University of Minnesota Athletics
On The Road With The Golden Gopher Soccer Team
9/17/2002 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
The University of Minnesota women's soccer team may have just made the Dairy Queen in Story City, Iowa the most profitable DQ in the Midwest. The bus has pulled away from the ice cream establishment and, undoubtedly, the employees have breathed a sigh of relief. When the Minnesota bus drove up to DQ the day before, one couldn't help but sense a feeling of dread from the man and woman that worked behind the counter. When the bus pulled into the DQ parking lot tonight, the manager just laughed, for he knew what was coming - 25 soccer players, three coaches, a trainer, an administrator and a sports information staff member, all with a hunger that could only be sated by Blizzards, Breezes and Banana Splits.
IT WAS MY FIRST TRIP with the team. It was my first trip with a women's team from the U of M. On Friday, Sept. 13, the Golden Gophers would play Iowa State in Ames, Iowa. I looked forward to the trip, not really knowing what to expect. It had to be different from my past outings with the Golden Gopher wrestling and football teams. It was. A trip with the Minnesota women's soccer team is about winning the match first, but it's also about so much more. The following is what I saw and experienced as a newbie with the soccer traveling party.
Thursday, September 12
5:15 p.m.
The bus smells like a deli. Select members of the soccer team are hurriedly distributing Bobby Z's meals to players, coaches and staff. The incessant chatter that typically precedes bus trips with the Golden Gophers suddenly drops in volume as the team chows down after a two-hour practice. All the meals are there, except one. Assistant Coach Ellen Obleman's sandwich is missing. She doesn't panic, though; she's unabashedly a Subway fan. So, the first-year assistant jumps off the bus and jogs to her favorite fast food joint.
5:22 p.m.
The bus takes to the road with Obleman's sandwich quickly being devoured. Destination: Ames, Iowa. Excitement for the endpoint of the trip is missing, not surprisingly.
5:43 p.m.
Obleman, nominated for "onboard movie selection duty," makes her choice for the trip south - "High Crimes," a court thriller starring Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman. Apparently, the classic soccer movie "Victory" isn't viewed on every soccer bus trip.
5:43:30 p.m.
Tierney Palmer-Klein, a sophomore defender, nominated for "movie volume duty," heads to the front of the bus in an attempt to find just the right level of volume for the duration of the flick. Easy job, right? No. Not at all. TPK, as she is abbreviatedly known, spends the next few minutes asking her peers, "How's that? Louder? Too loud?" - questions that elicit all sorts of responses, from blank looks to upturned thumbs to exclamations of "Turn it up!" Tierney is quickly growing weary of this duty. The look on her face suggests one thing - a freshman will get this job next time.
7:09 p.m.
Amazingly, the movie volume stayed the same for almost an hour and a half. That is, until an action scene involving a car chase necessitated the volume to be dropped in order to maintain the sanity and healthy-driving abilities of the bus driver, Bill.
7:43 p.m.
The movie ends. Volume is no longer a concern.
8:15 p.m.
In the first indication that this is clearly not a trip with a football or wrestling team, Obleman and senior midfielder Kyndra Hesse (below) spend a good half hour discussing weddings. (Hesse is engaged to marry next summer after graduation and Obleman is the only married person on hand.) They talk about wedding music, wedding dresses, wedding ceremonies. They talk about things that probably have never been talked about on a trip with the football or wrestling team.
8:44 p.m.
The marriage of Minnesota soccer and Dairy Queen begins with TPK shouting, "Coach Wick, look at the sign! Dairy Queen!"
8:45 p.m.
The bus unloads, eliciting the deep feeling of fear from the lone two employees of the ill-fated DQ.
8:45:01
"What's that smell?!?" every member of the traveling party asks. A rank stench hangs in the air in Story City. An inquisitive player asks a local about the odor. Apparently, eight miles down the road exists a rather large turkey farm. Perhaps not surprisingly the foul odor does little to nothing to deter the squad's hunger for ice cream.
8:47 p.m.
Head Coach Barbara Wickstrand instructs the team that they are allowed to order one small dessert - no extravagant Lollapalooza ice cream surprises will be permitted. We're in a budget crunch at the U, of course.
8:49 p.m.
As the orders are filled slowly but surely, the stories begin to fly about soccer moms (freshmen Becky Dellaria and Amanda Edwards' moms, specifically), the numerous yellow cards in Minnesota's first four games (notably midfielder Keely Dinse's exploits against Colorado), goalkeeper Karli Kopietz's ability to palm a basketball (bringing to mind the Seinfeld "man hands" episode), and much more.
The story that brings plenty of laughs comes from Dinse, affectionately known as The Enforcer on the squad. Keely wholeheartedly embraces her role with the Golden Gophers - a role which can best be compared to a hockey team's goon. When things get out of hand on the field with bothersome opponents, it's Keely's job to maintain order - yellow cards be damned. Keely tells the story of a road game last season. She legally tackles an opponent, looks down and sees a shoe sitting next to her. Intuitively, The Enforcer grabs the shoe and heaves it off the field and over the track that encircles the soccer pitch. The opposing player's response was negative to say the least, yet incredibly humorous to the nearby Minnesota players on the bench. "That's our goon," they must have thought.
9:14 p.m.
The sigh of relief from the DQ employees is audible - the Minnesota soccer team has left the building. And thankfully so; the star-crossed ice cream store is nearly out of ice cream. Little do they know the Gophers will return in about 23 hours.
9:31 p.m.
The bus arrives at the hotel in Ames. Rooming assignments are announced, keys are passed out. Assistant Coach Chris Higgins (right), usually the only male on road trips with the team, finally has a roomie - me. In another indication that this is not a trip with the wrestlers, I get my own bed. I don't have to share with a wrestler or coach.
Higgins relishes this time in his room. He gets to watch SportsCenter. He gets to watch football. He gets to do guy stuff. "Sometimes, I've just got to get away," he says, with no hint of ill will toward his peers and players. "When you're around women all the time - at work, at home - it's nice to get away."
10:43 p.m.
You can only get away for so long, apparently, for right now Higgins is calling home to his girlfriend.
11:16 p.m.
Zzzzzzzzz.
Friday, September 14, 2002
9:30 a.m.
Breakfast time in the hotel restaurant. For the first time in this team's history, the entire team is early or just on time for the meal.
11:45 a.m.
After some time to get showered and dressed appropriately, the team loads the bus for an undisclosed location. As we step aboard, junior Amanda McMahon (below) hands freshman Laura Hoppe three packets of coffee, taken from the hotel room.
"What's that for?" I ask.
Mac, as she is affectionately known, replies, "Hoppe likes the smell of coffee."
Hoppe adds, "Yup, I don't drink it; I just smell it."
Senior captain Meghan Jones walks by with a look on her face that can only mean she's thinking one thing. "Freshmen."
11:51 a.m.
Wickstrand breaks out the whiteboard with the likeness of a soccer field and calls Higgins. During the short ride, they come up with a free kick that might work against Iowa State. Wickstrand confesses she thought it up out of the blue before breakfast this morning.
11:56 a.m.
The bus pulls into Stuart C. Smith Park on the outskirts of campus. There, Wickstrand hands out paper plates. A picnic? Nope. It's a team-building exercise - yet another sign that this is not the wrestling team to which I have grown accustom. Coach Wick instructs the team to tape the plates on their backs, go around to each player and write on the plate something they respect or admire about the person.
11:59 a.m.
Wickstrand quietly admits to being nervous four hours before game time. "It's a good nervous," she says. "But I swear I've gone to the bathroom a thousand times this morning."
12:30 p.m.
The team forms a loose-knit circle and is told to pick a comment on their plate that touched them the most. They go around the circle, telling their teammates a little more about themselves. There are plenty of smiles, but tears, too.
Edwards has already been caught with tears a-flowin'. She chooses a comment, but it's not the one that brought on the tears. Someone asks what made her cry. Amanda points and has Hesse read it: "For being a great friend."
It became clear right there - they are not just teammates; they are friends.
12:34 p.m.
Wickstrand passes out maroon rubber bands to the players - another team-building exercise. On the rubber bands is written: "Minnesota Soccer - No Excuses, No Regrets!" Wickstrand spent a good chunk of time on Wednesday passing the rubber bands out to nearly everyone in the athletic department. Other teams are already planning on taking the idea to help foster team unity. Wickstrand beamed at the mention of other coaches stealing her idea.
12:45 p.m.
The team reassembles at the hotel for a buffet lunch of salads, sandwiches and soup. No dessert for the players, though, leaving plenty of cheesecake, apple strudel and chocolate cake for the coaches and staff. I do my best not to rub it in to the players how tasty the sweets are. More than a few jealous (dirty?) looks are thrown in our table's direction.
1:45 p.m.
The players head to a room reserved for the team to kill some time playing games.
2:30 p.m.
The coaches and staff enter the room for a team meeting. A rousing game of Pictionary is just wrapping up. Before the coaches present their scouting report and strategy for the game, I deem it necessary to make a correction on the whiteboard on the wall. A spirited player wrote "Kill Iowa!" Well, my anal retentiveness as a media relations staffer got the best of me - I added "State" to ensure accuracy.
2:52 p.m.
The pre-game briefing complete, the Golden Gophers jump on the bus for the short trip to the stadium.
2:56 p.m.
The search for a radio station with "pump up music" begins. Being in Ames, several country music stations are flipped through quickly by junior forward Rachael Roth before settling on a station playing Janet Jackson. Consider this indication number four that this is women's soccer, not wrestling or football. Content with her selection, Roth walks to the back of the bus, doing a little pirouette to the music. There's indication number five.
4:00 p.m.
Game time. Minnesota versus Iowa State.
5:08 p.m.
The pirouette doesn't make its way onto the field, but it could have in the 53rd minute of the game as Roth (right) scores the eventual game-winning goal on a nifty one-on-one play.
5:57 p.m.
Golden Gophers 1, Cyclones 0.
6:32 p.m.
We load the bus for the trip back home. Roth's clashing wardrobe choice of a pinkish shirt and maroon warm-up pants gives the first sign that maybe the soccer players and wrestlers have some things in common (the clashing clothes, not the pinkish shirt).
6:42 p.m.
We stop at a local sub joint, Jimmy John's, to pick up our pre-ordered food. Once again, the bus smells like a deli.
Despite the occasional deli aromas on the bus, I discover indication number six that this is not the wrestling team - this squad smells infinitely better.
7:01 p.m.
The bus takes to I-35 going north.
7:10 p.m.
The second movie of the trip, "Changing Lanes," begins with bus driver Bill given movie volume duty. He reluctantly accepts the job.
7:23 p.m.
The bus arrives in Story City. Inexplicably yet thankfully, the turkey farm stench is missing.
7:24 p.m.
Fate befalls the Dairy Queen for the second night in a row. The manager laughs upon our arrival, but maybe he saw it coming - our orders are filled in record time tonight.
7:27 p.m.
Ok, not all orders are filled correctly, but that's the price we pay for descending on the poor souls at DQ for a second consecutive night. Those incorrect orders don't go to waste, however. Senior Ginny Jorde does her best DQ waitress impression and pawns off the desserts on two toddlers and a table of elderly Iowans.
7:42 p.m.
Back on the road.
9:00 p.m.
In the final indication (number seven for those scoring at home) that this is not a trip with the wrestling or football teams, I spot freshman Lisa Berg braiding junior Anna Nudell Lee's (left) hair. The end result? Well, my apologies to Anna, but there's a distinct resemblance (at least from a distance) of the young rapper, Li'l Bow Wow.
9:17 p.m.
The third and final movie of the trip begins - "Rat Race."
9:57, 10:26 and 10:57 p.m.
Bill the bus driver says, "That's the worst movie I've ever heard. It's nothing but screaming. No one responds to Bill.
11:02 p.m.
The bus pulls into the Bierman Building parking lot. Packs of college students are roaming the streets, unaware of who just got home. They're probably unaware of the result of the day's match. They're undoubtedly unaware of the cohesiveness of the team unloading the bus. They're unaware of the extraordinary individuals, players and coaches both, on the bus. And they are most certainly unaware of the undying devotion that the University of Minnesota soccer team has to each other...and to Dairy Queen.
Written by Assistant Director of Athletics Media Relations and Soccer Contact, Kevin Kurtt
Friday, Sept. 13, 7:50 p.m.
The University of Minnesota women's soccer team may have just made the Dairy Queen in Story City, Iowa the most profitable DQ in the Midwest. The bus has pulled away from the ice cream establishment and, undoubtedly, the employees have breathed a sigh of relief. When the Minnesota bus drove up to DQ the day before, one couldn't help but sense a feeling of dread from the man and woman that worked behind the counter. When the bus pulled into the DQ parking lot tonight, the manager just laughed, for he knew what was coming - 25 soccer players, three coaches, a trainer, an administrator and a sports information staff member, all with a hunger that could only be sated by Blizzards, Breezes and Banana Splits.
IT WAS MY FIRST TRIP with the team. It was my first trip with a women's team from the U of M. On Friday, Sept. 13, the Golden Gophers would play Iowa State in Ames, Iowa. I looked forward to the trip, not really knowing what to expect. It had to be different from my past outings with the Golden Gopher wrestling and football teams. It was. A trip with the Minnesota women's soccer team is about winning the match first, but it's also about so much more. The following is what I saw and experienced as a newbie with the soccer traveling party.
Thursday, September 12
5:15 p.m.
The bus smells like a deli. Select members of the soccer team are hurriedly distributing Bobby Z's meals to players, coaches and staff. The incessant chatter that typically precedes bus trips with the Golden Gophers suddenly drops in volume as the team chows down after a two-hour practice. All the meals are there, except one. Assistant Coach Ellen Obleman's sandwich is missing. She doesn't panic, though; she's unabashedly a Subway fan. So, the first-year assistant jumps off the bus and jogs to her favorite fast food joint.
5:22 p.m.
The bus takes to the road with Obleman's sandwich quickly being devoured. Destination: Ames, Iowa. Excitement for the endpoint of the trip is missing, not surprisingly.
5:43 p.m.
Obleman, nominated for "onboard movie selection duty," makes her choice for the trip south - "High Crimes," a court thriller starring Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman. Apparently, the classic soccer movie "Victory" isn't viewed on every soccer bus trip.
5:43:30 p.m.
Tierney Palmer-Klein, a sophomore defender, nominated for "movie volume duty," heads to the front of the bus in an attempt to find just the right level of volume for the duration of the flick. Easy job, right? No. Not at all. TPK, as she is abbreviatedly known, spends the next few minutes asking her peers, "How's that? Louder? Too loud?" - questions that elicit all sorts of responses, from blank looks to upturned thumbs to exclamations of "Turn it up!" Tierney is quickly growing weary of this duty. The look on her face suggests one thing - a freshman will get this job next time.
7:09 p.m.
Amazingly, the movie volume stayed the same for almost an hour and a half. That is, until an action scene involving a car chase necessitated the volume to be dropped in order to maintain the sanity and healthy-driving abilities of the bus driver, Bill.
7:43 p.m.
The movie ends. Volume is no longer a concern.
8:15 p.m.
In the first indication that this is clearly not a trip with a football or wrestling team, Obleman and senior midfielder Kyndra Hesse (below) spend a good half hour discussing weddings. (Hesse is engaged to marry next summer after graduation and Obleman is the only married person on hand.) They talk about wedding music, wedding dresses, wedding ceremonies. They talk about things that probably have never been talked about on a trip with the football or wrestling team.
8:44 p.m.
The marriage of Minnesota soccer and Dairy Queen begins with TPK shouting, "Coach Wick, look at the sign! Dairy Queen!"
8:45 p.m.
The bus unloads, eliciting the deep feeling of fear from the lone two employees of the ill-fated DQ.
8:45:01
"What's that smell?!?" every member of the traveling party asks. A rank stench hangs in the air in Story City. An inquisitive player asks a local about the odor. Apparently, eight miles down the road exists a rather large turkey farm. Perhaps not surprisingly the foul odor does little to nothing to deter the squad's hunger for ice cream.
8:47 p.m.
Head Coach Barbara Wickstrand instructs the team that they are allowed to order one small dessert - no extravagant Lollapalooza ice cream surprises will be permitted. We're in a budget crunch at the U, of course.
8:49 p.m.
As the orders are filled slowly but surely, the stories begin to fly about soccer moms (freshmen Becky Dellaria and Amanda Edwards' moms, specifically), the numerous yellow cards in Minnesota's first four games (notably midfielder Keely Dinse's exploits against Colorado), goalkeeper Karli Kopietz's ability to palm a basketball (bringing to mind the Seinfeld "man hands" episode), and much more.
The story that brings plenty of laughs comes from Dinse, affectionately known as The Enforcer on the squad. Keely wholeheartedly embraces her role with the Golden Gophers - a role which can best be compared to a hockey team's goon. When things get out of hand on the field with bothersome opponents, it's Keely's job to maintain order - yellow cards be damned. Keely tells the story of a road game last season. She legally tackles an opponent, looks down and sees a shoe sitting next to her. Intuitively, The Enforcer grabs the shoe and heaves it off the field and over the track that encircles the soccer pitch. The opposing player's response was negative to say the least, yet incredibly humorous to the nearby Minnesota players on the bench. "That's our goon," they must have thought.
9:14 p.m.
The sigh of relief from the DQ employees is audible - the Minnesota soccer team has left the building. And thankfully so; the star-crossed ice cream store is nearly out of ice cream. Little do they know the Gophers will return in about 23 hours.
9:31 p.m.
The bus arrives at the hotel in Ames. Rooming assignments are announced, keys are passed out. Assistant Coach Chris Higgins (right), usually the only male on road trips with the team, finally has a roomie - me. In another indication that this is not a trip with the wrestlers, I get my own bed. I don't have to share with a wrestler or coach.
Higgins relishes this time in his room. He gets to watch SportsCenter. He gets to watch football. He gets to do guy stuff. "Sometimes, I've just got to get away," he says, with no hint of ill will toward his peers and players. "When you're around women all the time - at work, at home - it's nice to get away."
10:43 p.m.
You can only get away for so long, apparently, for right now Higgins is calling home to his girlfriend.
11:16 p.m.
Zzzzzzzzz.
Friday, September 14, 2002
9:30 a.m.
Breakfast time in the hotel restaurant. For the first time in this team's history, the entire team is early or just on time for the meal.
11:45 a.m.
After some time to get showered and dressed appropriately, the team loads the bus for an undisclosed location. As we step aboard, junior Amanda McMahon (below) hands freshman Laura Hoppe three packets of coffee, taken from the hotel room.
"What's that for?" I ask.
Mac, as she is affectionately known, replies, "Hoppe likes the smell of coffee."
Hoppe adds, "Yup, I don't drink it; I just smell it."
Senior captain Meghan Jones walks by with a look on her face that can only mean she's thinking one thing. "Freshmen."
11:51 a.m.
Wickstrand breaks out the whiteboard with the likeness of a soccer field and calls Higgins. During the short ride, they come up with a free kick that might work against Iowa State. Wickstrand confesses she thought it up out of the blue before breakfast this morning.
11:56 a.m.
The bus pulls into Stuart C. Smith Park on the outskirts of campus. There, Wickstrand hands out paper plates. A picnic? Nope. It's a team-building exercise - yet another sign that this is not the wrestling team to which I have grown accustom. Coach Wick instructs the team to tape the plates on their backs, go around to each player and write on the plate something they respect or admire about the person.
11:59 a.m.
Wickstrand quietly admits to being nervous four hours before game time. "It's a good nervous," she says. "But I swear I've gone to the bathroom a thousand times this morning."
12:30 p.m.
The team forms a loose-knit circle and is told to pick a comment on their plate that touched them the most. They go around the circle, telling their teammates a little more about themselves. There are plenty of smiles, but tears, too.
Edwards has already been caught with tears a-flowin'. She chooses a comment, but it's not the one that brought on the tears. Someone asks what made her cry. Amanda points and has Hesse read it: "For being a great friend."
It became clear right there - they are not just teammates; they are friends.
12:34 p.m.
Wickstrand passes out maroon rubber bands to the players - another team-building exercise. On the rubber bands is written: "Minnesota Soccer - No Excuses, No Regrets!" Wickstrand spent a good chunk of time on Wednesday passing the rubber bands out to nearly everyone in the athletic department. Other teams are already planning on taking the idea to help foster team unity. Wickstrand beamed at the mention of other coaches stealing her idea.
12:45 p.m.
The team reassembles at the hotel for a buffet lunch of salads, sandwiches and soup. No dessert for the players, though, leaving plenty of cheesecake, apple strudel and chocolate cake for the coaches and staff. I do my best not to rub it in to the players how tasty the sweets are. More than a few jealous (dirty?) looks are thrown in our table's direction.
1:45 p.m.
The players head to a room reserved for the team to kill some time playing games.
2:30 p.m.
The coaches and staff enter the room for a team meeting. A rousing game of Pictionary is just wrapping up. Before the coaches present their scouting report and strategy for the game, I deem it necessary to make a correction on the whiteboard on the wall. A spirited player wrote "Kill Iowa!" Well, my anal retentiveness as a media relations staffer got the best of me - I added "State" to ensure accuracy.
2:52 p.m.
The pre-game briefing complete, the Golden Gophers jump on the bus for the short trip to the stadium.
2:56 p.m.
The search for a radio station with "pump up music" begins. Being in Ames, several country music stations are flipped through quickly by junior forward Rachael Roth before settling on a station playing Janet Jackson. Consider this indication number four that this is women's soccer, not wrestling or football. Content with her selection, Roth walks to the back of the bus, doing a little pirouette to the music. There's indication number five.
4:00 p.m.
Game time. Minnesota versus Iowa State.
5:08 p.m.
The pirouette doesn't make its way onto the field, but it could have in the 53rd minute of the game as Roth (right) scores the eventual game-winning goal on a nifty one-on-one play.
5:57 p.m.
Golden Gophers 1, Cyclones 0.
6:32 p.m.
We load the bus for the trip back home. Roth's clashing wardrobe choice of a pinkish shirt and maroon warm-up pants gives the first sign that maybe the soccer players and wrestlers have some things in common (the clashing clothes, not the pinkish shirt).
6:42 p.m.
We stop at a local sub joint, Jimmy John's, to pick up our pre-ordered food. Once again, the bus smells like a deli.
Despite the occasional deli aromas on the bus, I discover indication number six that this is not the wrestling team - this squad smells infinitely better.
7:01 p.m.
The bus takes to I-35 going north.
7:10 p.m.
The second movie of the trip, "Changing Lanes," begins with bus driver Bill given movie volume duty. He reluctantly accepts the job.
7:23 p.m.
The bus arrives in Story City. Inexplicably yet thankfully, the turkey farm stench is missing.
7:24 p.m.
Fate befalls the Dairy Queen for the second night in a row. The manager laughs upon our arrival, but maybe he saw it coming - our orders are filled in record time tonight.
7:27 p.m.
Ok, not all orders are filled correctly, but that's the price we pay for descending on the poor souls at DQ for a second consecutive night. Those incorrect orders don't go to waste, however. Senior Ginny Jorde does her best DQ waitress impression and pawns off the desserts on two toddlers and a table of elderly Iowans.
7:42 p.m.
Back on the road.
9:00 p.m.
In the final indication (number seven for those scoring at home) that this is not a trip with the wrestling or football teams, I spot freshman Lisa Berg braiding junior Anna Nudell Lee's (left) hair. The end result? Well, my apologies to Anna, but there's a distinct resemblance (at least from a distance) of the young rapper, Li'l Bow Wow.
9:17 p.m.
The third and final movie of the trip begins - "Rat Race."
9:57, 10:26 and 10:57 p.m.
Bill the bus driver says, "That's the worst movie I've ever heard. It's nothing but screaming. No one responds to Bill.
11:02 p.m.
The bus pulls into the Bierman Building parking lot. Packs of college students are roaming the streets, unaware of who just got home. They're probably unaware of the result of the day's match. They're undoubtedly unaware of the cohesiveness of the team unloading the bus. They're unaware of the extraordinary individuals, players and coaches both, on the bus. And they are most certainly unaware of the undying devotion that the University of Minnesota soccer team has to each other...and to Dairy Queen.
Written by Assistant Director of Athletics Media Relations and Soccer Contact, Kevin Kurtt
