Augsburg's women's soccer team is sending daily diaries during the team's trip to Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Here's head coach Mike Navarre's diary entry for Wednesday, May 12:
We lost 2-0 to SC Bad Neuenahr in Germany on Wednesday. We had a couple of great chances to level the match in the second half, but could not capitalize. A failed clearance led to their second goal in the final minutes of the game.
Overall, it was not a bad effort against a quality opponent who is playing good soccer at the end of their season. I look for us to adjust to the demands of traveling aboad and perform better in our games this weekend.
Before the game, the players enjoyed exploring Cologne, Germany, and taking a cruise along the Rhine River. It's early and I can already tell that this trip will be a great experience for the players, and will bring our team even closer together.
Thoughts on Wednesday from Augsburg players Taylor Becker (SO, Red Wing, Minn.) and Devon Ellena (FY, Wales, Wis./Kettle Moraine HS):
Wednesday started with a 7 a.m. training session in the rain. Afterwards, we returned to Hotel Walram for an amazing breakfast at the hotel. We transfered from the hotel to Cologne, Germany to experience the local culture. To get there, we rode on the Autobahn -- unfortunately since we were on a bus, we had a speed limit -- but the cars could go at whatever speed they wanted.
In the city, we saw and explored the oldest Gothic cathedral in Europe, the Köln Cathedral. It is dedicated to Saint Peter and the Blessed Virgin Mary and is visited by 20,000 people every day. After two hours of roaming, the city we took a Rhine River boat cruise in Ahr; the weather was chilly, but we didn't get rained on this time!
Once the river tour was over, we boarded our bus which then took us to Mayschoß, where we were given a tour of the winery. We were told that about 2,500 bottles of wine are filled each hour and, once our tour was over, we got to sample wine as well as keep a personal souviner glass.
After dinner, we suited up for our first match against SC07 Bad Neuenahr. We played a little rusty, still recovering from the time change as well as competeing against a team that has their end of the year playoff championship game this upcoming weekend. We ended up losing 2-0, but we were definitely capable of leaving with a draw.
