Hello again friends and family. Sarah and Erin reporting from chilly Oneonta. Lauren last told you about some of our adventures in the beginning of the week while we were on Maui. Well, since then we had two back-to-back matches versus the U-18 Maui International men’s team and the Maui Red Devils a Women’s Open team. The results you ask, a split. We unfortunately lost to the men’s team 3-0 but we made up for it with a 2-0 win over the women. Christine Marra and Lindsey Brechbiel had a goal each and it was a great effort by all. After the game Liz and Dave treated us to a pizza dinner on the sidelines and we headed back to the hotel to get a good night sleep to prepare for the excitement of the following day. We were all ecstatic for our snorkeling trip to see sea turtles, whales and beautiful coral reef! Bright and early on Saturday morning we all met in the lobby and piled into our mini vans. When we reached the harbor, we climbed aboard the “Pride of Maui” and received our masks and snorkeling gear. Our first snorkel spot was “Molokini Crater” rated one of the top 10 dive spots in the world by Travel Magazine. The sights were truly breath taking!! On the voyage to our next stop we had the rare opportunity to see several whales migrating from Alaska. Our second location was called Turtle Town, and the name alone made Vandenbergh, who has a deep fear of turtles, nervous. Here we had a few close encounters with some sea turtles and had fun going off the slide at the front of the boat. Unfortunately Mother Nature herself cut our trip short when the waves began to get too big for our boat to handle. Upon our return from snorkeling we began packing. While holding back our tears, a few girls went to get a last Hawaiian dessert at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. The long plane ride home was one full of mixed emotions. We were all overcome with a sense of great sorrow to leave such a beautiful place behind but also happy to have shared so many memories with such a great team. As we pulled into the town of Oneonta the sight of snow welcomed us. We’re all adjusting to the cold weather again and we are really looking forward to some nice spring days.
Signing off this is Erin Boyle and Sarah Mikiewicz!
