Yesterday, I attended the Iowa Hawkeye Soccer November 2022 Prospect Camp. My dad and I got up early and drove from our home in the northwest suburbs of Chicago to Iowa City with one of my best friends and a former teammate of mine at FC 1974, Sydney Dulak, who is a 2007 playing for Eclipse Select here in Illinois and her dad. Once on campus, we made a quick stop at the University of Iowa bookstore and then headed to the camp which was held on the turf at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex. I was surprised at the large size of the Iowa campus.
With me at the camp was my Chicago FC United teammate Lily Petrie and another former FC 1974 teammate Gianna Amidei. The camp was well attended and I recognized girls from Nationals, FC Wisconsin, Rockford Raptors and my friend Kate Hopma, a 2006 goalkeeper for Eclipse Select who I have trained with for many years at Advantage Soccer Academy. After the early session, we asked the Iowa coaches for a lunch recommendation. They suggested Stella in Iowa City. After we had a light lunch, we returned to play 8v8 and 11 v 11 games. I was happy with my performance playing the midfield in the scrimmages. The time flew by and before I knew it, we were back in the car heading home. Unfortunately, it was very cold out so we didn’t take too many pictures! Special thanks to Coaches Dave Diianni, Katelyn Longino, and Bennet Luethje for an unforgettable day.