Nathan Sprenkel's Soccer Saga

Former DePauw men’s soccer goalkeeper Nathan Sprenkel is a member of the Chicago Soul Futbol Club as they begin their inaugural season in the Major Indoor Soccer League during the 2012-13 campaign.

Sprenkel will be keeping the DePauw community informed about his happenings as he travels the country as a member of the Soul.

If you would like to learn about Sprenkel’s path to the pros, read the story written by Michael Appelgate of The DePauw by clicking here

For pictures and updates, “like” my fan page on Facebook or follow me on Twitter: @sprenkalenk

 

Getting My First Crack

February 5, 2013

Hello from snowy and cold Chicago!!  Winter is finally showing its true colors around here.  Last week it was below 0 degrees with the wind chill, and since there is plenty of wind to go around here, it was a freezing few days.  While it has warmed up since then, the snow has piled on, leaving us with several inches currently.  I am most thankful to be playing indoors right now! 

When I left you all last we had a busy schedule in front of us with three games in about four days.  The first of those three was against top-ranked Milwaukee who we battled with throughout the entire game.  We were leading them through a majority of the game but like a truly experienced team they battled their way back and edged us out.  Luckily, since they are the first place team, losses to them aren’t as detrimental to our playoff push as losses to other teams fighting for our same playoff spot.  We obviously want to beat them, but most other teams are losing to them as well so as long as we take care of business against other teams everything still works out in our favor for making the playoffs. 

For this reason, our starting goalkeeper, Jeff Richey, took the following night off (Saturday) to recover and rest up for an important game against Wichita on Monday.  This is what led to my first start as a goalkeeper in the MISL against #1 Milwaukee in their house.  You can practice 25 hours a day, eight days a week but there is no practice environment that will prepare you for live game action in any sport.  I was excited, obviously a little nervous, but ready for the challenge that was ahead.  The biggest difference between practice and a game is the speed of play.  Guys are flying all over the place in games, especially around the box.  At halftime we trailed 4-2 and it was anyones game.  The Wave eventually got up 9-2 with two more goals, one of which was a three pointer.  Out of the four goals I gave up there were two that I really want back and know I routinely save, including the three pointer.  We scored a three pointer of our own to make it 9-5 but it was too little too late.  Overall it was a positive learning experience for me and I’m looking forward to my next opportunity.  I understand I have more to learn and develop, but that comes with experience.  I’m one of the youngest players in the league after all!

After two losses in a row, things started to pick up again for the Soul.  We beat the Wichita Wings, the team who was closest to taking our 4th playoff spot at the time.  Just a few days later we traveled to Kansas to play them on the road and beat them again, further separating ourselves from the rest of the pack.  In a quick turnaround we packed our bags and headed from Kansas to Milwaukee to face the Wave yet again.  Fatigue seemed to set in as the second half got a little out of hand with blue and yellow cards being passed out like candy to both sides, but mostly to us.  It is safe to say a heated rivalry has developed between neighbors, Milwaukee and Chicago.   Just four days later Wichita was back in Chicago where we beat them for a third time. 

Overall this stretch of games was seen as successful by the club.  We dropped three tough battles to a good Milwaukee side and won the critical games against the team trailing us in the playoff hunt.  Currently we still hold the fourth playoff spot, but it is nowhere near secured. With five games remaining, each one is a must win!  Our next game is against the Rochester Lancers in Chicago this Friday the 8th. 

On an unrelated note I got to spend some time with some old teammates recently.  I met up with Andrew Desmarais and Sam Meyer at Sam’s house to watch a young U.S. team tie Canada in a less than thrilling scoreless contest.  It was good to be back with the Tigers soccer family and more importantly good friends. 

Other than that, the biggest happening was the Super Bowl.  I was a little disappointed with the commercials this year, but at least the game was close enough to be interesting…eventually. 

I can’t believe it is already February but I hope everyone is enjoying the beginning part of the year!  Soon enough it will be time for spring season for the boys in Greencastle! 

Wait! One last thing…we are running profiles on all players leading up to the playoffs.  They started today and are in numerical order so I was first.  To check it out go to this link,

 

A New Year, A New Coach, Another Concussion

January 18, 2013

What’s this? A new post?? Finally!!! I want to start with an apology for the long delay since my last post.  I left you all around Thanksgiving with no intentions of such a long hiatus.  However, it was the Holidays, a busy schedule, more Holidays, a concussion and being sick that somehow caused the writing to slip through the cracks.  So there is my excuse and I hope you will forgive me!

Since so much time has passed I’m not going to recap every game like I was doing before.  Instead I will try to shed light on the highlights from the month and a half.  The biggest change in the club took place in early December when our head coach stepped down and our assistant became head coach.  We were a struggling team at that point and things weren’t clicking for one reason or another so a change had to take place.  Since then we have been moving in a positive direction, winning games and picking up steam.  We have even beaten the Baltimore Blast, the #1 team in the league, twice!  They were undefeated when they came to town on December 21 and we sent them home with their first loss.  That win was huge for us as a team, especially for our confidence.  Our current record is 6-9 and we are in the heart of the playoff race which is very exciting.  There is still a lot of soccer to be played but we are no longer at the bottom of the standings!

Not everything has been so gravy since I checked in last.  On Thursday, Dec 13 before a Friday home game I was doing some 1v1 practice with Bato, one of our forwards.  On a close range shot he wound up and crushed the ball into the middle of my forehead/nose and gave me a concussion.  I didn’t know it was a concussion right away, but by the evening the regular symptoms were hanging around.  This included difficulty concentrating, loss of appetite, sensitivity to light and noise, headache, etc.  This was my fourth concussion and second of the year.  I took a knee to the head in the Spring in Antigua, causing my worst concussion yet.  Luckily, I had baseline impact concussion testing done at DePauw so I had Roger (Dortch-Doan) forward those scores to Chicago in order for the trainer to understand how my healthy brain functioned.  Once I was symptom free, I took the impact test, looking for my scores to be in the ballpark of my baseline scores.  Unfortunately they were not, so I waited a few days and tried again, and again, and again.  Finally, after 4 tests and 3 weeks of sitting out I was cleared to play.  This happened about a week or so ago.  It was a frustrating 3 weeks to say the least but I am thankful for the precaution and patience that our trainer took in handling the situation.  The brain is not something to be messed with!

As my luck would have it, I returned to practice and came down with a fever that same night.  Some of the guys in the house had been sick and many guys on the team were sick so it really was no surprise that I managed to catch it, too.  I decided to take the next day off to rest and get healthy.  It paid off as I was able to return to practice the next morning.  Since then I have been back in the full swing of things and feeling great about it.  This weekend is important for us as we play 3 games in 4 days.  Two of the three games are against the second place Milwaukee Wave, once at home and once on the road.  It will definitely be a test for us!

Those have been the main happenings of the past several weeks along with volunteering with children every chance we get and should have you all pretty well back in the loop.  I will check in again next week after our long weekend, hopefully with some good results to report!  Apologies again for the lengthy absence, it will not happen again!

Until then, take care!


Week Three - Turkey Day in the Empire State

November 29, 2012

Welcome back old friends and hello to first time readers! I hope everyone is getting back into the swing of their normal routines after the Holiday.  The team has been back training since Tuesday after having Monday off. 

This past week(end) we were in New York (again) for games at Rochester and Syracuse.  We piled in a couple 12-passenger vans last Tuesday morning around 6 a.m. and were on our way.  About 10 hours later we reached Rochester safe and sound.  Since the team roster is thin right now due to injuries there was plenty of room in each van to stretch out and get comfortable. 

Wednesday night was our game against the Lancers.  It was only days prior that we dropped an overtime decision to them so we were hoping for some revenge.  It wasn’t our night, however, and things seemed to be dropping for them while we struggled to find the net despite many chances.  In an odd series of events our Captain ended up receiving back-to-back yellow cards which left him in the penalty box for 10 straight minutes.  Since they were only yellow cards, we could still play full sided, but with a small roster we needed the extra sub.  With about 7:30 left in the game and down 16-6, I made my debut appearance in the MISL.  I was excited, ready, and a little nervous at first but I quickly settled in.  I managed to keep them scoreless during my time in there and we even got a goal of our own, making the final score 16-8.  While it was awesome to get my feet wet, a win was what we wanted and we didn’t make it happen so it was a bitter night. 

The feeling didn’t last long as the next morning was Thanksgiving.  It was the first Thanksgiving I was away from my family so that was tough, but teammate Sean Summerville and his family did their best to make our team feel at home.  We ate (a lot), played games, watched football and relaxed all day.  I think the team grew closer that afternoon, being able to connect in a more relaxed atmosphere than practices or games.  That evening we drove to Syracuse to begin preparations for our Saturday evening game. 

Up to that point, Syracuse was our only victory of the season so there was no excuse to lose.  We played like a team that game, and in a nail biter, pulled out the victory 14-11.  Captain Matt Steward redeemed himself of his two yellow cards the game before by scoring a hat trick, playing an integral part in our victory.  Getting another W on the board was huge for us and has given us some momentum in preparing for this Saturday’s game in Milwaukee, our last stop before our home opener.  Visit MISLnation.com to watch the live stream on Saturday night (Dec. 1)!

 

Week Two– On the Road Again

November 19, 2012

When I left you all last, the team was coming off a 1-1 opening weekend.  We had a short week of practice before we were on the road again, headed back to Baltimore (Md.) where we had just played.  We knew it was going to be another battle and unfortunately some injuries kept some key players from making the trip.  We flew into Baltimore the morning of the game, got some rest at the hotel and were on our way to the stadium.  This time around the environment was not quite as hostile thanks to a smaller crowd.  However, it wasn’t our night and things just weren’t clicking and we lost the game 17-9.  The first half was frantic and unorganized but we settled down in the 3rd quarter but it was too little too late. 

There’s no rest for the weary in the MISL and we were on the road to Rochester (N.Y.) right after the game in Baltimore.  It was a 5-6 hour drive and we arrived at our hotel at around 6:30am on Saturday morning.  I went ahead and ate breakfast before sleeping until mid-afternoon, just in time for lunch.  We then headed to the stadium for pre-game preparations.  This would be Rochester’s home opener and only their second game of the season while we headed into our fourth contest in two weeks. 

The Lancers jumped out to an early 6-0 lead as we looked to get our feet underneath us.  We would settle down and rally for a 12-0 run, putting us up 12-6.  A couple 3 pointers by Rochester knotted things up quickly as both teams jostled back and forth.  Rochester regained the lead with under a minute to play seemingly sealing our fate, but our defender Roberto Gallo had other plans.  With his second goal of the game, Gallo answered quickly and we headed to golden-goal overtime.  In the extra period, goalkeeper Jeff Richey took a point blank shot to the face, leaving him shaken up.  I quickly had my gloves on and was ready to take the field, but Richey composed himself and finished out the game.  Unfortunately, we had a several minute stretch in which we were playing defense, unable to regain possession of the ball and it ended with Rochester burying the game winner. 

Needless to say it was a heartbreaking way to end a long weekend on the road.  It is easy for a new team to get down after three straight losses but we were back to work on Tuesday with the upcoming weekend off and plenty of time to recover and prepare.  Rochester is next up on the schedule with another game at their place.  As intense as this last meeting was, I can’t imagine what this one will be like. 

Thanks to some bad weather in the Chicago area, the DePauw Men’s Soccer squad had their second-round NCAA Championship game rescheduled from Saturday to Sunday.  We landed at O’Hare International Airport (Chicago, Ill.) around 10:50am and I caught a cab for the 20-minute ride to Dominican to watch the Tigers.  They too lost an overtime thriller and it hurt to see their season end like that.  Congratulations to the boys on another successful year and to the Women for their successes this season. 

For those who celebrate, I hope you have a relaxing Thanksgiving with family and friends.  I will be celebrating at a teammates house in Rochester before we head to Syracuse.  If you want to watch our games this week we play November 21 at 6pm and Saturday the 24th at 6pm.  All games are streamed on MISLnation.com. 

 

Week One – A Fun and Painful Beginning

November 7, 2012

The regular season is off to a fast start following our first weekend of games.  Last Thursday night my housemates/teammates and I hopped on the Metra train near our house and took it to Union Station to meet the rest of the team.  From there, around 9pm, we all boarded an Amtrak sleeper train to Syracuse where we would play the Syracuse Silver Knights.  Upon boarding the train we surveyed the surroundings.  Each player was assigned a roommate to share one of the sleeper cars with.  The sleeping situation was a tight squeeze between two players and all our stuff but we made it work.  Until about midnight most of the guys hung out in the lounge car that was serving cheese and wine.  We relaxed, played some euchre, had pizza and then headed to our bunk-beds.  I managed to get decent sleep and was surprised when I woke up and it was time for breakfast.  The diner car was serving hot breakfast; including pancakes, waffles, french toast, eggs, omelets, etc.  Not too shabby for a train!  Shortly after breakfast and a nap our 14-hour train journey was complete in what seemed like only a few hours.  The rest of the day was spent having lunch on the Syracuse University campus, relaxing in the hotel and preparing for the franchise’s inaugural game. 

The game against Syracuse was close for most of the time until we began to pull away towards the end.  While practice can be intense and fast paced, it is nothing like the games.  Guys are flying around everywhere at 100mph, subbing in and out, and shooting whenever they get a chance…which is a lot.  One of my housemates, Carlos, had two goals and an assist and was a big reason for the win.  Not surprisingly, we were elated after winning our first ever game and on a high heading to Baltimore for a match the following day against the Blast. 

We woke up early Saturday morning to get in 3 rental vans to drive to Baltimore.  Because of the storms we could not book any inbound flights so we were forced to drive 5 hours in the morning for a game that night, having just played the night before.  It is not an ideal traveling schedule but you have to deal with it!

Baltimore is, and has been, one of the top teams in the league.  They have a core group of veterans who have been playing together for many years.  We knew going in that it was going to be a battle, especially since we had a few guys banged up from the night before and not at 100%. 

We arrived to a raucous crowd of about 6,500 people in Baltimore and got off to a fast start.  Thanks to Chile Farias scoring a hat trick in the first 4 minutes we took a 7-2 lead(two 2 pointers and a 3 pointer).  His third goal in that quick stint was a penalty shot because of a foul on the Baltimore goalkeeper against Juddy McKinney (another housemate).  Juddy was running full speed to the corner, pushed the ball past the charging keeper who then swiped Juddy’s legs from under him sending him flying towards the boards.  In order to save his neck, literally, Juddy put an arm out to brace the crash into the boards, snapping his humerus in the process.  It was a deflating sight to see as he was in serious pain and unable to walk off the field under his own power.  He was taken to a nearby hospital, given some medication and was able to fly home with us the next day. 

Shortly after the penalty goal we put in another making the score 9-2.  However, the goal was called back for a peculiar offensive foul decision.  Baltimore took advantage and scored within the next minute making the score 7-4.  The quick 4-point swing may have been the turning point in the game.  We battled all night, going into halftime down 10-9.  Tired legs and beat up bodies began to wear us down towards the end of the game and Baltimore closed it out with a 23-13 victory. 

We finished the weekend 1-1, which we were actually pleased with, as it is very tough to win on the road in this league.  We saw a lot of positives and many things we could work on before the following weekend’s games.  November and early December are going to be a test for us because we do not have our first home game until December 7.  This week will consist of a lot of recovery for injured guys and preparing to return to Baltimore for Friday night’s game and a shot at revenge. 

Congratulations to both the men’s and women’s DePauw Soccer programs for winning the NCAC tournament and making the NCAA tournament!  The men are playing about 30 minutes from my house here in Chicago and I won’t even be able to go because I will be out of town! What a frustrating feeling!  Good luck to both teams in the opening rounds. 

Until next time!


The Journey Starts

November 2, 2012

It seems like just yesterday I was pulling out of my driveway to begin the 3 and a half hour journey from my home in Zionsville, Ind. to my first team meeting at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Ill. on October 1st.  Upon leaving I didn’t know exactly what to expect but I was optimistic and excited for the future.

When I arrived in Illinois I took a walk around the Sears Centre where our home games will be played and waited for other teammates to arrive.  The meeting was brief and was mainly a time for guys to introduce themselves and meet our coaches. 

Our head coach is Manny Rojas, a former Chilean national team player who competed for his country in the 1982 World Cup in Spain.  The assistant is Novi Marojevic, a former pro in Yugoslavia and former indoor teammate of some of the veterans on the team.  Many of the players, especially the veterans, will still be arriving in the following days. 

During the first week of preseason, team owner Dave Mokry had some of the other rookies and myself staying in a hotel while he figured out what our living arrangements would be. In the first week we trained in the mornings and continued to wait for other guys to get in town.  That first week also included a press conference at GameWorks in which players were introduced as well as the team’s partners. 

The second week of training is when things began to pick up.  We would train in the mornings and afternoons.  The afternoons would either be back at the Sears Centre or at a gym next door for working out.  The gym is beautiful with weights, basketball and tennis courts, two pools, steam room, etc… Fortunately, we get free access there for the entire season!

October 9th was a huge milestone for all the guys staying in the hotel. This is when we moved into our current living situation. Dave was able to find a beautiful home that was up for sale/rent.  It is owned by an Italian couple named Vince and Mar.   Dave worked it out a deal with them in which their spare rooms would be rented by the Soul and Mar and Vince could keep their master suite.  Furthermore, Mar agreed to cook for us and take care of us.  Each guy has his own room and it is safe to say we’re spoiled!  The family has been very welcoming and accommodating so we really lucked out. 

Overall, the first month of pre-season has been a learning experience.  The indoor game is much different than outdoor so I’ve been trying to pick it up as quickly as possible.  I feel like I can learn something new after every training session.  Thankfully the other goalkeeper, Jeff Richey, has been in the league for 13-14 years and is more than willing to help bring me up to speed. 

Besides training, players can keep busy by partaking in appearances in the community.  In the first month I have been to a pumpkin patch, packed food to send to Uganda, passed out candy at a school Halloween party and talked to middle schoolers about leading a healthy lifestyle and making the right life choices. These appearances are a great way to interact with fans and get our name out there since we are an expansion team about to have our inaugural season in the MISL.

That’s about it for now.  The first month was mostly getting settled, training and adjusting to a new game while getting to know the guys. Time to get the season started!

The Chicago Soul played their first game as an organization last Friday night, defeating the Syracuse Silver Knights 13-8. The very next night they took on the Baltimore Blast, losing 23-13.

The Soul will return to action this Friday night as they once again take on the Blast. The match starts at 6:35 pm and can be seen on http://misl.uslsoccer.com/