Generals Clean-Up All Over Town

This past weekend the Generals enjoyed some great fall weather and got outside to get their hands dirty! SG taking a quick break!

Each of the girls spent a few hours either Saturday or Sunday working with a few of their teammates to help out a faculty or staff member from the university with some sort of housework.

Alli and Horn showing off their tools of the trade!

We had a huge response from people on campus who wanted to have the team come out to their homes and do a little yardwork. The girls did everything from gardening, raking, trimming bushes, painting, cleaning gutters, to sanding, window washing, weeding, and car washing.

CK scraping paint off some old shutters!

A big thank you to all of the faculty and staff who supported the team through this great fundrasier, and a huge thank you to the team for doing all the hard work to get us to our training trip in February!

Visit the blog next week to hear about MK's lightning fast trip to the West Coast!

Hola Mis Amigos! From Junior Elizabeth Bucklee

Generals Junior Elizabeth Bucklee is spending the fall semester abroad in Barcelona, Spain. Below she fills us in on her life across the pond!

Hola mis amigos! I hope that all is well in Lex and that Fall Ball was a success! I cannot believe that it is already mid-October and that the semester is halfway finished. The workload has picked up a little bit over here and I just finished my first two midterms today. Classes are going well but the Spanish style of learning is very different from what I am used to at W&L. Class is completely lecture, professors do not have office hours, and our grade consists mostly of our midterm and final with maybe a little quiz squeezed in somewhere. But the best part is that I do not have classes on Fridays! Luckily, I've been able to take advantage of that and do some travelling. Me outside of my homestay (doors to the left) and my senora's pottery shop (glass doors to the right).

Not that I like escaping from Barcelona for too long, though! I love this city, the beach, the food, the architecture, the siestas, and the Catalan culture. My homestay family is awesome - Pepa, mi senora, is an amazing cook and I can smell lunch and dinner cooking right below my bedroom every day. She makes pottery and her shop is located below our bedrooms and living space. Pretty cool! We live in El Gotic, which is the old Roman city aka the original Barcelona. It's very touristy, but absolutely beautiful and very central to the rest of the city. There is always something going on in Barcelona and it's fun to walk and get lost on the side streets with the cafes and tiny shops. I decided to study abroad on my own, which has been great because my independence has definitely grown and I've made friends from other universities in the States. But being located in a major city has many perks, liking having my W&L friends come and visit for the weekend! Me at the top of the mountain in Parque Guell which was designed by the artist Gaudi.

I've also done my share of travel so far- I've visited Madrid and Toledo, Seville, Sitges, Munich, Valencia, and I am going to Paris next weekend (shout out to Karen and Andy who will be there to celebrate a birthday and anniversary and my dad doesn't know I'm meeting up with them so shhh). It is so easy to get around in Europe and the flights are pretty cheap. I hope to book a couple more trips or day trips in Spain before I fly home in December! My favorite part about travel so far has been the hostel experience. You feel SAO college and sao Euro (but maybe we've just gotten lucky with the past few hostels we've chosen??). You think First-Year dorm situations are funny? Try living with your friends in bunk beds, a communal bathroom, and in a different country for a couple of nights. Me and a friend outside the cathedral in Valencia.

I miss the fall weather (Barcelona is still in the 80s), W&L Lacrosse (I get weird looks running in Generals Lax gear), the close proximity of everything in Lexington (I take a 20 minute metro ride to school), real coffees (cafe con leche is great, but sometimes it's a little mucho on the leche), and my friends! Somehow a group of us got talking about Harry Potter the other day and I mentioned that I had been sorted. Naturally, everyone was curious as to what house my lacrosse team had chosen for me. I'll let you guess if they were shocked or not at my reply. Can't wait to see everyone in January and let me leave you with this inspirational quote on the wall of the gym here in Barca- "SI QUIERES, PUEDES!"

Special thanks to Buck for filling us in on her adventures! Use Google translator to find out what's keeping Buck motivated! Check back next week for a wrap up from our Fall Clean-Up Day happening this weekend all over Lexington!

Generals Work Hard On and Off the Field

Where have the last four weeks gone??? Fall ball has come to a close after four weeks of hard work by all of the Generals. The final weekend was quite a full one with Habitat builds, soccer and field hockey games, and of course our play day against Roanoke, Lynchburg, Swarthmore, and Mary Washington complete we fantastic tailgate!

After our final practice on Friday the remainder of the team that had not already done so spent half of their Saturday cutting, hammering, screwing, and sawing out at the Habitat build site that the rest of their teammates visited a few weeks ago. The house had come along by leaps and bounds compared to where it was just a few short weeks ago, and the girls got to work quick pushing closer to the completion of the house. Between the clean-up done inside, the pickets made on the front porch, the soffit installed, and the edge work done, the house was looking better than ever after a day of the Generals' work.
The last group of Generals to head out to Buena Vista to help Joe and Kelly (either end) on the Habitat build site.

While working with their hands on Saturday was definitely tiring, the girls were ready to go come Sunday when Roanoke, Lynchburg, Swarthmore, Mary Washington, and CNU arrived on campus to play. We could not have asked for more beautiful weather to spend all day on the turf for some great lax! The Generals head up field after a draw. Photo credit to John Van Sant!

The Generals played four 30 minute running time games against conference opponents Roanoke and Lynchburg and out of conference foes Swarthmore and Mary Washington. This was a great opportunity for the team to finally play someone other than ourselves and really work through all of our systems. The scrimmages even gave the Generals a chance to work through the two new rule changes for the 2012 season with only two people on the draw circle and having to play a man down during cards. The day finished with a great tailgate put on by all of the Generals' parents. A big thank you to all of them and a special thank you to Tom Waxter for coordinating the whole affair!

All in all the day was a great cap to the fall season and only a jumping off point for even better things to come in the spring! Only 95 days until preseason!

Visit the blog next week as we introduce our new volunteer goalie coach Maisie Osteen.

Homecoming Weekend Brings Alumnae Back to Campus

Although it was definitely a crisp, fall morning the Generals came out ready to play on Saturday with some great alumnae making it to the turf as well! All the Generals, past and present!

The team has been working hard for the first three weeks of fall ball, so it was nice to get on the turf and play a real competition. The current Generals played both on the blue and white team, rotating between working with their teammates in the systems we run and working in with the alumnae who definitely came out ready to show their stuff! The play was at a very high level for both 30 minute running time halves, but the current Generals managed to squeak out a win.

Coach Diamond O'Brien and the alumnae before the start of the game!

A big thank you to all the alums you came out to play and push our current players! In attendance were:

Class of 2001- Ellen Ritsch

Class of 2006- Kate Lester and Margaret Batten

Class of 2010- Meredith Freeman

Class of 2011- Kathy Brown, Kate Donnelly, Katharine Farrar, Wilton Megargel, and Kate Speare

You would never have known that they hadn't been practicing all fall right alongside the curent Generals!

With one fall competition day under our belt the Generals look forward to the scrimmage day this week. Check back next Wednesday for a recap!