Halloween Practice Part 2

Halloween 2009 Winning Costumes

Team Pic

Class of 2013

Class of 2011

Class of 2010

Class of 2012

Halloween Practice

Every Halloween practice seems to outdo the year before. This year was no exception. Here's some footage from this year's practice. Enjoy.

An impromptu Hannah Montana concert starring Ashley Debeljak '13 and Katie Woodling '13

This year's Halloween Practice winners are announced...

Runners-ups...

Caseyola (Sophomores Laura Gabster, Anna Selser, Becca Vaughan, Sammy Sarett, Anna Kennedy, Jackie Guttman, Kristina Vaci, and Alex Litofsky)

Cloudy with a chance of Thunderstorms (Amy Baumann '11)

Grand Prize Winner...

Fat Man (Ana Arruda '11...kind of)

Kicks for a Cause Wrap-up

Yesterday at practice we were joined by Karen Bain, Development Director for the Alzheimer's Association - Cleveland Area Chapter. After contacting her with our final tally from our inaugural "Kicks for a Cause" game, she insisted on personally thanking the team for their efforts and contribution to the fight to end Alzheimer's. She came to practice to pick up the money and to greet the girls. She shared with the team how impressed she and the entire staff at the Alzheimer's Association have been with the team's efforts. Their picture and efforts will be shared on the website and in their upcoming newsletter. It was a great and well-deserved moment for everyone.


Below is an article written by our sports information department detailing this year's event. I cannot put into words how touched I was by the support the team received. I never envisioned such a simple idea to take off like it did. Thank you so much to all of you who supported the cause, either by spreading the word, donating money, or attending our game. We look forward to many more years of giving back and making a difference.


CLEVELAND, OH (October 27, 2009) - The Case Western Reserve women’s soccer team raised $5,201 as part of the first-annual Kicks for a Cause Day. The beneficiary of this donation is this year’s charity of choice –The Cleveland-Area Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.

“It has been overwhelming how much support the event garnered,” said head coach Tiff Crooks. “We've received so many generous donations and heartfelt notes from family and friends across the country. Our original goal was to raise $3000. To exceed it by so much has been very exciting and rewarding.”

The fundraising activities for Kick for a Cause Day, which was held September 26th against Ohio Northern University, included bake sales throughout the week, donations raised prior to and at the game and a raffle at the game with the help of the volleyball team.

Junior Amy Baumann (Dublin, OH) organized the team bake sale.

“When we heard of the idea we were all very excited and enthusiastic about it,” said Baumann. “The response and effort put into it by the girls was amazing. Pretty much every single person on the team helped in one way or another - baking, working the table or making fliers. It was definitely a successful endeavor and something of which to be proud.”

Sophomore Alex Litofsky (Columbia, MO) was the leading fundraiser on the team.

“I was happy to be a part of Kicks for a Cause,” said Litofsky. “Alzheimer's has some personal relevance for my family and me, so I made an effort to ask all of our relatives and friends for a pledge. It really means a lot to me that so many people responded with such enthusiasm and support.”

The development director from the Alzheimer's Association will attend a practice next week to collect the donation and personally thank the ladies for their hard work.

“This year's cause was my decision, but the team did all the work in raising the money,” said Crooks. “After one mention of the "Kicks for a Cause" event, the girls were enthusiastic and filled with ideas to make the event a success. It's inspiring to see how engaged they became in the process. I'm so proud of this group and their ability to see the big picture and the world outside of college.

Case Witch Project...

Sophomore Kristina Vaci and friends get creative with the Flip Cam outside Anna Kennedy's house during our trip to St. Louis and Chicago last weekend...

A great story about one of our greatest!

SOO HOO FIGHTS FOR ONE LAST SEASON ON SOCCER FIELD...

CLEVELAND, OH - The senior season is a special time for any student-athlete as four years of hard work and dedication culminate in a final season on the field. For women’s soccer midfielder Jen Soo Hoo (Berkeley Heights, NJ), her senior season was abruptly put on hold in early June. Soo Hoo tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and lateral meniscus in a co-ed soccer game.
“It was really simple, I was just changing directions and it snapped,” said Soo Hoo about suffering the injury. “I didn’t think anything was wrong at first because I was able to limp off and it didn’t really hurt. After I found out, I was really upset at first but I always assumed I’d try to come back and play.”

For many athletes, a medical red-shirt would be the course of action, and their senior season would just be put on hold a year. For Soo Hoo, who is already in her first year of medical school at Case Western Reserve concurrently with her senior year, the academic requirements would have been too much.

"There was a period where I debated between red-shirting and playing next year or coming back for this season,” explained Soo Hoo. “Med school wise though, I knew my only chance of playing was probably this year.”

There was only one option left for Soo Hoo – fight as hard as she could to make it back to the soccer team by the end of the season.

So Soo Hoo did what she could and rehabbed every chance she got. With the start of the season less than three months away, there was no chance she could return from an injury which typical takes six months of recovery time by then. However, if she could get ahead of schedule, a return for University Athletic Association (UAA) play in October was not out of the question.
“I never really thought about not being able to come back this season, I was always like ‘no, you have to come back this season,’” said Soo Hoo. “I wanted to keep pushing it, like when she told me I could run, tomorrow I wanted to sprint. (Case soccer’s head athletic trainer, Erin Lake) was really good about all of it. She knew when to tell me no I couldn’t do that.”

“She has worked very hard over the last few months,” said Lake. “Jen's desire to return to the field was the driving force behind her rehab. Some people need to pushed, but not Jen. There were times I had to slow her down. She managed to make rehab a priority, even with medical school classes.”

“Jen’s dedication to the program and the team in the rehab process has been outstanding,” said third-year Head Coach Tiffany Crooks. “As a first year med student, she could easily have walked away from the season and her teammates to focus on her studies. Rather she has attended nearly all of our practices, attends all the games, and is finding success in med school.”
Last year’s team captain received plenty of encouragement to make it back from teammates and the coaching staff.

“I received a million calls, everyone just wanted to know what happened and they were really sorry,” said Soo Hoo. “Coach (Crooks) tried to call me all the time but I didn’t want to talk to her at first because I didn’t want to cry while talking to her on the phone.”
While Soo Hoo sat and gave encouragement from the bench, her teammates flourished to open the season. The Spartans got off to a 7-3-2 start and were ranked in the Great Lakes Region for the first time since at least 2004. This included a 2-0 start to the conference season, the team’s best start in UAA play since 1993.

“The team was very open with me being apart of everything,” said the senior. “The first UAA win, I was very happy for the team. Obviously, I would have liked to have been a part of that, but I still felt a part of it, sitting and watching.”

Not everything has been smooth sailing for the Spartans this season as several other players have gone down with knee injuries. Already being on the road to recovery, Soo Hoo was able to talk to the other during their time of need.

“I’ve talked to (the injured girls) and everyone reacts to it differently,” said Soo Hoo “It’s nice for them that they have at least another year to play, but it’s obviously devastating.”
All of Soo Hoo’s persistent indeed paid off. In early October, Soo Hoo was cleared to practice and just a week later, she joined the team on a big road trip to St. Louis and Chicago to make her first appearances of the year.

“It’s good to be back out there and just playing,” explained Soo Hoo. “Fitness is huge right now after only practicing a week before going out there.”

While the Spartans dropped both games on the trip to No.9 Washington University and No. 15 University of Chicago, the team was happy to have Soo Hoo back.

“Jen is one of the most gifted players in the UAA, completely healthy she’s is a game changer,” said Crooks. “Even though she is not 100 percent, she can still provide us with limited minutes and impact the outcome of a game. Just seeing her on the field and playing is inspiring. I'm not sure I've ever been prouder of a player.”

Soo Hoo’s knee will prohibit her from playing at the level she was at a season ago as one of the team’s best players. However, she’s going to try to think about her knee as little as possible the rest of the season.

“It was tough, because I remember how I used to play before the surgery and I feel a lot slower and can’t do the same things I used to,” explained Soo Hoo. “I try not to think about it because it’s all mental and I know my doctor wouldn’t have cleared me if I couldn’t go out on the field. It’s a little scary because of how I tore my ACL, just turning.”

The Spartans have four matches left (@ Oberlin - Oct. 24, Carnegie Mellon - Oct. 30, Emory – Nov. 1, Rochester - Nov. 7) in the regular season. That final date against No. 10 University of Rochester is senior night and is expected to be an emotional night as the team graduates four seniors, forward Kaitlyn Yule (Raleigh, NC/Vernon Hills), midfielder Caroline Garber (Cincinnati, OH/Ursuline Academy), defender Katie Fromwiller (Clackamas, OR/Sam Barlow) and Soo Hoo.

“Every senior year we always see the seniors get very emotional,” said Soo Hoo. “This is your last game ever playing soccer in a competitive environment and obviously soccer has been a huge part of our lives so it’s going to be something that we’re all going to miss.”

While that game will be the end of Soo Hoo’s playing career, she will still be at Case Western Reserve another three years for medical school. She already has experience coaching youth soccer as an assistant with former Case player, Madeline VanGunten, and has spoken with Coach Crooks about staying involved with the team in the years to come.

“I talked to Coach Tiff about it and she’s very open to it,” said Soo Hoo about having a future role with the program. “I hope to help out, come to practices and home games at least. I want to help out as much as possible. Coaching is really different than playing…it takes a lot of patience.”

Second UAA win!!!!

by Anna Selser '12

This past weekend the men’s and women’s soccer team headed to New York City for this season’s first UAA away game! This was especially exciting to me because:

1) It’s my first UAA game I have ever played in

2) I have never been to New York City

3) Flying somewhere always means one thing: you get to browse through Sky Mall magazine.

I love skymall magazine so much that I was enlisted in creating an advertisement for this issue highlighting some of the best products. Unfortunately for you dedicated blog followers, the footage for this advertisement was lost. However if you get the chance to check out the Sky Mall website, you should definitely consider buying “Your Names in the Sand.”

On Friday it seemed luck was against us. Right before we left we find out that Laura, one of our starting center backs, is very sick! Oh no! Then our flight got delayed! Then there was a lot of traffic getting into the city. After a short time walking through Greenwich Village and eating, we returned to the hotel where we were all ready to settle in for a good night’s sleep. However, a certain two members of the team, who shall remain nameless, were thoroughly convinced by some very thin evidence that they were going to be murdered in their sleep which caused quite the commotion. Luckily everyone made it to bed by curfew and everyone was alive for the most important day of the trip, GAME DAY!

We woke up early to take the boys to the field to warm up and after a delicious breakfast we returned to cheer them on. After 90 minutes the score still remained 1-1, so the game went into overtime giving us more time to get focused and game ready. We had our pregame talk in a nice clearing near the woods where we were lucky enough to hear the beautiful, inspiring poetry of Caroline Garber. The boys ended up remaining tied after two overtimes, but we didn’t let that disappointment bring us down.

Although our warm up was not very sharp, we came out ready to play and immediately realized the Violets were a completely beatable team. Their formation gave our outside midfielders so much space we were able to switch the field really well and create some great opportunities. However after the first half, the game remained tied at 0-0. The second half continued to be pretty similar to the first half until with 7:45 left on the clock Cicy Fusco crossed the ball from the right side of the field. Kaitlyn Yule attempted the header only to have the goalie deflect it, luckily freshman, Deena Levey was there covering back post to put the ball in the net. The ref was odd and at first we didn’t realize it was a goal, but when we did we were obviously ECSTATIC!

Overall the team played very well and most importantly we went out and set the tone for the game and played our game. We are now 2-0 in the conference and confidently ready for our next UAA away games next weekend in Chicago and St. Louis! AND we are able to check off another box in the “wins” and “shutouts” section of our goal list. Good job this weekend ladies!

First UAA win of the season!!

by Caroline Garber '10

This past weekend both Men’s and Women’s Soccer teams played in the first conference games of the season against Brandeis University. I know for me, conference games are my favorite portion of the season. It had been 2 years since my last conference game; a lot of nerves and excitement had been building over that time in anticipation for the chance to play these UAA games one more time. Needless to say, I was extremely excited for the game on Saturday.

Saturday morning everyone on the team was up pretty early to get some breakfast and be at the field in time to catch some of the Men’s game. It always pumps me up to see them play, so luckily we are scheduled to play second in every UAA match this year! When it was time, I had to peel myself away from their game. I headed into the locker room to see it was brilliantly decorated by the freshman on the team. Streamers, balloons, signs everywhere; you name it, they had it in there. I was even more excited for the game knowing that my team was just as eager for it to start. Coach Taylor and Coach Tiff then came into the locker room to give the pregame talk. We learned a little something about ants in that time. I’d share more about the story, but I think that it was good luck so I can’t give it away now. Right before we left the locker room, Devyn revealed that under our bench was a hidden quote typed out for each one of us. It was a big surprise and the perfect note to end on before warm-up began.

GAMETIME. If you were able to catch any of the game, you know that it was intense for 90 minutes. We knew it would be a tough battle, and we got just what we had expected. In my past four years playing soccer here, we never were able to pull out with the win against Brandeis. After the first half, the game was scoreless. It was in the second half that we really stepped it up. I am so proud of the team’s performance in that second half of the game. We were able to score 15 minutes into the half!!! Now up by 1, we had to hold off the Judges and maintain our lead for 30 minutes. The team played awesome and we kept our lead for the FIRST UAA WIN IN 2 YEARS!!! I was fortunate enough to finish our one goal against Brandeis. I am pretty sure I tackled Yule as soon as I turned around and was soon surrounded by our entire team. Rewards come few and far between sometimes in soccer, but moments like that remind you that it is TOTALLY worth all of the hard work. I wish I could give my team a million goals every game… they deserve it!!! I can’t express accurately enough just how happy I was to walk away from that game with a win. Being a senior, I can assure that there are few things more rewarding in a season than a win against a UAA team. Winning against Brandeis was a great memory I’ll keep from this season, but I must admit it has made me hungry for more wins in our conference. We head off to New York this weekend to play NYU. Hopefully our team walks away equally as proud from that match. Thank you and Stay Tuned!!

Battle Scars

Katie Fromwiller '10 got drilled by Kaitlyn Yule '10 in training on Thursday. Here's their documentation of the aftermath...