Since my last blog, we have had some big games and been able to come out on top with some wins. We played Shawnee State two weeks ago under horrible weather conditions and even worse field conditions. Although we trudged through a completely muddy field, we came out in the end with a 1-0 victory after yet another overtime bout. The following Tuesday, after a much-needed break from school as well as soccer, we came back and battled Notre Dame. Although this was not our best game, we did come back from a 1-0 deficit to put in yet another win over a very good Notre Dame team 2-1. Then, after a short week of practice and school and having most of our team getting sick along with our coach, we traveled to New York to face Daemen College. With Houghton only beating Daemen 1-0, we knew going into the match that it would be a dogfight. Nonetheless, we were prepared to win and we did just that. This was one of our biggest wins yet coming up with a 3-0 scoring run in the end and taking our destiny into our own hands as Coach Seiffert has been saying lately. Adding to our awesome win, Coach then took us to see Niagara Falls! A lot of the girls had never been to see the falls so it was really awesome getting to go as a team. This week we have our last two regular season games and we must come up with two more major wins. I am looking forward to this week and I know we will get the job done!

Now, onto some more of "The 24” as we have been named this year by both Coach and Papa Coach. The rest of the sophomore class includes eight more amazingly talented and awesome girls. Considering this class makes up half of our team, it’s a good thing they are all so amazing and have such a unique close bond with each other as well as the rest of our team.

First off there’s Erin Washington (aka Wash, E-wash, Er, or EEW). Coming from Mansfield Christian where my roommate is also from, I knew who Wash was before she came last year and I was really excited to have her join our team. Wash brings such a fire and determination to every practice and every game. She never gives up on anything and you can just tell she is always striving to not only better herself as a player and person, but also to better the team in any way she can. Wash is in my small group this year and I have greatly enjoyed seeing who she is as a young woman of God and just listening to her insight and spiritual wisdom. She brings so much to the team as a player as well as a friend, and I am so glad she decided to come here and be a part of our team.

Next is Lindsey Shaffer (aka Linds, Shaff, or Lin). I just love Lindsey with my whole heart. Her smile is infectious and seriously never goes away. No matter what is going on, what she has to do, even when she gets hurt, she always has this amazing smile lighting up her face. She is such a determined player and has brought a lot to the team this year on the pitch and ever more so off of it. She has a true servant's heart. Whenever anything needs to be done or someone needs help, she is the first person to drop whatever she personally was doing and help with whatever it is. Lindsey always, and I mean always, has such a great attitude about everything. I truly admire her for it, too. She is just a sweetheart, and the team would be at a great loss without her to provide us with her amazing smile.

Erin Washington	Lindsey Shaffer	Camille Smith	Amanda Woods

Now onto Camille Smith (aka Camilly or Camillionaire). Where to even begin. Camille is a lot of fun to have on the team. Obviously, being our only black girl on the team, she is our designated source of info for any random questions we have about her "culture”. I put quotes around culture because most of the time our questions really have nothing to do with any culture, but are as dumb as us asking her what happens when her hair gets wet. My favorite memory of Camille her freshman year was on the first day of practicing in the rain, she comes out with a poncho and an umbrella (like she was actually going to practice with it). So, we bought her a pack of shower caps to keep her hair dry. Camille brings us nothing but laughs and I have really enjoyed being able to play with her as well as get to know her better each year.

Amanda Woods (aka Amanda or Manda) has really grown since her freshman year. I feel like she has really opened up and stepped up as the awesome player she is this year. I love her quiet sense of humor and her not-so-quiet determination and strength on the field. Watching Amanda during games, I get so exciting seeing her fight so hard for the ball only to win it and proceed to make an awesome play out of her hard work. Off the pitch, she is a quieter yet truly sweet and genuine girl. You can just tell she has a caring heart, and she always looks for ways to help out. I love having her on our team.

On a completely different spectrum than little quiet Amanda is Heidi Moeckel (aka Heids, Mekel, or Heid). Heidi really stands out on our team not only because she is one of the only three tall people we have, but also because she is one of the craziest people on our team. Heidi is just the life of the party. She’s always looking for some crazy way to make people laugh, even though it’s usually at her own expense. She carries this onto the pitch also as she is a strong player in the middle of the field, holding her own and handling players big and small. One of the best nicknames we have for Heidi would probably have to be Pterodactyl. Reason being that in practicing corner kicks one day in practice she went up for a header with the perfect form of a Pterodactyl. All she needed was to make the noise of one and it would be prime. But seriously, Heidi is an amazing player and an even more amazing teammate and friend.

Keeping with the trend of being loud is Courtney Ricker (aka Rick, Court, or Ricker). Rick has really amazed me with her versatility her freshman year as well as this year. She has played pretty much all over the field and done so with great poise and skill. Even though she was getting moved around a lot and this year got moved back to a position she didn’t really play last year, she doesn’t complain about it but just steps up to the challenge. I’ve had the awesome blessing of getting really close with Ricker over this past summer as well as this year, and I have grown to love her even more. Her sense of humor is just awesome, and she can always put you in a good mood no matter what’s going on. I absolutely love watching her battle for the ball in the midfield, and I love seeing her dominate girls because she is such a solid force. Although she is hurt and will be out for another month still, she is such an important aspect of our team chemistry on and off the pitch.

Heidi Moeckel	Courtney Ricker	Sarah Buehler	Kelci Rhodes

Sarah Beuhler (aka Beuhler or Ferris) is an awesome player and girl. Although she has been battling a lot of injuries as well as a recent sickness, Sarah still seems to keep a good attitude about her. When she is a hundred percent, she has great skill and adds good depth to our midfield. Off the pitch, Sarah is so sweet you could never imaging her pushing and shoving people to try and get the ball. I have gotten close to Sarah as well this year and I love her to death. We always tease her because coming in as a freshman we all thought she looked like Britney Spears, so we would call her that and even got Coach Meade calling her that when he would talk about her as a recruit. Although she is the team Britney Spears, she is an amazing girl and I truly look forward to getting to know her more and more.

Last but not least of our sophomores is Kelci Rhodes (aka Kels or Kelci Smelci). Coming in as a freshman, I can honestly say a lot of us were scared of Kelci. Between her being so homesick and just seeming like she really didn’t want to be here, it was hard for any of us to get a smile out of her during her freshman year, so we really were scared of her. Now though, after finally getting her to open up and laugh a little with us, we all really love Kels. I love playing beside Kelci in the backline. She is a force to be reckoned with and can catch just about anyone on any of the teams we play with her amazing speed. Now, Kelci just scares the other teams instead of scaring us. I am really really glad she decided to stay with us instead of going home freshman year because it just wouldn’t be the same without her.

Now that were up to speed on the biggest class we have on our team, hopefully you feel like you know a little more about each one of them. They truly are amazing girls, teammates, players, friends, and most of all sisters. I love being able to say I have 23 of the closest, most amazing sisters ever!