This year, we had a really solid freshman class coming into preseason. It’s always interesting at the start of preseason to see how the new freshmen react to the major changes. I love getting a chance to get to know each one of their very unique personalities as the season progresses and they start to come out of their shy fazes. The five girls we had join are team this year are not only amazing players, but also really awesome girls and teammates.

Rachel Elder	Libby Kalanquin	Haley Sparks

The first Freshy is Rachel Elder (aka Rach or Rachy). Rachel was one of the most outgoing freshmen right off the bat this year. Coming into preseason, it didn’t take her long at all to start piping in with her own jokes, usually at the expense of Mara. I have been so impressed with Rachel from day one of training camp. She has always worked her hardest, giving everything she has, and has never given up. On the pitch, Rachel has been key this year, starting many of the matches, which is a huge feat as a freshman. She is an extremely scrappy player who always makes the other team regret ever taking the ball from her. I love Rachel’s cynical sense of humor. She always seems to be making a cynical but hilarious joke about someone on the team. She really has been so awesome to get to know in the short time I have known her, and I really look forward to getting to know her for another year and a half.

Next is Libby Kalanquin (aka Lib, Libby, or Crazy). Libby is really just a short little fireball. She never seems to stop singing, dancing, laughing or just having a good time doing anything. Although she had to red-shirt this year because of an injury that resulted in her having another surgery, she still has added so much to the chemistry on the team. The one thing I will never forget or stop laughing about with Libby is how on just about every recording of the games she is in the background coaching, encouraging, and even screaming for us. I love how excited she gets with even the little things. She is such an amazing teammate, and I really look forward to getting to actually play with her in the offseason as well as my senior year.

The last Freshy that I want to introduce this time is Haley Sparks (aka Hal, Haley, or Hay). Although coming into the preseason Haley seemed to keep to herself and sort of just sit back and watch everything that was happening, I feel like she has really gotten more comfortable with us all and I love getting to see who she really is. On the pitch, Haley has done extremely well this year, playing in almost all the matches and even starting in some key matches as well. I am just amazed at how well she is with her back to the goal. Whenever I pass the ball to her, I know she is going to be able to do something great with it - whether it's laying it off and making a run or turning on the defender and creating an opportunity to score. Haley has an infectious smile and it has been awesome having her on our team not only as a teammate, but also as a friend and sister. I know she will continue to do great the rest of this year as well as her other three years here.

Now for a little update on our past game and where we stand for the postseason. Last Saturday, we played Cedarville for our final regular season match and we came out with a very important win. With that win, we are second in our conference, which is awesome. As a sort of reward for being second in the conference, we got a bye for the first round of tournament games, which means we get an extra week to prepare for our next game. This game will be the biggest game of the season yet. The reason being, if we win and a few other key things happen, we could be the first MVNU women’s soccer team to ever go to the NAIA National Tournament. That is amazing! So now, we are just preparing ourselves for the next step and I believe we will be ready to make history this year!