Summer 2011

by Anna Kennedy '12 (Evanston, IL)

So many people warned me that college was going to fly by… I didn’t believe them until now. Here I am preparing for my last ever season of collegiate soccer. It is crazy. But I’ll tell you this much- it helps when those days come around and you feel like rolling back over and not going to your morning workout, you pop RIGHT up. Knowing the end is so close… I’m not going out without putting my all in.

This summer has been a catch-up and getting myself back to the old, dare I say pre-cancer, Kennedy. I am not working at a job; I took classes to replace my dropped classes from last year so I can graduate on time (why I want to enter the real world I do not know…), and I am preparing for the upcoming amazing soccer season Case Women’s soccer has coming up. The great part about this summer is I am finding it’s not me getting back to where I was pre-“the big C”, it’s me becoming a new and better athlete, student, and person in general.

I have been SO fortunate to have the opportunity to train in a way I haven’t ever in my summers going into season before. For the past two and a half months I have been training with Northwestern University’s Goalkeeper Coach, Bayard Elfvin and two Division I goalkeepers. I couldn’t have asked for a better group to be involved with. From the great coaching and training from Bayard to the intense and focused atmosphere from the two D1 (DePaul and Valparaiso) girls, twice a week my body AND GKing mind got a great workout. For goalkeeping, running, lifting, sprint workouts, all of that will not come CLOSE to preparing you for season. Training for 2 hours twice a week with focusing on just our position is something all three of us were so grateful for. To put it in perspective of how good this training was, the Valparaiso keeper drover 1.5 hours one-way to come… It has really helped, and hopefully will show come season!

This summer has been great preparation for what is to come August 19^th. I cannot wait, and all the girls I have talked to this summer can say the same, this season is about to be something special.

Spring Break Adventures - Round 3

Journey to the Center of the Earth, Alabama: the Adventures of Devyn Lee, Maeve Goede, Alyssa Lauzau, Amanda Wojahn, and Kristina Vaci

Day 1, Saturday March 5, 2011

We started our journey at the Goede household, feasting on the food of their homeland of golden potatoes…and the most delicious mint chocolate chip pie. We learned that all collies do are look for kids in wells and that Irish people (a.k.a. maeve) can’t actually pronounce irish words such as shillelagh.

Day 2, Sunday March 6, 2011

We awoke at 5 am, and Mrs. Goede made us delicious hot chocolate. If only Maeve could be that cool. After a long morning of flying with a layover in Nashville, we officially made it to new Orleans. Woj picked us up with her aunts and mom and off to Alabama we went! As soon as we got to golf shores, Alabama we ran to the beach and frolicked in the water. Devo looked gorgeous in the sunset. Then we passed out 11…that was weird

Day 3, Monday March 7, 2011

We awoke to beautiful weather in the 60’s and immediately changed into bathing suits and went out to the beach! As always we had to be careful of Maeve’s precious albino skin, thus she layered.

As we lay in the lovely sun (and on top of a jellyfish graveyard considering they decided to do a mass suicide the week we came), we decided it would be a brilliant idea to jump in the ocean…turns out it was really cold. After about 5 minutes in the water we ran out of the water to go into the hot tubs. As we passed a lady and her daughter in sweaters and pants as where we were from, when we responded Cleveland, her response was ‘oh, that makes sense’. We fit in perfectly in Alabama!

So being in the south, the only thing that anyone ever really wants to do is eat Gumbo. That was my goal from the minute we left Cleveland, Ohio. For dinner we went to a seafood restaurant and my destiny was fulfilled. We ended the night with lovely card games and watching the Princess and the Frog in honor of being in the south and going down the bayou.

Day 4, Tuesday March 8, 2011

Woj’s aunts surprised us in the morning with some man catching beignets. We then set out to build the most epic sandcastle of all times, we named it…seahorse chateau. It was a most epic castle with 2 foot deep moat and 5 tiers with a most epic seashell flag. We then set out to experience Mardi Gras at it’s finest with a parade. Though Maeve wanted to flash the floats to get beads, we told her only tourists do that and she had to stop. After we each got a pound of beads we went off to adventure island, the most wonderful and dangerous mini golf in the south. Though it was tough, and Woj failed epically, the winner won by a long shot (*cough* me). We then grabbed some pizza and had several car honks our way.
Day 5, Wednesday March 9, 2011

The storm of the century hit Wednesday morning, lightning flashed all around us, thunder shook the structure of the building where we resided, gale force winds blew furniture and people through the air…but seriously there was a storm and we watched the rain come and had a tornado warning. We had a lazy Wednesday and watched movies. We ended the night playing cards and listening to lil jon and his inspirational go get ‘em words about taking it, because its yours.

Day 6, Thursday March 10, 2011

For the last day of our trip it was the loveliest day yet! It was bright and sunny and warm! We laid out all afternoon, with Alyssa and Maeve reapplying sun tan lotion every hour so as not to burn…they still burned, Maeve specifically in odd places on her arm and as a hickey on neck. We are still mind boggled. In the evening we went to a restaurant complete with trivia in which we won a tshirt and were treated to the amazing pleasure of a magician…who actually looked very sketchy in which we had to make sure everything was still in our wallets. We also had the pleasure of being hit on by a fine southern gentleman…in which we engaged in conversation about how he knew a girl named Adrian that moved to ohio…pure romance.

Day 7, March 11, 2011

We are now flying home to love Cleveland which apparently has a foot of snow awaiting us. We are not happy campers, but we did get the joy of having a flight attendant who liked playing songs over the loudspeaker and talk about musical chairs. Good times, it was a fabulous spring break and I couldn’t think of a better way to spend it J

By,
Kristina Vaci '12

Spring Break Adventures - Round 2

Rachel Bourque '14

So for Spring break 2011 I went to Ft. Lauderdale, FL to visit my grandfather with my mom. It was so amazing to get away from the cold and just relax, I didn't do much while in florida, basically just laid out in the sun at the pool or beach. But as you can see from the picture below, my mom and I went to see a Red Sox spring training game in Ft. Myers! and for all of you who don't know who is in the picture (shame on you) its WALLY the best baseball mascot ever. And the beautiful picture above is sadly not where we stayed in Florida, but where my mom and I snuck into to use their awesome pool...and stole towels so we can return next year :). WOO GO SOX,CELTICS AND PATRIOTS.

Alex Litofsky '12

A relaxing week in Punta Cana in La República Dominicana with mi familia consisted of playing in the ocean, enjoying the unfamiliar sensation of sunshine on my shoulders, and practicing un poco de español. ¡Qué divertido! The week ended with this photo, which was taken, amid much hilarity, by my brother in the Philadelphia airport.

Kerry Martenis '14 (picture to come!)

My spring break was spent at home in ever exciting Southgate, Michigan. I visited my grandma for a couple days, but other than that I was home hanging with my friends. We went to movies, had dinner, and played some soccer, but not too much since there was still snow everywhere. Overall, I just relaxed and gave my poor brain a well-earned break. The only downside was that break wasn’t longer. But now I'm recharged and ready to get back to work!

Spring Break Adventures - Round 1

Sammy Sarett '12 and Anna Kennedy '12

We had a blast in Florida this week! Here is a picture from it. Sorry it's not one of us running on the beach!

Kaitlin Dunn '14

Over break I have been spending a lot of time with my family and friends. And catching up on sleep and real food mmm :) I've been begging my mom for money a lot lately, so I didn't even want to ask about getting a flight to Florida with Rachel or to UT Austin to visit my best friend from home, Hannah. Being home has been relaxing and refreshing though. I included a picture of me and my mangy dog, Bartow (weird name, I know), watching TV. It hasn't been quite at home, though. You all remember my three borthers. Maeve, they've discovered ginger jokes and now that's alllllll they talk about hah. I really don't miss the Cleveland weather, the sun actually shines here, but I'm not dreading driving back on Saturday. Can't wait to play with you all this spring!! And I hope everyone had a good break!

Kendra Simmons '13

My family and I went to Sanibel Island in Florida for Spring Break. It was so great to get out of the gray Cleveland weather and have full week of sunshine down south. We relaxed at the pool and on the beach from sun up to sun down and then found some cool local restaurants to eat at each night. We stayed at a beautiful resort called Casa Ybel located right in Sanibel and about ten minutes from Captiva. I couldn't have asked for better weather or a better place to get away from schoolwork for a week.

Becca Vaughan '12

This year I spent my Spring Break in good old Parma, Ohio. Although I would love to say I just vegetated on my couch all week I had a lot of things to do. I had a wonderful opportunity to observe a Speech Language Pathologist a few days, in which I learned so much about the field. Also, I had a job interview for a summer position and I spent numerous hours exploring the requirements for prospective graduate schools. However, the highlight of my break was having my sister drive me around in my car. She has her temporary license and has only had the opportunity to practice in a minivan, so my car became her practice vehicle. Slightly scary experience at first, but I have gotten used to it. I am still in disbelief that she is old enough to drive. Even though I was busy I did get to spend some time on my couch watching Criminal Minds with my dog Daisy. Break went by quickly, but I truly believe I got what I needed, some R & R. How many days until summer?????

Almost spring...

by Kerry Martenis '14

The second semester has been flying by. It seems like just yesterday I was moving back in after winter break, but now it’s almost time for spring break! Through all this the dedicated women’s soccer team has been working hard in preparation for next season. We have all committed ourselves to being the best we can be so when next season rolls around, we will be the ones on top.

As a team, we just finished our intramural basketball season. We didn’t come out on top, but I’d like to think that we had fun along the way. I will admit though, it was a challenge some days to go out and play after having to do our strongman workouts. But I enjoyed the experience and look forward to playing again next year, even though I’m a pretty useless basketball player.

Now that basketball is over, we just have lifting and our own personal workouts, until after spring break. I can’t wait to lace up my cleats and walk out on that field again. I’m sure we’re all ready to get outside and get some touches on the ball. Speaking of spring, we all got a little dose of spring weather last week which was very refreshing, but I guess Mother Nature just isn’t ready to let go of winter yet. Let’s just hope she decides to roll in spring early this year.

On another note, a little update on the freshmen, we’ve all rushed sororities! There are three ladies in Phi Mu, one in Alpha Phi, one in Phi Sigma Rho, and last but not least one in Delta Gamma. We are the only class to have all rushed, and from what I’ve heard, everyone loves it.

So as we continue on through our second semester, we will continue to work hard on and off the field, or I guess it would be more accurate to say in and out of the weight room. We’ve committed ourselves and we are ready for anything.

Back to work!!

by Kendra Simmons '13 (Medina, Ohio)

Barely even a week in to the spring semester, the dedicated soccer girls are already back to work, preparing for the upcoming fall season. Even though next season seems forever away, we all know it will come around way faster than expected. Everyone has high standards placed on next year and the best way to attain them is to work harder than anyone else in the offseason.

To do this, Coach Rubin, our strength and conditioning coach/Case's track and field coach set up a regimen for us. We all are committed to lifting three times a week mixed with cardio workouts, all as a team. The rest of the week, we are able to complete our own workouts, whenever we can fit them in around classes. Since we do more sprint-type workouts as a team, I tend to do my longer distance running on my own. Unfortunately due to the lovely snow here in Cleveland, I am stuck on the treadmills inside. Even though our cardio room has nice, new equipment, I'd much rather be outside running in sunny weather! Of course, we like to keep touches on the ball too, so we organize pick-up games, usually on Fridays and play in the field house in Veale. To top everyting off, the team plays in the intramural basketball league every Wednesday and Sunday for a few weeks. Since I played basketball in high school and miss getting to play on a regular basis, I am always excited about lacing up the high tops instead of the cleats and shooting around for a while, but not very many other people get as excited as I do about this!

Even though we all have challenging class schedules, we enjoy making time to work out as a team, better ourselves every day, and have fun together. We never stay away from our soccer teammates for too long! We'll continue this regimen until spring break, then we get to actually have real practices and play in a few games. Befor we know it, we'll be back at Case after the summer, running the beloved beep test the first day of preseason! Can't wait!

The Holidays...ALREADY?!?

It seems like just a few weeks ago that everyone reported to preseason camp. The season flew by this year, probably because this team was so enjoyable and the challenges we faced on and off the field demanded a lot of time. Regardless, it was a great fall. We finished the season 9-8-1, another above .500 record playing one of the toughest schedules in the country. We faced 5 nationally-ranked teams, 7 teams that advanced to the NCAA tournament, and 3 teams that made it to the Elite Eight of the national tournament (and one in the Final Four). It was by far the most challenging schedule in recent years and our results were impressive, though not exactly what we had envisioned. The bright side...this group ended the season more motivated and energized to build on the season and find even greater success next fall. In their minds, the 2011 season has already begun. That's great news for a coach!

Before the team went home for Winter Break, we took a break from Finals to have our annual end of season Holiday Party. This year was great! As usual, we had a gift exchange (with some coveted gifts and some laughable ones). The big hits this year were a few scarves and some other great Black Friday finds. Some of the more comical ones included the Bootie Bump and few others. We also changed the them and wore ugly holiday sweaters. There were some classics, especially Steph's!

The freshmen were great entertainment this year with their clever rendition of "The 12 Days of Preseason." Their performance certainly puts them in the running for best Holiday Party entertainment.

We also viewed our highlight film which featured some great play from the year, a collection of photos stolen from Vaci's mom's website, and a mini-tribute to this year's senior class (Annie Altenau, Amy Baumann, Steph Chinchen, Cicy Fusco, Frannie Hogan, and Megan Link).

We also announced this year's Spartan Award winner, Anna Kennedy. The Spartan Award is the only team award we give out and it's voted on by every player on the team. It's given to the most dedicated team member and Anna is incredibly deserving.

We also gave another congrats to this year's All-UAA honorees: Kristina Vaci, Kendra Simmons, and Deena Levey (Second Team); Leah Levey and Anna Kennedy (Honorable Mention).

And, finally, the team AGAIN earned the NSCAA Team Academic Award for our outstanding team GPA.

2010 was a great year. Collectively, we learned a ton about what's important and what we all need to give to get where we want to go. There's a ton to be excited about in 2011!!

Kicks for a Cause 2010

While many people would think going through what I had to go through these past 5 months would be miserable, somehow it has been an eye opening experience in so many ways. Getting diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma on June 9^th did throw me off, I won’t lie, but what helped keep me stable through it all was my support that I had surrounding me the whole time; especially my team, coaches, and school.

Coach Tiff has brought a special weekend to our soccer program that helps our team reach out to the community—Kicks for a Cause. Last year we raised money and helped raise awareness for the Alzheimer’s Association, but this year the team thought it would be a cool idea to support the cancer center that I received treatment at here in Cleveland. Even more specifically we wanted to put the money towards a specific program that University Hospital has, the Adolescent & Young Adult (AYA) Cancer Initiative. The main objective of the Adolescent & Young Adult (AYA) Cancer Initiative at UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital is to not only to raise awareness, but help advance the development of new and needed approaches in the treatment and prevention of cancer (uhhospitals.org).

Like the team has done for me all season long, support me and my task at hand (to beat cancer’s butt), they stepped up and supported this great cause with the same determination they have when we take the field for any given match. So far we have already raised over $4600 through donations, a school bake sale, and 50/50 raffle at our Kicks for a Cause game, and we are still getting donations in!

Not only did my team step up with raising money for the AYA, we also stepped up and showed Westminster College just how serious we were about our cause… This weekend we won a very important game in our hunt for the playoffs 4-0. To make the night all the more special, it was senior night!! Before the game the juniors got to show our love for our fellow seniors by reading letters to each of them and presenting gifts to them.

I want to take this opportunity, in a blog-like-fashion, to thank my teammates and coaches (and all you supporters out there) for supporting such a great cause. Without programs like the Adolescent & Young Adult Cancer Initiative, my journey could have ended a lot differently than it did. With our support, time, and commitment to helping the AYA at University Hospital’s Ireland Cancer Center, we can make a lot of other kid’s fight with cancer as successful as mine was.

That Vaci is so creative

As promised...a public apology to Vaci for not putting up her blog from our first home UAA game on October 9th. Here it is...finally. In all it's glory.

The Legend of the Murder Mystery Mob: A True Tale of Glory

By Kristina Vaci

It was a dark and stormy night, the year was 1914 and only a fool would be caught out in the foggy streets of London. But that’s irrelevant, so we fast-forward to the rugged streets of Cleveland, 2010. The city had been swept up into a life of violence, liquor, and jazz and rival gangs were constantly trying to win street cred. Somehow the current lead gang was the Pansies…or well Violets invading over from New York City. They were trying to slowly take over the world, which brings us to October 6, 2010. Laura, the drifter, was walking the streets glaring down anyone who even thought to look her way. She’d been laying low due to the violet outbreaks when she heard a cry of pain coming from a small alleyway. Always looking for a good fight, Laura dashed in to find a short blond girl standing over a couple of what appeared to be buff football players whimpering. As Laura approached she heard the girl say,

“And you can tell your boss Debuljek if he tries to prank me again I will use all of my training to get him back!” She made a few choppy arm movements that was a mixture of dance and fight to scare them away.

Laura was moved by the fight and approached the girl.

“Hey, wanna start a gang?” Laura asked. The girl eyed her up and down and figured her lanky tall figure would make her great in a fight.

“Sure, why not. Names Kristina, people call me Vaci. Don’t ask why or I have to kill you.” And with that a gang was formed. Both turned down the street, when another blond girl and what could only be a majestic bald eagle ran by quick as lightning with an entire team chasing after them. The duo looked at eachother and nodded and ran after, it had to be interesting. They came onto a field where the girl sturned around thinking they were done for. The team had an intense look in their eyes. Laura and Vaci looked and saw that the single girl had a golden ball and the other one, who turned out to be a body building keeper, was already knocked down in pain. The two girls must have stolen it. Without thinking they rushed to their side and backed them up. The team of girls went into a 4-5-1 formation to start the attack. Suddenly a flash of orange came out of nowhere and joined next to Laura. She had a crazy look in her eye and smelled of oyster crackers. Together they assumed a fighting stance and got ready to battle.

The team from what could only be the slums of Hiram cried out and ran at them but after 90 long minutes were no more. The four fighters looked at each other and applauded their job well done. They picked up the keeper and dashed off into the night.

The talk on the streets were wild with news of this new mob that had murdered the Hiram ladies. No one knew who they were and had never heard of them existing before. Could this be a new rising gang to take over the City of Cleveland? Names floated about but the general consensus was the Murder Mystery Mob.

The violets were not happy to hear of this new mob and immediately took action. They assembled their top 18 fighters and declared an official battle with the mob that Saturday at high noon. The mob sent a parrot to their headquarters saying 11 would work better with the schedules and so it was decided! A battle to gain all street cred of Cleveland!

At 11 that Saturday a crowd assembled to watch what bloodshed would occur. They saw the violets warming up, prancing around and the crowd grew nervous for the mob. As badass music sounded 4 figures approached from the shadows. They had swagger like no one had ever seen. They went to the center of the field and positioned themselves in a line. Sammy the bold on the right with Laura and crazy Maeve in the middle. Vaci ending it on the left. Maeve and Vaci did an intimidating handshake to further send the violets shaking in their shoes and a whistle blew…signaling the fight to begin. The violets came at them in a 4-3-3 formation attacking straight down the middle. It was even ground and though the mob was outnumbered they held their own. Somewhere between the 60-70^th minute the mob pushed forward and the winner was soon decided afterwards. The mob had suffered a few blows but nothing to what the violets could handle. Running in terror the violets retreated back to New York City and the Murder Mystery Mob took over Cleveland. Other cities threaten to attack but the mob will always hold their own whether against the hood of Chicago(October 17) or the streets of Washington U(October 15 come watch!). No one really knows what the murder mystery mob looks like…some say they are titans stomping out all others while others say they are immortals living amongst us. All that is known is that you can tell who they are by the fact that each one has a braid going across their head. And so lives on…the legend of the murder mystery mob.

**Some details may be exaggerated in that the murder mystery mob had the help of about 23 awesome other players who actually scored/won the war J they just don’t have cool braids.

THE END

We Dance for Anna!!!

Anna Selser (Left, Anna K's best friend...shaved her head too!) and Anna Kennedy (right) during preseason.

In honor of Anna Kennedy's ('12, Evanston, IL) final round of chemotherapy this past Thursday, the team created a video to celebrate. Anna was diagnosed with Stage 2 Hodgkin's Lymphoma over the summer and has undergone surgery and chemotherapy treatments. She has played throughout the entire process, except when she's too ill to perform. She's inspiring and absolutely amazing. Enjoy our salute to Anna!!!

And, stay tuned for details on our October 23rd "Kicks for a Cause" game where we will be raising money for UH's Ireland Cancer Center in honor of Anna's victory.

CONGRATS ANNA!!!!!!! We are so proud of you.