Stunning actually!

Come down to Dubuque, to catch us in our conference opener on Saturday, Sept. 25 at 3:30 p.m. We're ready to take it to Loras!

Game tonight-streamed online!

Greetings Norse Soccer Fans!

We've got a home game tonight vs. St. Olaf, be there or be square. (Or watch it online if you can't get to Decorah for the game!!) The game will be available here: http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/luther.portal#

We play at 5 p.m. and the men follow at 7 p.m. Hope to see you all there!

First game tomorrow-streamed live

NOTE TO PARENTS AND FANS!!

Tomorrow night's game will be streamed live on the web-so if you can't make it to the game to support the Norse... you can cheer from the comfort of your home or office by going to this link: http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/augsburg.portal#.

GO NORSE!

All tied up: aka Ropes Course

This morning was awesome! Big thanks to Greg Lonning and his crew for taking us through the ropes course! What a blast! Team bonding, laughs, conquering fears and a bit of a workout as an added bonus.









Come out and cheer on the boys tonight-they're having a blue vs. white scrimmage tonight at 8 p.m. on the game pitch. See you there!

People helping People

What a morning! We headed out to Freeport to do a little manual labor this morning. The team pitched in to help build a home for Habitat for Humanity. We pounded nails, hammered frames, ripped apart walls, built up and put up walls, and all with no breaks (or broken fingers for that matter).

So maybe we bent a few nails... but we also made some fantastic looking walls! I think we decided we "finished" one wall but built five sections of wall. (Six if you count the one we destroyed and rebuilt.)

A couple of our girls found out that if they fail miserably at college they may have found a calling in construction! We also found out that we have a few team members who should never be allowed around tools, let alone power tools.

Some facts about Habitat for Humanity that you may not know:

• Through volunteer labor and donations of money and materials, Habitat builds and rehabilitates simple, decent houses alongside our homeowner (partner) families.
• Habitat is not a giveaway program. In addition to a down payment and monthly mortgage payments, homeowners invest hundreds of hours of their own labor (sweat equity) into building their Habitat house and the houses of others.
• Habitat houses are sold to partner families at no profit and financed with affordable loans.
• The homeowners’ monthly mortgage payments are used to build still more Habitat houses.

For the full work up of Habitat info see: http://www.habitat.org/ or for information on our local (Winneshiek County) chapter of Habitat, see: http://www.habitat.org/cd/kit/homepage.aspx?page=winneshiek. I think a few of the gals have decided to become more involved in Habitat... they really seemed to love volunteering at the site. (Plus I think they liked working their biceps too! Those hammers don't swing themselves!)

Preseason Week One

One week down... one week to go! The LCWS ladies have been together for a week now-and are looking good! Here's the rundown:

Day one: Team meeting. 'nuf said.

Day two: NO EMERGENCY ROOM TRIPS! Yippee! (Compared to last year-that's an improvement!) We did have one gal run the 2-mile in 11:26-you know who you are you rockstar. And we've got a couple of gals with some mad hops-booyah vert jump! First scrimmage session of the year went well-lots of potential.

Day three-five: Two-a-days... no problem.

Day six: Scrimmage vs Upper Iowa. The Peacocks look better than last year. Our returners looked comfortable, and our newbies busted their butts... can't ask for more than that.

Day seven: Scrimmages vs. GAC, MAC and St. Olaf. All-in-all a good day... and we played better than we did vs. Upper Iowa. It was a good day.

One week (and one day) until our first match... I can't tell you how excited we are to play. It's like we just got a taste of our favorite kind of ice cream, and now can't eat the whole bowl until next week!

Back to School

Just a heads up: T minus two weeks and counting! Can't wait to get our returning players back on campus and our new recruits on campus and settled in! Preseason starts Wednesday, Aug. 18 with check-in and a team meeting.

Our new head coach Russell Schouweiler is on campus-his official start date was Monday. He and his wife Laree are in the process of getting settled in their new Decorah home. We've been busy this week with Iowa Private College Week-have had several recruits on campus.

Today is the last day of Luther Soccer Team Camp-our last day of camp for the summer. This year we held five camps: High School Elite Camp, High School Team Camp, Instructional Camp and two Mini Camps. Was a busy-but super fun summer! Check out the budding young soccer stars!

Stay tuned for more Luther College Soccer! Check back often for updates, scores, game reports and of course-lots of photos!