Portland junior defender Emma Nelson has taken on blogging duties for the women’s soccer team, and she’ll be checking in from time-to-time to give fans an in-depth look into the soccer program. Emma files her third entry as the Pilots are in Seattle preparing for the Husky/Nike Invitational. Make sure to bookmark www.portlandpilots.com/NelsonBlog and follow Nelson and the Pilots all season.

You can send Emma any questions, comments or feedback that you might have by clicking HERE.

PREVIOUS BLOG ENTRIES
• Entry #1 (Aug. 18, 2010)
• Entry #2 (Aug. 26, 2010)
• Entry #3 (Sept. 3, 2010)

The start of another week finds us 8-0 after another exciting weekend of Pilot women’s soccer. The west coast proved to be the best coast, as we took down Rutgers in a close 2-1 contest and prevailed over Penn State 4-2.  The gritty east coast style required us to put our noses to the grindstone to earn these victories, and we rose to the occasion. Having said that, we know that we still have a long way to go as we continue towards the playoffs.

This weekend, many of us were fortunate enough to have our parents here! To celebrate this rare occasion, we organized a Saturday afternoon potluck to get everyone together. This was a great opportunity for the freshman parents to get to know the rest of the team and their parents, with the bonus of some delicious food.

With our team, no occasion is complete without some healthy competition, and this potluck was no exception. This time, the event was a banana bread contest, the brainchild of the ever-brilliant Keelin Winters. Word about the contest was spread throughout the previous week, peaking the curiosity of many of our mothers. Over ten confident entrants arrived with their best efforts to the potluck, and the competition took off. The moms took charge of the contest, slicing the breads down to sample sizes and numbering the loaves in the interest of fairness and anonymity.

Once the entries were sorted, everyone had the chance to try each admission. Steve Kreminski, Halley’s dad, had an especially effective and thorough method, tasting each bread twice and cleansing his palate between bites. The voting process was headed up by Bunny Foxhoven, Danielle’s mother, who tallied each voter’s selection on a very official paper plate. After the Foxhoven family counted the votes, the results were announced. Elizabeth Tsao, Jess’s mom, won the gluten-free category, a division created by Dani (Foxhoven) so that she too could benefit from the bounty of baked banana bliss.

The category for mainstream banana bread initially resulted in a tie and had to go into a cheer-off. The banana bread that received the loudest ovation would be declared the winner. The victory went to my mother, Nanette, the most ironic victor possible. While other moms had been trash-talking, my mom fooled the competition with her nonchalant and uncompetitive approach to the contest. Congratulations are also in order to Keelin’s mother Julie for her mouth-watering bread that finished a close second! All of the bakers did a wonderful job, and our taste buds thank all of you.

This Friday we face Texas A&M at seven o’clock. We hope all of you come out and show your spirit as we take on the Aggies. If we play with as much competitive fire as our mothers brought to the potluck, we cannot be beat!

Go Pilots!

Emma