Congrats to Lady Pioneer Soccer team

On Saturday afternoon, the Northland Lady Pioneer soccer team won the Midwest region championship for the first time by defeating Maranatha Baptist Bible College 4-1 on penalty kicks. It was a fantastic effort by the squad and first-year head coach Nate Chatfield as the rebounded from a 4-2 loss earlier in the season to beat the Crusaders when it counted. In an evenly played match, a couple of Lady Pioneer basketball players played critical roles in the outcome. Kate Matthai took and made the first pk to set the tone for the shootout, and goalkeeper Rebecca Newton made a beautiful save early in the first half, and applied the pressure by saving the first MBBC pk attempt after Kate had scored. Both players were named to the All-region team. The victory earns an automatic bid in the NCCAA national tournament being played in Florida Nov. 9-12....and herein lies the only bad news....we will be without Kate and Becca as we tip off our season with two difficult games in Iowa on the 11th and 12th. Combined with the absence of another starter, Brooke Byard, we will be extremely young and short-handed to begin the season. However, we trust the Lord that we will learn much, new players will get valuable experience, and God will be glorified. As I've reminded everyone who has asked, we're all on the same team: Northland. I'm pumped they achieved one of our goals of a region championship, and extremely proud of Nate for his hard work.

Thanks for reading!

Team is working hard

Well, we're officially into our second week of practices and the team is coming together....sort of. You see, three of our four returners play soccer or volleyball for Northland, and they are heading to their regional tournaments this weekend. Therefore, we haven't had them at practices, but are wishing them well as they compete!

The other eight players have been working hard. We spend the majority of our time each practice working on defensive fundamentals and technique. I've always been convinced that a great defensive team will be in every game no matter their offensive ability. So we'll keep working that area and begin adding the offense when we get the other girls to join us.

Here is the official roster. We return four players, including three starters, from last year's team: Behn 1 ppg, 2 reb pg; Byard 7 ppg, 3 reb pg, 2 steals pg; Matthai 16ppg, 5 reb pg, 3 assists pg; Newton 7.5 ppg, 9 reb pg, 2 steals pg. We also welcome seven first-year players, some who will contribute right away.

Thanks for praying for us this season.

No. Name Yr Height Position Hometown

32 Chelsea Behn Jr 5’8” Forward Chicago, IL

3 *Brooke Byard Sr 5’6” Guard Hutchinson, KS

25 Amy Buhrow Fr 5’5” Forward Reedsburg, WI

35 Rianna DeCleene Jr 5’5” Forward Marinette, WI

15 Chelsea Goodreau So 5’4” Guard L’Anse, MI

10 *Kate Matthai So 5’7” Guard Augusta, GA

14 Rebecca Newton So 5’9” Forward Canton, GA

24 Morgan Peterson Fr 5’7” Forward Jodan, MN

23 Allie Riegel Fr 5’7” Guard Laramie, WY

33 Valerie Roer Jr 5’7” Forward Marinette, WI

4 Claire Smith Fr 5’5” Guard Dunbar, WI

*Captain

Ready to get started; Follow us on twitter; Watch us live

Well, we finished our final "try-out/practice" this morning, and it looks like the team is set. We now have 5 weeks until our first games in Ankeney, IA. There is much work to do, but it really seems that the girls are already very teachable. I'll post an official roster in the next day or so.

Also, if you are a fan, follower, or family member of the Lady Pioneers basketball team, I encourage you to follow us on twitter. This will be a primary method for us to keep you updated throughout the season, especially game updates while on the road. We will also have some fun with it as well. You can follow us (W_PioneerBball) by clicking on the link at the top right.

Finally, we're thankful to announce that all of our home games are scheduled to be broadcast live on the ni.edu website. Hopefully this will be an encouragement to friends and family members around the country.

Thanks again for your support.

coach whitt

Lady Pioneers take the court this afternoon

After 8 long months, the NIU Lady Pioneers return to the court this afternoon for the first of two tryout practices. There are a lot of unanswered questions coming into the season, but also a lot of anticipation. I look forward to seeing what the Lord has in store for this group during the 2011-12 season. I'm excited to have senior Brooke Byard and sophomore Kate Matthai serving as captains this season. We are working through some details regarding their leadership, theme for the season, and other logistics. Our first game is five weeks from tomorrow!

Check out the season schedule here.

Also, be sure to click on the link on the sidebar to follow us on twitter for practice, travel and especially game updates.

Thanks for reading.
Coach Whitt

Post-season Honors

Just wanted to make it official that freshman guard Kate Matthai was selected by the coaches in the Midwest region as a member of the All-region team. Kate was the only freshman selected to this team this year. She was second in the region in scoring (16.2 points per game), as well as averaged 4.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 2 steals per game. She accomplished this despite playing the final 5 games with a broken hand.

We were also excited that Abi Sexton and Miranda Smith were also recognized as National Scholar Athletes. This award goes to upperclassmen lettering in their sport while maintaining at least a 3.4 GPA. They will receive their certificates later in the semester.

Season comes to an end

The longer I do this the faster the season seems to go. I apologize for not keeping up with the blog regularly this season. There were a number of factors, not the least of which is it was difficult to find different ways to say the same thing. So, at Christmas break I thought I would postpone the blog until the season ended.

We finished 1-24. That's not a typo...1-24. Bottom line is we had season-ending injuries early, and a lack of experience on the floor throughout the season. That's the easy, basketball answer. But there is so much more to this season and team. In fact, I'm going to say something that you will likely struggle to believe - I didn't want this season to end. Here's why.

From the middle of November when we were rendered short-handed and inexperienced, this team has come to practice and worked as hard as any team I've been around. They got a little better from Nov to Dec, but got drastically better from Jan to Feb. This team loved each other and really trusted me and K-Mo. They were absolutely a joy to coach and made this season so memorable and enjoyable. I really wanted to get another win down the stretch....but honestly, not for me....for them.

Anyway, so thankful for each of the 11 players, support staff, and Coach Moses. Abi and Miranda are graduating seniors that played their first season with us. Both have played soccer for Northland for 4 years, and finally gave in to my begging! Miranda improved more than any player, and Abi, while joining in Dec., provided some stability for us on and off the court. Becky is a senior, playing her third year for the Lady Pioneers. She was her normal force on the boards throughout the year (averaging almost 10 rebounds per game), but she really stepped up the final 7 games of the season averaging a double-double. Brooke jumped from a bench role to team captain and starter, and became our primary outside threat. Rachel M. moved from stats to a playing role in Jan., and filled a void for us defensively and with her on-floor communication. The Lord brought two freshmen, Kate and Becca, to us that really had great first seasons. Becca played steady all year, ending with a 10-rebound average, while Kate earned All-Region honors while finishing as our team's leading scorer despite breaking a finger with 7 games left. We also had Bethany, Chelsea, Rachel W., and Jenni filling in roles off the bench.

Sara filled in after her injury to finish the season doing stats, while I'm sure Hannah was the All-region manager! She gave me such peace of mind on trips and at practice. And of course it was great to work with a great friend again, K-Mo.

I will write more at a later time, but wanted to let the 2010-11 Lady Pioneers know how much I love them and am so proud of their character and effort this season. Trust.

Coach

National and Regional Stat Leaders

Well, despite our 1-6 start, I thought I would share some encouraging team and individual efforts so far this season.

From a team standpoint, we rank in the top 10 in the nation in the following categories:

Defense points allowed per game (5^th) 58.6 points

Opponents fg% (7^th) 36.7%

Opponents 3pt fg% (8^th) 29%

We also have some players among the national/regional statistical leaders:

Kate - scoring (9^th /2^nd ) 16.4 points per game; assists (16^th/6^th) 3.6 per game; steals (17^th/5^th) 2.7 per game

Rebecca – rebounds (4^th/3^rd) 11.6 rebounds per game; blocks (nr/9^th) .4 blocks per game;

Becky – rebounds (17^th/8^th) 8.6 rebounds per game

Miranda – steals (nr/8^th) 2.3 steals per game

We definitely don't play as individuals, but it is always worth noting when players are excelling in some areas to contribute to the success of the team! Congrats!