Episode Transcript
[00:00:09] Speaker A: And welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to the in the nest, the Emmaus Athletic podcast. I'm your co host, Shane Douglas, here with my positive shirt, Matthew Thomason, where Matt was just positive, negative, positive. It doesn't reflect our personalities.
Matt is definitely more negative than I am.
[00:00:32] Speaker B: Yeah, right. Sure. We'll go with that one. We'll go with that one.
[00:00:36] Speaker A: Guess who's back?
[00:00:37] Speaker B: We are.
And our buddy.
[00:00:39] Speaker A: Our buddy.
[00:00:40] Speaker B: Our budy's back.
[00:00:40] Speaker A: He's home. This is his home now. We need a name for him. So anybody who's listening, watching the families out there, we know you were watching. Please comment if you come on campus for any games or just to visit your kids or for a visit, whatever it may be, find Matt and I and tell us any good name, good suggestions, because this is our friend, and he's going to rep some more with our new, what do you call this? Like a little flag or pennant?
[00:01:05] Speaker B: Flag. Pennant. Yep.
[00:01:06] Speaker A: So there he is.
[00:01:08] Speaker B: Go, Eagles.
[00:01:09] Speaker A: There we go. Even though he's not an Eagle, he wants to be, though. That's the thing. It's like, we're physically not Eagles, Matt, but we want to be Emeus Eagles. Just like our little.
[00:01:19] Speaker B: We're Eagles now. We're alumni Eagles now. We are.
[00:01:23] Speaker A: We're old. We got like, we're in the rocking.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: I was looking what I was looking at, but I saw a video last night on Instagram, and it was like, me now knowing that half of the NBA players are younger than I am. Yeah, you sent me. I sent you that one. And I sent you a cowboys one, man. It's true. We're old, Shane. We are old.
[00:01:43] Speaker A: No, you're old. You have two kids.
I'm nobody.
[00:01:48] Speaker B: You're getting married. But that's fine.
[00:01:49] Speaker A: That means I'm young.
[00:01:52] Speaker B: Young. Whatever.
[00:01:54] Speaker A: Okay, well, for Today's podcast, we're going to recap regionals for our volleyball and soccer team. And then we're going to talk about the cross country race coming up this weekend, tomorrow for nationals.
[00:02:07] Speaker B: Let's go.
[00:02:08] Speaker A: And then we're going to recap the basketball games from this past weekend, men's and women's, the opening day, which was awesome, had a good crowd. We'll talk more about that and then also looking ahead to the basketball schedule for this upcoming week. And then that's it.
We have a couple of highlights, like highlight people. We'll talk about that throughout the episode. So let's get into it.
[00:02:34] Speaker B: Yes, regionals. We'll first talk about soccer. So I want to say it was a tough week for MS Athletics. But soccer came in as the number one seed in the Midwest regional tournament, playing the fourth seed, Marinatha Sabercats. And we had beat Marinatha at home five one, and then we tied one one at their place, and then we're playing a third time, and they were hosting regionals. So it was, again another game at their place, and unfortunately, we could not pull it out, and we lost two to one. Yeah, it was two one at halftime also, we had so many good looks. I think we had another shot go off the crossbar again, which so many crossbar shots this year, but, yeah, they just couldn't quite pull it out, unfortunately, and that ended our season.
[00:03:28] Speaker A: Yeah, it's really tough for the guys. I know from talking to them, it's like bittersweet. They're happy that they have a schedule now and that they can focus more in classes, focus more in relationships with other people around campus, and be more active in the community, also possibly getting a job either way. So it's bittersweet, but also job. You really never want to go out.
[00:03:50] Speaker B: Like that, especially first round. Like, losing the first round is really hard, regardless of who you plays or what seed you are.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: Yeah. And, I mean, losing period is tough, but a winner go home situation is really tough. And knowing that, I think what really was frustrating for the team was that they knew their skill, they knew the talent that they had. And you can look at our team, and if people said we didn't deserve the one seed, give us a two seed, because we are definitely one of the best teams in the region this year. And I would even argue that we were one of the best teams in our conference and with a healthy roster and a team that was competing together the end of the stretch of the.
[00:04:31] Speaker B: Season when they didn't losE.
[00:04:33] Speaker A: Exactly. It would have been really tough to take us down in conference and then carry that momentum into regionals. But we weren't healthy. The team didn't really play with Christian for a while.
[00:04:45] Speaker B: They hadn't even practiced with him. And it's hard when Christian is your main goal scorer.
It kind of showed the last couple of games of just. We were trying to really pull out any goals. We had some. We had lots of good.
You know, when he's your main threat and sometimes your only, just. It's just tough.
[00:05:05] Speaker A: It's really tough. And I think you could see that during the game against Marinatha was.
They had Christian for most of the game, but he was still injured, still hurting a little bit. You could tell he wasn't 100%.
[00:05:19] Speaker B: They dropped five guys into the box when he had the ball. They were really honing in on him.
[00:05:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:25] Speaker B: To try to stop him.
[00:05:26] Speaker A: And that's the thing is, it's just having a young team, they weren't able to kind of find their footing. And I think I'm honestly kind of encouraged. I'm encouraged by the season. I'm encouraged by the loss. I know it's a loss and you're like, Shane, why are you saying that? But the thing is, now they have a taste of what it feels like to come up short of your potential. And the thing is, these guys know they got a good team. And it's crazy that coming into the season, we had nine starting freshmen.
We had probably 1314 freshmen on the team. And I think we're going to five or six returners. And the thing is, we're going to.
[00:06:02] Speaker B: Retain a lot of them.
[00:06:04] Speaker A: When I say most of them, I mean like 13 out of 14, if that's the number, which is awesome.
[00:06:08] Speaker B: And the fact, like, okay, so this is the first year since the 2018 team, which we finished with a record that year. The 2018 team this year, it's the first time we've had winning seasons in like ten years. Twelve years. So six, five and three.
That's nothing to be ashamed of. Having a winning season alone is huge.
[00:06:31] Speaker A: And here's the thing. You can kind of compare. Don't compare it to 18, but 2017, that's the thing is that's when we knew we had the potential to win it all.
[00:06:40] Speaker B: Because I think 2019 was like nine, four and two, and then 17 was like four and seven.
And then they just took off to.
[00:06:51] Speaker A: Really what it was. Honestly, in 2017, we lost one of our best players on the team, Elijah Barsmith, one of the center backs.
[00:06:58] Speaker B: Greatest to do.
[00:06:59] Speaker A: But then honestly, just reworking the lineup, getting a couple of key pieces, especially at forward, it turned a 2017 team with the same roster. Dangerous with the same roster, just adding, like, one new player, same roster reworked, adding one new player.
[00:07:14] Speaker B: One year of experience for a lot of those guys.
[00:07:16] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:07:16] Speaker B: Thing with this team, all that experience they had this year, we're a couple of pieces away from like.
[00:07:23] Speaker A: Yeah, and Matt and I were on the road the other day. We were talking about some of. We were talking about a lot good conversations, it's true. But one of the things we were talking about was the recruits for next year, and this includes cross country and volleyball and basketball. How many basketball recruits do you guys have right now?
[00:07:42] Speaker B: We have a big list.
[00:07:43] Speaker A: Big list. Don't say the numbers, but a huge list. And last thing is like, there's so much potential for next year for all athletics going forward. And we say that a lot. We're very optimistic on the show. Maybe blindly, maybe annoying to some people that like, okay, Matt and Shane, stop.
[00:07:58] Speaker B: Being so optimistic, but that's coming off of 2022 season for soccer. That was what they were, what, four and eight? And the year before they were like two and twelve. So it's like worth looking at optimism coming off from not bad seasons but losing records. But now we're saying like, okay, that optimism is here. We had a winning record. We had a really good team this year. But wait, next year? Yeah.
[00:08:24] Speaker A: And ultimately we're just too.
[00:08:25] Speaker B: Big difference.
[00:08:25] Speaker A: We're just two fans sitting here. Of course you are more a part of it being in the athletic department.
[00:08:31] Speaker B: But we're two of the biggest Emma Eagle fans out there. It's true.
[00:08:35] Speaker A: Yeah. So, I mean, I look at the soccer team this year and I'm happy they got a taste of what they did this year and they have a year under their belt now.
[00:08:44] Speaker B: They know what they need to do to get to that next level.
[00:08:47] Speaker A: And I'm not saying like, we don't have the team this year, but it's always nice bringing in new players and.
[00:08:53] Speaker B: Good talent to elevates the good talent on the team currently.
[00:08:56] Speaker A: Yeah. I think of most of the guys this year and having a year under the belt, learning a lot.
[00:09:02] Speaker B: One year of experience is like that crazy. You can't beat that.
[00:09:05] Speaker A: So looking forward to the soccer season next year and for the offseason, but we'll talk more about soccer offseason and get there any potential or not potential, but any official signings that we have soon. So, yeah, it's going to be really awesome. But honestly, congrats soccer for a great.
[00:09:21] Speaker B: Season and I want to shout out congratulations. Josh, Matt, Christian Anderson and Caleb Hunter all received first team region. And then Tucker Cappas and Bennett Kreiner and the one that only Zach Ort got honorable mention, which is awesome. And so soccer does. They do first team. Honorable mention. They don't have first, second and honorable mention. They should do first team.
[00:09:45] Speaker A: I'm happy that Zach Ort was. He got on that list for potentially his final season.
[00:09:52] Speaker B: He does have a COVID year.
[00:09:53] Speaker A: He does have a COVID year, so he could return next year and one of his best friends is returning to the team. So that's going to be really good.
[00:10:02] Speaker B: What a great year, soccer.
[00:10:03] Speaker A: It's good.
[00:10:04] Speaker B: What a fun year.
[00:10:04] Speaker A: All right. Let's turn the page. It's going to volleyball. Now let's recap. Volleyball.
[00:10:08] Speaker B: Volleyball.
[00:10:09] Speaker A: Another heartbreak, Matt, which sucks. Honestly, we should have called this not a good weekend for Emmaus Athletics. It's true.
[00:10:17] Speaker B: But you'll have bad weekends. You'll have great weekends. Like I was telling coach, just as easily as going, Owen, six. You go six. And yeah, in a weekend. So it's know anything can happen. But yes, going into regionals, the girls had the three seed and they were playing the two seed, Marinatha. Who? Marinatha was the. I believe they were the reigning conference or regional champions from last year.
So tough team. Obviously, they have a fantastic history and program with just.
They have not missed a national tournament since 2010, which is crazy. So, I mean, that's ridiculous, but. So we played them third time. We split in the regular season. They beat us at home, we beat them there. So we were playing them at Moody. Moody was hosting the regional tournament and tough game. Tough girls did struggle a little bit. I think it's a long season and it just came down to that and they couldn't quite pull it out. They ended up losing 30 to Marinatha in straight sets.
The last two sets were fairly competitive, so they were there. But I mean, like we just said, with soccer having that experience under our belt, Marinatha's top three players are all seniors, and so they've tasted that. They know how to do a postseason deep run.
[00:11:44] Speaker A: Their coaches extremely.
[00:11:48] Speaker B: Had. Most of our team was freshmen, and so it's just a big difference. People don't realize the difference between. I mean, they do, but at the same time, they really don't realize the experience between your senior year and a freshman year is just drastic. It's crazy. And so, yeah, it was unfortunate that they ended the season, but I mean, just coming from last year to this year, I don't think we could have asked for a better season.
[00:12:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:15] Speaker B: Especially coming off of last year's season.
[00:12:17] Speaker A: Didn't win a game.
[00:12:18] Speaker B: Crazy. Didn't win a game to.
[00:12:20] Speaker A: Do we know how many sets they won last year?
[00:12:22] Speaker B: I think it was like three.
And we won three sets in the first weekend.
[00:12:27] Speaker A: This year we won the first set of our season.
[00:12:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
Just crazy. And I think I just so encouraged finish the season on a low note, on a bad note. But we know this team, this team knows who they are. We know the talent coming in next year and it's like, man, it's going to be.
[00:12:49] Speaker A: That's the thing is we were already talking about how optimistic we were about soccer, but I would even say the picture is more clear and cross country.
[00:12:58] Speaker B: I mean, literally, we were at the bottom of the bottom talking about, okay, look, guyS, next year is going to be great.
[00:13:05] Speaker A: And here we are.
[00:13:06] Speaker B: And here we are, nationally ranked. To just looking ahead of next year, it's like man crazy.
And I think even just the individual no talent showed off this year. I mean, we have Caitlin Rand. Look at my notes. Caitlin Rand got first team all region. Jenica beach, her cousin, first team all region.
[00:13:28] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:13:29] Speaker B: And she got Libero of the year.
[00:13:31] Speaker A: At regionals.
[00:13:32] Speaker B: At regionals. The Northwest Regional. Labarrow of the year. What grade are they in? They are freshmen.
[00:13:39] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:13:40] Speaker B: Crazy, right? And then sailor Gregory and Michelle Striley got second team All Region. So I think they. Volleyball. It's funny. Soccer does first. And Auburn mentioned I think volleyball does first.
[00:13:51] Speaker A: There's so many for soccer. So that's eleven.
[00:13:53] Speaker B: Yeah. So four freshmen, two eating first team, two eating second team, and our Eagle impact Person of the week.
[00:14:03] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:05] Speaker B: Coach Richter, coach Pittman called it two weeks ago or three weeks ago.
[00:14:09] Speaker A: Yes, sir.
[00:14:10] Speaker B: Coach Hannah received the Midwest Regional Coach of the Year.
[00:14:16] Speaker A: Awesome.
[00:14:19] Speaker B: And that's. It is. But, I mean, it's so cool. Obviously, it's not hard to recognize the difference, but it's true. How literally inherited the team. Owen 16, last year, like we said, not one single game, one, two, maybe three sets to this year, where they finished their final record was ten and twelve, but they ended the regular season nine and nine at 500, which is the first time they've done that in four or five years. So just seeing that alone, ten and 16 to ten and twelve.
[00:14:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:49] Speaker B: That is just crazy. And that just shows the hard work that Coach Hannah and Coach Megan put in and just how much this year's girls wanted it.
[00:14:56] Speaker A: Oh, that's going to be crazy for. I'm just like.
[00:14:59] Speaker B: And so I really hope and I know that this group will do it, but going into, we'll talk about offseason down the road, but having that experience of that success to that defeat at regionals and taking that and using that as fuel for this offseason to really put in that work, get better, and just literally launch into next season, and.
[00:15:20] Speaker A: Ultimately, with all across the board, all these players, including cross country, and we'll get into basketball. But I look at the soccer and volleyball team specifically, and you look at the awards, and a lot of them are freshmen, talented players and great to the community here at Emmaus, but they really couldn't have done it without the support of Honesty of their family and friends. And you guys have been traveling so much.
[00:15:41] Speaker B: We say this every episode, but thank you.
[00:15:43] Speaker A: Yeah, you guys watch this. You watch on the road, you carpool, you come here and you support the Eagles. You guys are Eagles as well, right? And I love it. I love coming to the volleyball games, to the soccer games, and always seeing the families of the players.
[00:15:55] Speaker B: And it's fun hearing the opposing announcers being like, wow, Emmaus fans. Really?
They do. They do. They really do.
[00:16:02] Speaker A: I mean, Marinatha is, like, not too far.
[00:16:04] Speaker B: It's not.
[00:16:04] Speaker A: But still, honestly, I just mute it.
[00:16:07] Speaker B: Honestly.
Anyway.
But yes, no, it's so true. Just the support from. Not just from internally in the athletic department, but externally through all the professors here, the staff here, all the fellow students and, yeah, parents. It's just, like, awesome. Again, people, you don't think about it, that it makes a difference, but it really does.
[00:16:31] Speaker A: How about this? How about the, like we talked about before the show, like, the national or not the national highlight player like Hannah Ricker, and it's, you know, but honestly, our Eagle impact are you guys are the parents and the family, the friends, supporters.
[00:16:45] Speaker B: Seriously.
[00:16:46] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:16:46] Speaker B: You guys rocked this show.
[00:16:48] Speaker A: You guys are all first conference team.
[00:16:52] Speaker B: First team, all fan base.
[00:16:54] Speaker A: Exactly.
Thank you guys so much. And volleyball, great season. Yes.
[00:17:00] Speaker B: Nothing to be like, seriously, what a fantastic season.
[00:17:02] Speaker A: I'm so proud of the soccer team and of the volleyball team and happy with what they were able to accomplish on the field, on the court. And I'm looking forward to next season, but I'm also looking forward to seeing how they can get involved here on the community in Dubuque, Addie, Maya, on campus. So it's going to be, like I said, bittersweet. Now they can focus elsewhere, but offseason starts soon, so, I mean, better start.
[00:17:30] Speaker B: Prep for the 2024 season. Here we go.
[00:17:32] Speaker A: Yeah, but good job to all those two fall sports. But fall sports is not done, Matt. No, we still have one more competition.
[00:17:40] Speaker B: The big one, and that is tomorrow.
[00:17:42] Speaker A: Cross country nationals.
What do we got? Looking forward to that.
[00:17:48] Speaker B: Today, I think they have a worship night, and I think there might be, like.
[00:17:55] Speaker A: Are they there now?
[00:17:56] Speaker B: Yeah, they left yesterday, and then they're here today for, like, a worship.
[00:18:00] Speaker A: I think I saw Gerardi today, though.
[00:18:02] Speaker B: No, they left.
[00:18:04] Speaker A: Oh, they left today?
[00:18:05] Speaker B: Yeah, they left yesterday because they have stuff going on today, and then the race is tomorrow. Wait, where is Friday? So it's at Grace College. So it's in. Okay, so. So today, Thursday has the meet. Like, they get to walk the race course, I think they do some service projects together and then tomorrow I think the guys run first and then the girls run second or vice versa. But yeah, so it's at Grace new course.
Coach Gerardi was pretty excited about it.
Just seen the map of it. He said it looked really good and he thinks that we might be able to get some PRs.
So we have four runners.
[00:18:46] Speaker A: We don't know.
[00:18:47] Speaker B: I have no idea.
[00:18:47] Speaker A: We need to talk to the coach. I want to sit down. We were talking about dreams of Emmaus and stuff and it would be cool to give the cross country like a facility or a room that's nice for them to set up and have locker and whatnot. But do they just look at a map and just plan it out World War II style?
[00:19:07] Speaker B: Coach Gerardi was a national runner, so I'm sure he can look at and.
[00:19:11] Speaker A: Be like, yeah, they are here playing.
[00:19:13] Speaker B: We're playing. They're playing checkers, they're playing chess. But yeah, so Kate and Anna for the girls and then Caleb and Christian for the guys. And this year. So this is different this year than last year. Last year was the top five runners that finished would get first team All American, but this year it's the top ten runners because there's so many. The cross country for men and women in the NCCAA has grown a lot in the last year. Yeah, like last year I think they said that there were only like six teams that qualified as a team, but this year there's like eleven or 13 teams that qualified as a team. So it just shows the growth in that, which is awesome. But, yeah, Kate has a real good shot at getting first team All American because I think right now she's right on like the twelveth, 11th place or I think she's 14th, actually. But 14th to 10th is like reachable.
[00:20:03] Speaker A: A couple of seconds, which is like.
[00:20:05] Speaker B: Which is a lot, but still, like, I mean, one extra push when it's your last race and you go all out. I'm really excited to hear how they perform tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes.
[00:20:15] Speaker A: But, yeah, I'm excited for the cross country team. They've had a great season this year. Last year they took it by storm. No one really expected cross country to do as well as they did last year.
[00:20:25] Speaker B: Awesome.
[00:20:26] Speaker A: And then this year they've honestly have kept pace. A lot of other schools around the nation have been catching up for sure. So we don't see the craziness like we did last year. We don't expect it. But the thing is, they've already made a name for themselves, especially with Kate and Anna and then a little bit of we, we expect it already. Right. But they're still performing to their expectations. So let's not forget that fans, let's not forget that cross country is still killing it out there. Show them some love. Make sure to talk to them before they leave. Pray for them, whatever it is. But they got our support. I'm looking forward to what they can do this weekend for the race and then we talked about soccer involved. We'll recap across country next week and the results, but they got a good load of students coming in, so that's going to be really fun.
[00:21:16] Speaker B: Race class that they have of prospective students. Looking good.
[00:21:20] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, let's get into, we're ending fall sports here shortly, which, sad, but you're happy.
[00:21:28] Speaker B: But I mean, it's flown by this semester. It's Gone by so fast.
[00:21:31] Speaker A: So now we're flying into flying because we're Eagles.
Gosh, why'd I say that?
[00:21:39] Speaker B: You walked yourself into that one.
[00:21:40] Speaker A: I flew myself.
[00:21:41] Speaker B: You flew yourself into that one.
[00:21:43] Speaker A: Gosh. Okay.
[00:21:44] Speaker B: You soared into that one.
[00:21:48] Speaker A: You're really funny, Matt.
[00:21:49] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:50] Speaker A: Let's talk about basketball. How'd you do, Matt?
[00:21:53] Speaker B: Yeah. So first, I don't know. You tell me, Shane, you were there on Friday. I was, but not Saturday.
[00:21:59] Speaker A: Both games.
[00:21:59] Speaker B: I'm just kidding.
[00:22:01] Speaker A: What did I do Saturday?
[00:22:02] Speaker B: What did you do Saturday? I don't know. Anyway, I did a lot. First home games of the year. So we played Friday night. We played Saturday night or. Yeah, Saturday afternoon and unique situation. So the third team that we were trying to get here was not able to.
[00:22:20] Speaker A: Who was that?
[00:22:21] Speaker B: I think it was Andrews University in Michigan. But they weren't able to make it, which we knew. It wasn't like, they were like, hey, our game in 20 minutes, we can't make it. We knew a while ago that they weren't going to be able to come. So we played back to back games against Trinity Bible from North Dakota. So we played both guys and girls, played them Friday and then played them Saturday. And so Friday night was fun, I guess, because obviously first games of the year we had had a scrimmage, but the girls hadn't yet. So it was their first time going.
But as you say, the ball didn't drop her away Friday night because the girls end up losing by nine.
[00:23:03] Speaker A: They lost 56 to speak on that.
I'll say on both teams, both of you, men and women's teams showed great effort in the second half and great effort sounds bad. But honestly, you guys, look, you looked really good.
[00:23:18] Speaker B: We played a lot better. We dug ourselves in a big enough hole in the first half that we couldn't get out of it. But second half, we played really well. So the girls end up losing by nine on Friday night and then, yeah, we end up going to halftime down eleven. But we had a really good second half. We shot a lot better but we ended up losing by six. So 78 72 after our game was against Trinity.
So games were at six and eight and then you turn around and you play 14 hours later. Yeah, that's really, that is so hard to do.
It was hard.
[00:23:55] Speaker A: Well, I mean, kudos to you guys for going through it, but the Friday game was really cool. And yeah, I think both teams struggled in the first half and you looked at the women's team and I think they started to find their footing towards the end of the game. And you saw Hannah started making the shots that she normally does because she was quiet most of the game and then the last like ten minutes she was just a ball.
[00:24:17] Speaker B: That's the crazy thing too, especially for the girl. Trinity only had five girls and we had seven. But we have Abrel who hasn't played in like three years because she had this really bad knee injury and then she got married and then she had a kid. Now she's back and then Maddie is coming off of ACL surgery where she didn't play all last year because of it. And so once they get that rust off, it's there. So of seven girls that are able to compete, then you had Aaron McKenna, freshman Aaron looked really good.
[00:24:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:51] Speaker B: Obviously she hadn't played basketball a couple of years too since she went to DMAC and then came here. But she had some, I think the first half in the second game. So on Saturday she was five for six and had twelve points. There you first half.
[00:25:05] Speaker A: That's really awesome.
[00:25:06] Speaker B: Yeah, the girls had an amazing first half and a horrible second half on Saturday.
They went into halftime up, I think 22 points.
[00:25:16] Speaker A: No.
[00:25:19] Speaker B: And then in the second half they lost by 18.
Yeah. Wow.
[00:25:27] Speaker A: I didn't know that.
[00:25:28] Speaker B: They shot like 60% in the first half. They made everything. And then second half just. Yeah, only scored seven points in the second half. So seeing that, encouraging, so quiet when he says that. Yeah, man, I know.
[00:25:44] Speaker A: Well, we don't got to say anything. I just feel bad for the girls. That's the thing is, you know. Yeah, they know.
[00:25:51] Speaker B: They knowing, like, okay, we can go up 22 points going into halftime, but you have to come out of halftime and be able to perform. So that was unfortunate.
Yeah, that really stank. And then us, we played right after them and actually we played a little bit worse than we did Friday night. We shot pretty bad. Both games we shot pretty bad, but we ended up losing by ten. So 77 to 67.
So, yeah, finished the weekend, both teams. Owen, two. But you have to take an account. You don't want to go into the first weekend and you'll lose and you're like, oh, the season, blah, blah, blah. But it's the first games and anything can happen between.
[00:26:43] Speaker A: The thing is, it's the rush we got. Nash came back after not playing last year. I see that thing you have right there of him scoring.
[00:26:51] Speaker B: And that's the thing, too.
We shot horribly from three both games. But if we shoot like an average.
[00:27:00] Speaker A: Number from three, that's a game changer.
I also noticed, like, free throws, like, we weren't able to make them.
[00:27:07] Speaker B: Yeah, Friday night we did not make any free throws.
[00:27:09] Speaker A: Friday night we were not making you make those free throws. As the games change, we win.
[00:27:15] Speaker B: And I remember when I played, it doesn't matter if it was my freshman or senior year, always the first game of the year, you're nervous. No matter who you're playing, it's always.
[00:27:25] Speaker A: Like, and Nashville's really quiet for a lot of the game in the first, but then started getting hot towards the end and then went into halftime hot and then came out of halftime with that streak still.
[00:27:37] Speaker B: So there were lots of. Obviously, there are some good takeaways of what we need to work on because there's some things we do need to work on, but there's a lot of positive things that came out of the weekend. Know we did well in. We know we can do better.
[00:27:51] Speaker A: Yeah. It's cool to see the freshmen for the men's and women's team, see them like with Obi and Et cetera. Aaron Tyler didn't play at all.
[00:28:05] Speaker B: He's recovering from his ankle and then Noah played a little.
[00:28:08] Speaker A: Lucas.
They all performed pretty well and I was pretty surprised of how well they were able to jump into the system, jump into the competitive nature of a collegiate sport and perform.
Exactly. And, like, first game, the jitters, the rust once when you guys brush it off, in a couple of wEeks, we'll see it. Yeah.
[00:28:29] Speaker B: Even this weekend. So, yeah. A couple highlights on players that reached milestones this week. So Anna Harwood, one of our seniors, achieved 500 career points over the weekend, which is exciting. And then Hannah Boyer, our other senior, scored her 500th point at Emmaus. She had two years at FLBC and then the last. Oh, yeah, I think, what, two, three years here because she had her COVID year and she surpassed 100 career blocks.
[00:28:58] Speaker A: That's awesome. Which is a record of Adamais.
[00:29:01] Speaker B: Adamaus.
Yeah, she's a blocking machine. And then Nash, who played two years ago, didn't play last year, but is back now, scored his 500th point.
[00:29:13] Speaker A: That's impressive.
[00:29:14] Speaker B: So that's exciting.
[00:29:15] Speaker A: That's really cool. So, kudos to those guys. Awesome that we have them back. They're playing. Can't wait for the rest to get off. And I'm looking forward to this season moving forward. I love basketball season. It's fun to watch. It's the best.
[00:29:26] Speaker B: And so, yeah, so tomorrow we're on the road. We travel up to Minnesota. So we play free Lutheran Bible School tomorrow, which Hannah Boyer on a girls team and Mitchell Maher on a guy's team both came from because they're just a two year program. And then on Saturday, we play Providence University College. And I think they're a seminary, too, from not a regional or national game, but on Friday. But Providence is in the NCAA, so that'll count for stuff. Yeah.
[00:29:59] Speaker A: Oh, as a free Lutheran one, it.
[00:30:00] Speaker B: Will, but it's not like it won't.
[00:30:03] Speaker A: Count towards, like, conference or regional.
[00:30:04] Speaker B: Correct.
I don't think, depending on the outcome, the power ratings will be rated differently.
[00:30:11] Speaker A: But, yeah, still a game.
[00:30:13] Speaker B: So, on the road and then going into Christmas or Thanksgiving break, Christmas break, Thanksgiving break next week. We play Moody on Tuesday and then Marinatha on Thursday.
[00:30:24] Speaker A: Okay, so we got a couple games going on.
Which ones are home?
[00:30:28] Speaker B: I think both are home. Or it's home and away.
[00:30:30] Speaker A: I think Marinath is away.
[00:30:31] Speaker B: Marinath is away. Moody is at home. So Tuesday. And the girls will play Mount Mary on Tuesday.
[00:30:35] Speaker A: So, yeah, we're running out of time, but give us a quick report of the team and what they need to do to walk away from this weekend with two wins.
[00:30:45] Speaker B: Well, number one, we got to shoot better. Okay, like I was saying, I was. Coach Parker and I were talking like, okay, we scored 70, what? 72 67. We didn't shoot that well. And the fact that we can score 70 points with not shooting well, yeah, that's a good sign. So we got to shoot well. We got to have better just awareness on defense because I think we played pretty good defense, but we need to focus more on helping the helper and stuff. And, I mean, we just got to go out there and get the job done.
[00:31:15] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:31:15] Speaker B: So good things will happen.
[00:31:16] Speaker A: Awesome. Sweet. Well, looking forward to that.
What Matt's saying is just basketball teams. The game is in their hands and if they can make their shots, obviously, and play well, basketball is a simple game.
[00:31:31] Speaker B: It is four more points than the other team.
[00:31:33] Speaker A: It's true. Actually run up and down the court to put in the hoop. But yeah. So that's exciting. Going into the winter sports spring, I guess, with basketball and falls ending. So keep a lookout on our social media for updates or even live stream to continue to support the Eagles. So last thing to talk about before we leave is on a more serious note.
We were just informed earlier this week that the head coach of the Great Lakes soccer team passed away suddenly over the weekend, I believe, after or during regional play for the soccer team.
[00:32:15] Speaker B: Not quite sure when, but just a huge tragedy for Great Lakes as a school. And like I've been saying, stuff like this doesn't just affect, like this affects all of us that are in this realm, they're in our region, we play them in all sports. And it's just such a heartbreak, I can't imagine.
[00:32:34] Speaker A: I remember when you told me that the other day of the passing and I don't know him, but it hurt and it felt weird. Normally I would feel that way if I knew someone else that passed away. But just hearing about someone just so close to us, someone that's in our family, in a church family, the Family of small Bibles, colleges, Christian schools, it just hurts that you lose another fellow brother.
[00:33:03] Speaker B: And this is like the third or fourth person that's passed away during one of the seasons in the last ten years in our realm. Remember, there's a guy on the Ozark basketball team that passed away in a car accident. And there was a guy at Calvary who we were really close with who passed away. And so it's like, yeah, it doesn't just affect them, it affects all of us. But I just want to read what Great Lakes posted about him because.
[00:33:31] Speaker A: Please do.
[00:33:32] Speaker B: It was really heartfelt and it just was great and says, they posted this a couple days ago and said in loving memory of Coach Marcus Charliek. It is with heavy hearts that we share the news of the passing of soccer coach Marcus Charliek. He touched the lives of many young athletes and was a source of inspiration and guidance both on and off the field. Marcus will be remembered for his ability to bring joy to the players on his team, making soccer fun and exciting for them. He was a man of faith. He loved Jesus and trusted him with his life. Our deepest condolences. Go out to Marcus's family and friends, his team, and all those who had the privilege of knowing him. He leaves behind a legacy that will forever be remembered in the hearts of those he influenced. And then they said details regarding memorial service will come at a later date. And so, yeah, just heartbreaking. I mean, he was married and he had, I think, I'm not sure how old their kid was, but it's just really hard.
[00:34:30] Speaker A: Yeah, it's sad. And we here, Eddie Mace, are no strangers to people passing away. Having a Billy Devries a couple of years ago, a student passing away, and then a professor and chancellor of Dean Smith and David Glock. So it's a tough time for sure, a time of mourning, but ultimately a time of reflecting, reflecting their life and their testimony and what they were able to accomplish here on earth. Glorifying the Lord and fulfilling the great commission and growing the kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So it's cool to hear that, to hear that he was a believer, to hear that he lived a life full of a testimony that is pointing towards the cross, pointing towards Jesus. And that's something that we can reflect as Christians. And I think death comes a little easier to us as Christians because we know it sucks that we don't get to hang out with them. We can't touch them, we can't be with our loved one. But we know that they're rejoicing and they're in heaven, which is a far better place than where we are right now.
[00:35:44] Speaker B: Yes, please keep the Great Lakes community in your prayers with them going.
[00:35:51] Speaker A: Uh, exactly. Keep them in your prayers. Pray for mean, I feel like we can't really plug Emmaus right now, so we won't on this episode. We'll just end it. But honestly, if you're watching this, just pray now. Pray for Great Lakes. Pray for people in your life who might not know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, who maybe they think they have a relationship with Jesus, but does Jesus have a relationship with them? So keep that in your minds, keep that in your thoughts and pray for them now and reach out to them. Honestly, maybe this is a little message is just, if there's someone on your mind right now that you're thinking about, a family member, a friend, a neighbor, reach out to them. If they've been on your heart, go knock on the door, send them a.
[00:36:35] Speaker B: Text, send them a call.
[00:36:37] Speaker A: You never know when it's our time to go. And let's live our life to the fullest and the fullest. Meaning living our life for the one who's gave his.
[00:36:47] Speaker B: Thank you, Jesus.
[00:36:47] Speaker A: Just a great reminder. So thank you, everyone, for listening, and we'll see you next week. So thanks for listening.
[00:36:53] Speaker B: See you guys.
