Keep a Smile in Your Heart...

The Neenah Girls Varsity Team opened its 2009 season, with a tough 4-0 loss to Whitefish Bay, at the Scott Procknow Celebration Tournament Friday afternoon at Ameche Field. The tournament, hosted by Kenosha Tremper was held in honor of Scott Procknow, a Neenah alumn and Tremper coach who's life was taken in drunk-driving car accident in 2007.

"Our girls took the field for the first time in a new defense and starting formation - a transition/adjustment period is expected. We aren't hiding behind that as an excuse though, the Blue Dukes played excellent soccer and had a strong attacking line...in this game we were simply outplayed."

After watching a bit of the Eisenhower vs Tremper game the team headed back to the hotel for some food and fun. The three Keepers definitely DOMINATED charades and our own version of 'pictionary'.

Neenah returned to the field on Saturday morning much more confident and composed in their play. The Rockets won 5-0 versus New Berlin Eisenhower,

"We took some time after our first loss and talked about our defensive shape and our offensive possession. We emphasized the need to trust the new system and each other and really commit to the style of play. The girls did just that on Saturday morning, they came out and made it work - though it wasn't the prettiest game at times it was inspiring to see everyone committing to the change and playing together as one."

Goals were scored by Krista (DeCoursin), Stephanie (Nau), Sarah (Wunderlich) with an assist from Michelle (Jenkins), Taylor Zehren with an assist from Sarah (Wunderlich), and Vienna (Behnke).

After our second game Scott Procknow's parents came to talk to the team and thank us for our participation. It was neat to hear all the wonderful things Scott stood for and all he did for his students and the game of soccer. This was a nice reminder to the team about why we were there and as Mr. Procknow requested, we all left with a smile in our hearts...

The Varsity girls start their conference play tomorrow (Tuesday April 7th) with a home opener versus Appelton West at 7:00 pm at Rocket Memorial Stadium. The Terrors have found success their first games out - this should prove to be a good FVA match. The Rockets are headed to my house for some spaghetti dinner carbo-loading before tomorrow's game...this may be a disaster waiting to happen :-)