Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Day 7: Men's Soccer Ties, Women Lose to a Premier League Team

Wednesday, August 4, 2010 Women’s Soccer
Hello from England!!! Today was another long day for our team. We woke up at 9 and had breakfast and then the team had some free time. Most of that time was spent napping since we are tired out from all the activities they have us doing every day. In the afternoon we headed into the city of Manchester for a tour of Old Trafford, Manchester United’s stadium. This was one of the most exciting days of our trip so far. Words can’t describe the feeling that we received when we walked into the stadium. The first thing I noticed was the overwhelming size and of course the grass. Honestly it was the greenest grass I have ever seen in my entire life and all we wanted to do was get a chance to touch it, but that wasn’t allowed! However, we did get the chance to go into the players lounge and the players changing room. This was extremely cool because many of our soccer idols have played for Manchester United and being in their changing room was an unreal experience. My favorite part of the tour was walking out of the players tunnel onto the field. It was truly an inspiring feeling! The tour then ended at the Mega Store where we all bought lots of Manchester United gear!!! At 6:30 we had our game against Preston North End of the Women’s English Premier League. We played really hard as a team, but this professional opponent out played us. But this was an excellent opportunity to be challenged by such a good team, and it ended up being a great learning experience for us all. All of the girls are now sitting in the lounge waiting for our dinner, which is pizza tonight. I must say that we are all excited to have some American food because we are having a hard time adjusting to the local food! We will be up bright and early tomorrow for another day of fun as we head into our final country, Ireland!!!!
Kelly Prendergast #9

Wednesday, August 04, 2010 Men’s Soccer
Today was incredible. We started off with a free morning to catch up on sleep and ensure we were rested for the big day ahead of us. After lunch at the hotel we were off to Old Trafford, home of the most iconic sports team in the world, Manchester United. The tour was amazing. Everything from hanging out in the player’s lounge and dress room to the quality of the pitch was wild. Pretty much everyone on the team got a picture sitting in Rooney or Giggs’ spot in the locker room. Once the tour ended we hopped back on the bus and headed over to our third game of the trip against Garshstine FC, a second tier club. This was certainly the most physical and toughest match we have experienced thus far. The match ended in a 1-1 draw with both goals being scored on free kicks. Jimmy Deasel hit his bending free kick off the post in the upper right corner. Despite all the trash talk and hard fouls in the game, after the 90 minutes were up both teams meshed together for a picture. The opposing coach approached James Quinn, our goalkeeper, and handed him an award as he was chosen Man of the Match by the fans. Our final day in England was awesome, but I believe I speak for all of the team that we are more than ready to head to Dublin for the final stretch of the trip. Well we have to wake up at 5 in order to catch the ferry, so wish us luck in Ireland!
Brad Houseknecht #5