Aug. 16, 2001

Valkenswaard, Holland - We have just returned from a 4-1 victory over Lanaken in Lanaken, Belgium Thursday evening. After the 90-minute ride home, it is 11:30 p.m. here and almost time for bed.

Kerri and Jenny started the game at attack, Lisa, Sarah, Beth and Krisha at midfield, Maggie, Brittany, Kristin L, and Kristin B at back and Lori in goal. McCabe got the Seawolves going in the sixth minute when she took a cross from Greenberg and fired a left-footed shot off the far post for a 1-0 lead. The Seawolves were in control for most of the game, but a mixup in the back in the 56th minute helped Lanaken pull level at one. Stony Brook responded shortly thereafter when newcomer Dana White knocked home a rebound off a Jessica Enes shot for a 2-1 lead. Only nine minutes later, White set up Enes with a beautiful feed and Enes made no mistake and the Seawolves were in control. Krisha Zagura closed out the scoring with a tally in the 78th minute.

The team performed very well for the first time out. The returners showed a great deal of development while all of the freshmen played and contributed. Maggie Haren was terrific at back while Lea Kyle and

The game capped off a terrific day. After an early morning training session, we visited the city of Maastricht, located on the Maas River in Western Holland. There, we split up into groups and toured in the inner city. I joined up with Greg Delimitros, Eric Teepe and Eric Lehnert and we hit the town. It is hard to believe the amount of shops in such a small city. There is a pub about every third shop, pubs so small it is hard to believe people can fit in there. And of course, there are stores that remind us of home like DKNY, Hugo Boss and of course, McDonald's. In the center of town, we bumped into Joe Totman, a friend of coach Ryan. He organizes the trips to Europe for Ryan's national team. We were all amazed at the chances of meeting up with a friend of hers in Maastricht, Holland.

Our little group fourght off the steady rain for most of the afternoon, soaking in the sights. Along the way, we visited two churches. The second was a beautiful gothic style church that was beautful inside. Very quiet almost pitch black. Of course, we had to make a scene. Delimitros wasn't paying attention to where he was walking and bumped into a bench which scraped along the stone floor. A deafening sound filled the church as everyone looked towards us to see what was going on. Instead of lifting it up and placing it back in the right position, Greg decided to drag it back to the spot which made even more noise. The rest of us tried to run away from him and pretend like he wasn't with us. He, of course, was quite embarassed.

Later we ate at an Italian restaurant. We chose pizza. The dough was like pita bread and it was very good.

We are beginning to pick up a little more of the language - Dank U is thank you and the Dutch say How Do (unsure of spelling) for goodbye. The rowdy Dutch girls that were living above us have checked out so it should be an uneventful night.

It is amazing how many of the people we have come into contact with speak English. Most of the songs are the radio here are American--Don Henley, Shaggy, Celine Dion and of course what would a trip be like without hearing "Who let the Dogs out?."

Tomorrow we have two traning sessions (morning and evening) and we will tour Denborsht (I think that's how it spelled) in the afternoon.

A note from Megan Healy My first game was exciting although I have never played defense in my life. The ref hated me but I swear that I didn't do anything bad! I didn't feel well this morning but my teammates were really nice to me and took care of me. I really like everyone and having a good time. Hi, mom and dad, Lizzie and Maureen. Talk to you soon. Love, Megan.