Preseason According to Aimee

Aimee Ubriaco

I could talk about how excited we are for this season or how hard everyone is working this summer to become bigger, faster, and stronger. But I won’t. Those are all givens. August is approaching fast, and right now I’m not going to focus on those looming fitness tests or those exhausting two-a-days. Because this girl is more excited to get back and hang with my teammates all day, every day playing soccer.

I’m already thinking about who my first squirt-in-the-face victim is at the first water break.

I’m preparing for the first backside I snipe with a soccer ball. (Watch out Drewett).

I’m pumped for the very first joke about Teeny…and it doesn’t even have to be me to make it.

I’m waiting to see how many ice bags Jaclyn can strap to her body after practice while then chasing down her ride because it took her 20 minutes to load up that cargo!

I wait anxiously for that moment you have to tell your locker neighbor that a fresh pair of socks is a must.

My mouth waters thinking about the delicious hot dogs and hamburgers Grill-Master Dave will make us the night after the first practices.

I can’t wait to laugh while Sam Martinez wrings out her shirt after 10 minutes into the first day.

I’m anticipating the workers at the first meal at the café to be quite annoyed with us for moving the tables together. What can we say; we’re just a close team.

I’m already planning out my first few locker room pranks. They’re innocent enough; just keep an eye on your shoes…both of them!

And most importantly, I’m waiting for that very first bomb of a shot in a small-sided game that gets us all fired up. Or a quick series of passes in a possession game that really get us flowing. Because let’s be real, we’re all ready for that first whistle against Southwest Baptist, and we’ll be ready to play!

In all seriousness, the practices are tough and exhausting and I love that, but it’s not like we don’t have our share of fun during preseason! We’re the Quincy Lady Hawks! So let’s clue these newcomers in on how we plan to win soccer games because I’m STOKED!

Aimee Ubriaco
2011 Senior Lady Hawk

2011 Freshmen: Natalie Kuhlenberg and Brittney Kuster

For the next couple weeks, before the 2011 preseason camp begins, Lady Hawk Productions is going to be introducing the newest members of our team! 

Enjoy and GO HAWKS!

Summer is here!

Bergie Bower

Summer is finally here!! Summer is a time for everyone to get a break from school, hang out with family and friends, get a summer job and continue to work towards getting better every day for soccer. I am going to be a senior now and this is the last summer that I have before my competitive career is over. Although I am heartbroken at the fact that this is my last one, it pushes me to do even more than all the years previous to make this preseason and season the best yet. Playing once a week helps with confidence and getting touches on the ball. But especially for me running is on the top of my list of things to get better at. So throughout the summer I will be logging miles, cross fits, sprints and stairs. On top of doing all this during the summer, my bestie Lauren Drewett and I are doing the Insanity 60 day challenge. If you have never heard of it, look it up and it is not funny business. Being day 5, I can honestly say it’s HARD! In that workout there’s jumping, squatting, and strengthening the arms, which will all help with jumping so we can win those head balls against the taller teams like NKU, Parkside, and Grand Valley. However we are looking at the first game right now and we don’t worry about the teams we play later in the season. Right now we are focused on the winning the next game.

I am very excited about the fall! In the spring season we played well together and now this summer everyone is working on themselves so when we do come together in August we are going to just sew the seams and everything will fall into place. The last three years for my senior class and especially me have been seasons to remember. I hope to continue that and make this season a memorable one with hard work, laughs, tears (let’s hope not) and winning. Becoming a close team off the field is what makes success on the field. So just like the past, freshman will get their nicknames, we will learn their unique quality about them, and they will learn that this group of girls is a funny group… especially Aimee Ubriaco who can make you laugh regardless of the situation. And you can always count on me to make it a little awkward by placing “that’s what she said” in the right moment.

Summer is the time for each person to pick out their weakness, work on them, and make them into strengths. That way, when it comes time for us to start preseason and get pumped for the first game against Southwest Baptist, we are ready as individuals but more importanly as a team.

Alicia “Bergie” Bower

2011 Senior Back

Sam and Sam Show: Part III

Sam and Sam Show: Part III is here! Lady Hawk Productions had a trivia challenge for the duo...take a look!

The Next Chapter - Erin Conroy

These past four years have come and gone faster than I can say “Lady Hawks”. On May 22, 2011, six of us graduated and began new chapters of our lives. Sadly enough we all seem to be heading in different directions; whether it is continuing our education in Graduate School, beginning a career in nursing or accounting, or heading out to a fashion forward place of California, we all have our roads paved out in front of us. For me, my path does not stray too far from where I already am. Beginning next week I start my classes for my Master’s degree in Education Leadership from yet again, Quincy University. While taking these classes, I will be the new graduate assistant for the Quincy University Athletic Department in which I will be able to learn the “behind the scenes” events and doings of what makes a success athletic department and program. However, I am not through with our soccer program yet. I plan to also assist Dave and Katie and try to help the Lady Hawks along their road to a GLVC Championship and a National Championship.

Now being a college graduate I have set new goals for my life and want to accomplish many things, but I will never forget the times that I have spent with my former teammates, roommates, and best friends.

Erin Conroy
2011 QU Lady Hawk Graduate

Catching Up With Alumni - Rachel Poepsel Grohmann

Hometown: Wentzville, MO

High School: St. Dominic

Position: Midfielder and Forward

Graduation Year: 2007

Major: Marketing

Awards: First Team All-GLVC

What was your favorite game at QU and why?
There are so many memorable games but my favorite was against Northern Kentucky my senior year. It was a Friday night under the lights and tied 0-0 until late in the second half. In less than 1 minute we scored 3 times and ended up winning 3-0. Everyone was so excited after each goal and the momentum was awesome!

What was your favorite memory as a QU Lady Hawk?
My favorite memory as a QU Lady Hawk was finding out we were going to the NCAA tournament my senior year. The whole team worked so hard all year so it was really rewarding to have the opportunity and extend our season even longer.

Being an attacker, what was your most memorable goal at QU?
My most memorable goal was against Rockhurst my senior year. It was the first round of the GLVC conference tournament and we were losing 1-0 with less than 2 minutes in the game. I scored off a pass from Becky Fleming to tie the game 1-1. We ended up winning in OT which advanced us in the tournament. It was so exciting!

What is special about being a QU Lady Hawk?
I loved being a QU Lady Hawk! I liked how all of the teams supported each other. Since QU is a small school you get to know the athletes on the other teams. We would go to a lot of basketball, baseball, volleyball, and football games and they would come to our soccer games. Most Division II teams don’t have the same support.

What was your favorite pregame activity?
The music and dancing in our locker room before home games!

Who was your Hawk-Mate…any thoughts?
Jenna Boyko (a.k.a. Deer) was an awesome Hawk-Mate! We went to high school together so it was really neat to play with her again! DOMINATORS!!!

What are you doing now four years after QU?
I can’t believe it has been four years since graduation! I graduated with a Marketing degree and I currently work in the Finance department at The Boeing Company in St. Louis. A business degree from QU helped open the door for me at Boeing. I graduated with my M.B.A. from Missouri Baptist in 2009.

QU Women's Soccer Alumni Game Video (Click The Picture To Watch)

http://www.twitvid.com/QAQXU

Summer Days Ahead

As we enter finals week, our Lady Hawks are focusing on finishing the Spring Semester on a positive note by achieving good grades. Our women’s soccer program was very fortunate to win the Team Academic Achievement Award at the Mart Heinen Awards Banquet for the third straight year. This award is given to the women’s program at QU with the best Team GPA. We had an outstanding 3.56 Team GPA. Congrats to our players for managing their time, working hard, and producing in the classroom just as they do on the field.

Our players are heading home next week with their summer workout programs. Our players are doing various activities such as playing club soccer, WPSL, involved in personal workout programs, and also following our H.A.W.K. Summer Program. This is a 12 week program divided into 4 phases set up to prepare our ladies for the fall. It involves cardio, strength, ball work, agility, speed work, playing, etc. Training and preparation is now up to the players by attacking each day with the “Fit For Life” attitude. Every year I’ve been at QU our players have always reported to preseason super fit, focused, and hungry for success. It’s key for our players to report fit so we can use that limited time to shape our team quicker focusing more on team tactics.

We will have more blog updates soon so please keep checking. We are in the process of posting our Alumni Game Day Video (which is awesome!!!), but we are having difficulties with this blogspot site. We will post videos, interviews of our newcomers, and other updates from players throughout the summer. Thank you for following and supporting our Quincy Lady Hawk Program.

- Dave Musso

2011 Alumni Game Photo

Click the Picture to Enlarge

The Quincy University Lady Hawk Alumni Game Saturday April 30 was a huge success. A big thank you to the 25 Alumni Hawks that came back to enjoy the event. We are currently putting together a very neat alumni game video which will be coming soon. Please check back later.

Lady Hawks Springin to Next Fall!

Lydia Disseler

Spring season has been a great success! Everyone is working hard in practice and staying positive which is what has been leading to our success in our games. Our team chemistry is great on and off the field, which also contributes to our success. Every time I go to practice I can count on a good laugh, but staying focused when needed. We have been attacking practice like it will be our last and receiving maximum benefit in each practice to make us better players. The last game we played, on April 16th, was against Western Illinois at their place. It was very cold and windy but that did not stop us from scoring on them within the first twenty minutes! We played well together and had each other’s backs. We played our game passing to each other’s feet and kept our cool when the Western players tried knocking us off the ball. The referee gave out seven yellow cards! Brittany Casey scored the first goal in the first half and Lori Mannion with the game winner with less than ten minutes to go resulting in a 2-1 win! We showed the classiness of the Lady Hawks with a strong win while showing respect to our opponent.

The next game to come is the Alumni game on Saturday April 30th at 4 pm. I am very excited to see the players that have graduated and get more touches on the ball. I am also very excited to see how well this 2011 group will do in the fall. We did great last year, but there is always room for improvement in everything you do. We are a team that has good potential to achieve a winning and successful season through great enthusiasm and determination. In order to prepare myself for this battle, I will continue to lift twice a week to stay strong so I do not get pushed off the ball. Each day I will think to myself, “what can I do today to make me a better and stronger player?” I will do an extra 5% everyday to get my body at top performance level. I plan on running at least three miles daily, various types of sprinting, lifting, ball touches, and cross fits weekly to keep my touch and stamina at a high level. In order for me to accomplish this, I have to eat well and drink a lot of water to stay energized and hydrated. I have confidence that our whole team will keep up their hard work and determination in the summer, and push themselves so we may all unite in preseason and benefit from each other’s efforts. The word for the upcoming fall season: ANTICIPATION!

IT’S A GREAT DAY TO BE A LADY HAWK!!!!!

Lydia Disseler
Junior Back

Spring Update: Catching Up with Head Coach Dave Musso

Drewett's Spring Update!

Spring season has been amazing so far! It feels great to get back outside on our AMAZING practice field. Last weekend we played Truman State in our first spring season game. The outcome was a 0-0 tie; however I feel that our team played very well for the first game of the season. Practices this week have also been really good, consisting of possession, and small field games. The drive and passion in the team this spring has been amazing! Everyone comes to each practice ready to play and compete. Everything this week has been in preparation for our games against Evansville and Maryville this weekend. I know everyone is super pumped to be able to play in St. Louis in front of many of our family and friends. Time for us to shine this weekend and score some GOALLSSSSS. GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!

Lauren Drewett
Junior Back

Spring Update!

Lady Hawk Soccer got the chance to catch up with Sophomore Tori Champagne, Freshmen Maddie Torretta and Jaclyn Mastroianni on how the winter off-season went and what they are looking forward to this spring. Check it out! 

GO HAWKS!

Spring Time – “Let ‘Em Play!”

Hello again for another off-season update. We are off to a great start for this 2011 year. The winter conditioning phase is complete and it's time to begin our spring season training. January and February were full of off-season activities such as Cross-Fit, various conditioning activities, lifting, technical ball skills work with small groups, agility, plyos, Pilates, etc. We are focusing on getting stronger and building individual confidence. The off-season is for player development and we are seeing a lot of players step up their level. It’s fun to see how hard this group works together.

We also had our 2010 Team Awards Banquet in February. Here are the team award winners voted by the players…

Most Improved – Sr. Annie Sokolich
Best Defender – Sr. Meghan Roberts
Best Midfielder – Jr. Megan Wingenbach
Best Attacker – Jr. Aimee Ubriaco
Best Newcomer – Fr. Jodi Chapie
Most Valuable Player – Sr. Becky Fleming
Best Student-Athlete – Fleming, Ubriaco, Wingenbach

Injury Update: Our team is pretty healthy coming off 2010. The two main injuries are sophomore defender Sam Andert and freshman defender/midfielder Molly Costello. Sam tore her ACL mid season against Bellarmine. She is doing outstanding with her rehab and has recently been doing cardio fitness, strength, agility, and ball skills. She was cleared last week to play so a big congratulations to her. Obviously we are going to ease her back slow but she is really coming back strong. Sam is an impact player and will be key to our backfield in fall 2011. Molly Coz broke her leg last spring during her Incarnate Word high school season. Coz is coming along well too and doing all the conditioning and ball skills sessions. This type of injury usually takes a full year to be back 100% so we are being careful with her recovery and return too. It’ll be a big bonus getting Coz back next fall for our back line and midfield. During these spring games we will be limited with our subs but the bonus of that is everyone will play a lot and get quality game time experience.

Spring Games and Training: We have some awesome games this spring as we play Truman, Evansville, Maryville, Western Illinois, Hannibal and our Alumni. Hopefully this spring weather will be cooperative and let us play a lot. Click the picture to enlarge the spring dates and times.

Spring training will be very valuable for player development. Again our focus is on individual development and there are a lot of open spots to be filled in 2011. This is a hungry group which creates a spirited atmosphere. Who wants it? The competitiveness helps push each other which will eventually raise the entire level of our team and program. 2011 spring training is here…Here We Go!

- Dave Musso

Lady Hawk Dodge-ball Tournament!

The Lady Hawks have been working really hard this off-season and we decided to let loose and have a little fun! A little over a week ago we had a dodge-ball tournament and the girls (including the 2010 seniors) were divided up into teams and were told to come up with a team name and outfits. Each team was voted by random QU Athletic Staff and well....here is the outcome! The girls had a blast, check it out!

GO HAWKS!