Laura Moynihan - We Thank You

This past weekend the Rockets Varsity squad traveled to Uihlien Soccer Park in Milwaukee to compete in the 15th annual Catholic Memorial tournament in honor of Laura Moynihan. A mother of four, Laura Moynihan began her involvement in soccer in 1977 on an administrative level, establishing the first girl's soccer league in the state of Wisconsin. She then started the first Olympic Development Program for girls in the state and served as the Director of WI Girl's ODP for 8 years. In 1983, she moved into the coaching ranks and continued to move girl's soccer forward until she passed away August 1, 1992 at the age of 47. Laura ended her career as the Head Coach for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's team.

The tournament attracts top talent throughout the state, and sometimes Illinois. Our Rockets faced Evanston (a strong team from IL) in the first round of play on Friday evening. Though the weather was warm and comfortable the wind was nothing short of amazing - kicking into the wind would kill a ball mid-flight and launch it something fierce with the wind at your back. Both teams took advantage of this offensively, each scoring 2 goals in their respective halves with the wind at their back. Evanston struck first with a deflection goal midway early in the first half and followed with a power shot nearing the end of half. Neenah came out strong and in control the second half of the game and executed their game plan well. We had a really balanced attack initiating from the back field which lead to our first goal by Vienna Behnke of a buetiful run made by outside back Taylor Zehren. Tay is also accredited with the assist on the play. Our second goal came a short while after on a set piece direct kick also finsihed by Vienna.

Though we had many chances the Rockets couldn't capitalize in the remaining minutes of the game and we were headed to a shoot out. This is something we haven't really put much focus on in practice and was a good experience for the team as a whole - though we didn't come out victorious we learned a lot about how successful we can be when we stick to what we've worked on and execute it together.

To all the teams' delight we had a surprise visit from our 'gimpy' teammate Laura who just hours before underwent her second knee surgery - this time to repair a meniscul tear in her same knee. Laura's commitment is bar-none, we appreciate her willingness to stay with us during her road to recovery.

The team set off to noodles immediately after the game and enjoyed some carbo loading for our two games the next day. 12 mac 'n cheeses later we headed back to the hotel for a light night, showers and video before heading to bed.

The next morning we woke up and headed out for a bagel breakfast and a light jog before heading to the fields for our two games of play. The morning brought a light drizzle but the temperature was warm and we were hoping the rain would hold off just a little longer. NO such luck, after a very WET 45min warm-up we took the field against Muskego. Only 4 minutes into the game we got a score from senior captain Michelle Jenkins of a beautiful ball played by Amanda Canner...and maybe 20 seconds later the game was called due to nearby lightning. At this point we were in a downpour everyone ran to the bus in hopes to wait out the storm and get back on the field. After close to an hour of waiting we headed into the indoor facilities to learn the tournament had been canceled from that point on. Disappointed we headed back home to enjoy our pre-planned team picnic with the parents in the lovely confines of the Neenah High School Fieldhouse Concession Area.

All in all it was a good trip, unfortunately we didn't get to play through all the games but the girls were working hard and making our style play work to their advantage...we were really starting to turn the corner. We only hope this momentum continues to build heading into our home game on Tuesday against Appleton East at 7 pm!