Thank you all for tuning in and we would like to first say that we are extremely excited to get the women’s team going in full swing! This year was an exhibition season and very much a building year to see what kind of talent we could attract on the Women’s side in this area. To start, Curt Lewis, former women’s college coach and current Head men’s highschool coach at Prairie highschool was appointed to start putting together a team, and the office set out to schedule exhibition games to gauge the talent. Tryouts were held and some known local talent was reached out to.
Going into the calendar year the women’s team had 4 total games to test themselves with including a home and away with the Chicago Mustangs, one of the top women’s teams in the country! Their first 2 games were back to back at home against the Mustangs and then the Milwaukee Torrent, another very strong women’s side.
The first 2 games were a little rough as we were still looking for a lot of pieces to build around. The women ended up loosing 3-0 to the Torrent, and the next day the game only lasted 60 minutes due to rain, with the Mustangs winning 3-1. Not a bad result for having just played 90 the day before and against a top opponent!
From there the women traveled to Rochester, MN to face off against Rochester United, and with a lot of new faces from the first 2 games. The Lady Raptors downed Rochester United 8-0 and really started to get their confidence flowing, with multiple players having multiple goals and assists!
Next up, and the final exhibition game of their season the Ladies traveled to Chicago to face the Mustangs again. With lots of confidence flowing from the game before they came out hard and went toe to toe with the Mustangs for the first 60 minutes, before eventually losing 3-1. After the game they were complimented and told there is a really good core here to build off of going into next season!
Here are some thought from coach Curt on the season and what’s ahead:
“In our 1st exhibition season, the Raptor Organization followed the same format as the Mens side did in 2020. We got to play 4 games to see the different levels of teams in multiple leagues, like the UWS and WPSL. Our 1st group of players being a mix of D1, D3, NAIA, JC and local HS did a great job. We played our best soccer at Chicago Mustangs, who won their UWS Division . I’m really looking forward to 2022 and excited at the challenge of whichever league we will be a part of. I think we have good core of players to transition from exhibition to league play and showcase our local talent from the area.”
Your lady Raptors will be joining an Official league this coming summer and will have a minimum of 6 home games for you all to attend! Stay tuned for team updates!
