For those of you who don't know Little Portugal (my nickname) is a neighborhood in Ludlow, Massachusetts, right by Lusitano Stadium on Winsor Street. It's also the home to the Western Massachusetts Lady Pioneers women's soccer team...aka UConn Summer League Part Dos. (Portugal is next to Spain, and I don't know Portuguese, so Spanish will have to do.)
I met up with my friend Meghan Nanfeldt to watch the game. I also want to thank Shauna Musser for the ticket to the game. The stadium really looks as if it's in another country. It is a distinct venue, with white cement walls around the complex. It really feels as if you are in Portugal. (Maybe the team could add to the games by adding some Portuguese culture at the games...just an idea) There was a marketing department. A girl got to kick at half-time to try and win a savings bond, people also threw out mini soccer balls to try and win a free Pioneers T-Shirt.
They had music and a P.A. announcer. I didn't see a facilities crew. They also looked to have had a pretty good size food court. Bigger than the one at Morrone. There were cement stands behind the team benches and aluminum ones on the other side of field. I ended up parking at a church parking lot, but the streets were also lined with cars. It looked like players had a parking lot inside the stadium walls.
I'd also say that for me this stadium came out from the middle of nowhere. I traveled through the forest to get there, but I think it's cool that a good soccer stadium just ended up in Ludlow, Mass. The Pioneers also wear red and they have a mascot that is a raccoon, who walked around the stadium at the end. There was a team program and a real, printed ticket. I also heard that the team also practices about two times a week.
Kacey Richards played the game in a place I am not accustom to seeing her and that is in the backline. It's highly highly doubtful that she will be playing there at UConn, but it's the summer league and you can mix things up.
Courtney Wilkinson Maitland played well on defense. She had a nice pass that would have gotten things going up-field if not for a young players misfortune. Some of the players on the Lady Pioneers are great high school players who get some experience playing with and against college competition. The high school player didn't seem to expect the pass to come but Wilkinson Maitland displayed some good vision. Too bad it didn't work out. I thought she played really well for UConn last year. I am not as good at evaluating defenders as I am scorers (because I understand scoring better than the nuances of defense and midfield play...we'll get there) but I seem to remember her making some key stops.
Both Richards and Wilkinson-Maitland played the entire game.
Brie Gray...as I will call her now and Amanda Schwartz also played the entire game for the Pioneers. I am sure they had no idea that the guy that knew their favorite foods would also drive 90 minutes...each way...to watch them play. I hope they would assume that if I know their favorite foods, that I would also know when they play. I also really wanted to get a chance to watch both of them play. Both of their positions have a lot of depth at UConn so they will both be competing hard for playing time.
Mandy Schwartz...which is what she was introduced as...so I will call her that...same for Brie...and no longer Brianna...is one of those people with an extremely outgoing personality....Let's get this straight....I Barely...hardly know her....she just knows that I know whatever was listed in the media guide about her...and she thought it was cool. I get the impression that Mandy is one of those people that you would want to have on a long cross country drive because she would make life interesting and a lot of fun (As would Katy Ryan)...I am really glad I got to see her play. Of all of the people I wanted to see play, she was the one I wanted to see play the most.
Brie Gray is very talented, she was ranked as a top 150 recruit. I was also glad to get to see her play and I hope to see more of both her and Mandy next year. She just missed scoring a goal.
Sam Kelley got in the game. She is really smart, she had a 4.0 fall semester. She's someone you should go and root for. She obviously takes her academics really seriously, but on top of that she is playing off of a really tough injury. I heard that she really tore up her knee before her freshman season. You can't help but want to see someone who had to go through a tough injury succeed. I am glad I saw her play. She was effective in the time she played at the end of the game. I remember her making some good stops while the opposing team was trying to advance the ball and trying to cross the ball.
Ashley O'Brien doesn't get enough praise from me. I won't go into the details too much...but I really really think that she deserves some award for her being a two sport athlete and being one tough person. I mean really really really really really really really really tough. That's a lot of really's. People who pay to watch her play will see that she's trying extra hard to get you your money's worth.
Shauna is the most important player of all them. She had the complimentary tickets as a player on the team (and Meghan convinced her to give them to me...so Meghan needs a thanking too) that I got to use for the game. I didn't get to see Shauna play much at Storrs, and part of that is do to some injuries that she had, but I am really glad to have gotten to see her play over the summer. She happens to be another UConn player that I ended up telling what her favorite food was. She also had a great number. I don't know what she is officially but I liked that her shorts said 14 and jersey said 24, so I'll call her 1424, which sounds like a flight number. She had a couple of nice passes and she put the boogies on one person.
I really enjoyed going to the game. It's nice being able to watch some UConn players compete and be able to sit back and relax and enjoy the company of a friend. I had no worries at this game. No tests to study for. I could just relax and enjoy this event and not worry about anything. I also loved the fact that I got to root for some good people, and got to see some of the players who are leaving UConn play a little bit before they move on with their lives.
I heard that both of the players who have graduated UConn (Musser and O'Brien) will be continuing on to get their graduate degrees.
I know it's probably hard for those 7 people to believe that I actually enjoyed traveling 3 hours total, to watch 2 hours of soccer, but I really did. This was a highlight of Memorial Day weekend for me. (sounds pathetic, but why lie?) A big part of that is because I have a really cool friend named Meghan Nanfeldt who I got to hang out with. The lord knows that in Ashburnham I might run into 3 people a week if I am lucky. I enjoyed traveling on back roads at night because I got to learn a little bit about their league, learn a little bit about soccer, hang out and support some good people.
When you're as obsessed with sports as I am you would understand. It's hard to get me to drive 90 minutes for a movie, or a mall, or a theme park, but if sports are involved, it's not much of a problem.
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