Ute Trip Rewind: San Telmo and a Big Dinner

Well, Sunday's whirlwind tour of Buenos Aires finished with a visit to the San Telmo section of town and a big flea market....

Here, Jena Roberts and Katy Reineke get their laughs by "kissing" the alpaca...interesting taste, girls!

We finished Sunday with a GREAT dinner at Rodizio...BUSY day!

Ute Trip Rewind: La Boca, El Caminito and the Tango

After seeing La Bombanera stadium, we went just a few blocks to see El Caminito. El Caminito is the home of colorful streets and buildings, great music, the tango and some radical politics...oh, and a great flea market scene....Check out these colorful photos...(and notice that on the balcony, with Juan and Eva Peron...is Diego Maradona...now that is some high company to keep. Check out this Tango display on the sidewalks...!!

Ute Trip Rewind: La Boca y La Bombanera

They call it "La Bombanera"...which means "the Chocolate Box". And it is one of the chapels of soccer in all of the world. The Alberto J. Armando stadium is the home of the famous Boca Juniors club team. Boca Juniors are currently the South American club champions and the team on which Juan Ramon Riquelme currently plays...It is the club on which legends such as Gabriel Batistuta and others made famous.

The stadium was built in 1940 in the La Boca section in the south side of town. It was expanded just a few years ago to hold about 57,000 and is named after a former club president during the 1970's. The stadium is decorated in yellow and has murals and paintings by Perez Celis which are very colorful and depict famous players and moments. We went to the stadium and checked out the flavor as well as the museum...even the youngest Ute, 1-year-old Rachel Roderick enjoyed it!
Of course the most famous player associated with Boca Juniors is Diego Armando Maradona. Maradona played for Boca early in his career, before going to Europe. And then he returned at the end of his career and helped them win another championship. Maradona is beloved all over Argentina for winning the World Cup in 1986. However, he is especially important at La Boca. Here Jen Christoffers points to his special box he uses when he attends Boca Juniors home matches. It is lined with gold seats. When he attends, the fans sing songs thanking him for not forgetting them...a Boca Juniors game is a special experience. Unfortunately, they don't have a home game until next Sunday, after we leave. However, some of the parents are staying a bit longer and will get to see a game in the chocolate box!

Here is Coach Manning and his friend, Sue Moynihan paying homage to the statue of Diego Maradona inside the museum at the stadium.

News Flash: Utes defeat Huracán, 6-0

We´ll get back to the travel news later...but wanted to give you the information from today´s match as soon as we got back to the hotel...


We won today´s game, 6-0.

Starting lineup:
Gk: Amy Edman (Emalee Rogers played the second half)
Defense: Nicole Cardon, Jena Roberts, Christine Quinn, Kiley Jones
Midfield: Amanda Sanchez, Kelly Isleib, Katy Reineke
Forwards: Jen Christoffers, Erin Dalley, Lauren Hair

Substitutions:
Melissa Crespo, Danielle Sample, Chelea Card, Addie Hair, Paola Marsenaro, Katie Brower, Emaleee Rogers

Did not play: Morgan Skeen, Alyssa Toomey (injured)

Goals:
4´ Erin Dalley (Lauren Hair, Kelly Isleib)
23´ Erin Dalley (Nicole Cardon)
25´ Amanda Sanchez (Kelly Isleib)
34´ Jen Christoffers
50´ Lauren Hair (Katy Reineke, Chelsea Card)
78´ Jen Christoffers (Kiley Jones)


The Utah soccer team kicked off its tour of South America on Monday afternoon and rode a pair of early goals by Erin Dalley to a 6-0 victory over Argentine club team, Huracán. Goalkeepers Amy Edman and Emalee Rogers split time and shared the shutout. The game was played on a rough and hard field at the training facility of Huracán in the Bajo Flores area in the south part of Buenos Aires on a warm afternoon. The sidelines were jammed with coaches and young boys from the Huracán club who were shocked to see the speed of play from the American girls...There was also a small contingent of Ute parents and fans present to cheer on the visitors.

Dalley opened the scoring in the 4th minute as Kelly Isleib sent a long through ball to Lauren Hair on the right wing. Hair slipped a pass to Dalley in front of the goal as she slammed it home. Later, after a Huracán corner kick, the Utes countered quickly and freshman Nicole Cardon found Dalley on the left wing. She sidestepped a defender and calmly shot it past the onrushing goalkeeper to make it 2-0 in the 23rd minute.

Just two minutes later, it was 3-0. Kelly Isleib smashed a free kick off the crossbar from 25 yards out and Amanda Sanchez alertly pounced on the rebound for the score. And Jen Christoffers made it 4-0 in the 34th as the Utes had a comfortable lead at the half.

It was 5-0 just five minutes after the break after a nice Chelsea Card pass put Katy Reineke through on the left wing. Reineke hit a low cross to a wide-open Lauren Hair, who tapped it in.

Utah found a nice rhythm and were able to tire out the hosts, but missed a few chances to add to the score. Christoffers hit the post and Paola Marsenaro headed over the bar.

Finally, Christoffers got her second of the afternoon after a nice feed from Kiley Jones in the 78th minute to give the Utes their final margin of victory. All that remained was to try to preserve the shutout and goalkeeper Emalee Rogers did her part as she smothered a point blank shot in the 85th minute.

The Utes will travel to Montevideo in the morning and will face the national team from that country on Wednesday morning. It will be a special match for senior Paola Marsenaro, who hails from Uruguay and will have her grandmother and other family members present.



Quotes:
Rich Manning- "It was truly a great environment and unique to play against an opponent with a different style. I thought we performed well under some unique travel and playing conditions. I was most pleased that we improved our passing and possession as the game wore on. The opponent gave a great effort and made it difficult for us, but I thought we were solid for the majority of the match. It was fun to be at a club, with all of the kids showing up as they arrived from school and so excited to be at the training facility and ready for practice. The young boys were watching and amazed to see the girls playing at such a good level. We are anticipating another great match on Wednesday."

Jen Christoffers -" I felt good in spite of the long travel. It was hard to play on the field as it was bumpy. It was different to play against a team from another country but they made it hard on us. It was rewarding to get some goals after the hard work we´ve put in over the last two months."

Ute Trip Rewind: La Recoleta

After training and back home for a quick shower and lunch...we headed to the bus with Lorena...our faithful tour guide for a trip around Buenos Aires city...our first stop was the Recoleta area. The area has a lot of restaurants, a great flea market on the park and the famous cemetery, where the beloved Eva Peron...Evita, is buried.

The cemetery was built for the wealthy and is made up of hundreds of mausoleums....most made of marble and beautiful stone....some made of brick and other materials. Each mausoleum has a stair case inside where the bodies of generations of families are kept. Evita was the husband of Argentine president, Juan Peron. She died at the age of 33 in 1952 from ovarian cancer. She is remembered as someone who championed the poor and disenfranchised and is a towering figure in Argentine culture, even today. She was buried in the "Duarte" family tomb, which was the name of her real father. Her father was very wealthy, but had two families and did not "participate" in the raising of Eva, who grew up and rose from extreme poverty.

Ute Trip Rewind: Training at San Lo

Our second day began with a training session conducted by the women's coaches for the San Lorenzo de Almagro club located in Buenos Aires. Led by Alejandro, the head coach, we had 3 coaches take us through some skills based training, which included and intense warm-up and some shooting and crossing drills.

It was a warm day, but the coaches were great to work with. The language issues was a lot of fun and through a loop into the training, but probably made us concentrate a bit more. Also, Paola Marsenaro, our native of Uruguay, helped with the translation...and quickly became a favorite of the San Lo staff! So, they asked for a picture with her...Buena, P!

We should note here that several of the players quickly developed a liking to a certain "hunk" of a coach...the goalie coach for San Lo...and many asked for pictures...leading the way was our "huera" (blondie), Chelsea Card...Buena, Chels????

Training and Touring the Town (Sunday, March 16)

Well, we weren't sure if day one could be any busier and then we ran into day two! It was a full day that ended with all of us full in the belly from a wonderful dinner...Here is a brief re-cap followed by some entries in detail with photos and more...

1. Training at the San Lorenzo de Almagro complex with the women's coaches at that club...we worked on some skills and shooting. It was very hot but a fun workout.

2. Back to the hotel for a quick lunch and change.

3. City tour of Buenos Aires with stops at the Recoleta graveyard site of Evita Peron, the Boca Juniors soccer stadium (La Bombanera) and El Caminito area in Boca, the San Telmo shopping district, the government square....Plaza de Mayo...and the Pink House (Argentine equivalent of the White House).

4. Dinner and dessert at Rodizio restaurant along the Rio de la Plata!

Back to the hotel and preparing for a big day on Monday, with a 2:15 P.M. kickoff in our first match in which we'll face professional club Huracan. Then it's off to a big dinner and some of us will be going to a Tango lesson and show....AWESOME!