The remaining two Freshies this year are Stacy Culbertson and Jessica Linger. Both of these girls really add great qualities to the group of young players we had come in this year as our fantastic five Freshies. I have been increasingly impressed by not only the talent but also the character and work ethic of our incoming freshmen this year.

Stacy Culbertson (aka Stace) came into preseason and really began to work hard to put effort into whatever she was asked to do. Stacy has really good soccer smarts - she knows soccer really well intellectually as well as being able to play. Whenever you have a question about anything from a play we’re going over or a new drill Coach is introducing, Stacy can always pipe in with the answer without missing a beat. I really appreciate how great her attitude is. Even when she is continually asked to do things, she always does it without hesitation. I really admire that in her character and have really enjoyed getting to know her this year.

Stacy Culbertson	Jessica Linger

The last, but certainly not least, of the Freshies, is Jessica Linger (aka Ling, Ling-Ling, Lingy, or Linger). Linger came in and honestly really surprised me with her skill and speed. She has really stepped up to the plate, having started in just about all of the matches this year. Linger has come up big in a lot of our games with important, even game-winning goals. Off the pitch, Linger doesn’t slow down at all. She is the same crazy, fun, out-going person off the pitch as she is a fierce, strong, and determined player on it. I look forward to playing the rest of the season with her as well as getting to know her even better my senior year.

Now, onto some very important and exciting recent news about our upcoming games. This weekend, we travel yet again to New York to take on Notre Dame in the semifinals of the conference tournament. Going into this tournament, we sit in a very favorable spot as we would only have to make it to the finals and be able to go onto NAIA nationals provided Houghton also makes it to the finals this weekend. If this is the case, we will be the FIRST ever women’s soccer team here at MVNU to make it to the NAIA national tournament. This weekend will be history in the making and I personally as well as the rest of the team is extremely excited to get this opportunity to be remembered as making history for our program. Please be praying for us this weekend as we leave Thursday for New York to play in the most important game of our season so far, and simply look to honor God with our play and leave the outcome in His hands. Thanks so much for all your support and prayers throughout the season so far!