Passionate Fans
We’re reliving our “dream trip” to South America last week. And we just have to show you a couple of moments from our visit to watch the San Lorenzo vs. Velez Sarsfield match on the first day of our trip. You may recall that the game was postponed when it was found out that a member of the Velez fan group was tragically shot to death a couple of miles from the San Lorenzo stadium. The fans had traveled in a convoy of about 40 buses and we had heard that someone had just fired randomly at the group of buses.

Both teams came out for the start of the game…and, as is tradition in Argentina, the home team’s “entrada” (entrance) is accompanied by the throwing of the “papelitos” (little papers). We were given paper to throw…watch the scene as the San Lorenzo team enters the field…

Right after the papelitos were thrown, a small fire broke out in the section…watch as the fans scramble…not to put out the fire, but to save the signs they had carefully made for the game…

Of course, right after this, the game was canceled as the tragic news started to filter into the stadium. About 20 minutes later, the home team came out to do a light jog, stretch and run. Amazingly, the fans stayed and sang to their team…we have some video to show you, but need to trim it down as it is too large to download…we’ll get this up as soon as we can…

Well, while we were in South America, we got LOTS of photos and videos that we just couldn’t get up on the blog…not enough time…couldn’t tell the story…so we will occasionally throw in some Lost Treasures

So, for our first Lost Treasure, we will revisit Florida Ave., the street shop scene in downtown Buenos Aires. Clothes, leathers, food, memorabilia…you name it…you can find it. Now, we have some great shoppers on our team…but Katy Reineke might be #1…Here is footage of Katy getting her first taste of Florida Ave. Enjoy!

We made it back in one piece today. The trip back was a bit hectic. We got to the Buenos Aires Airport at 5:30 P.M. in Argentina…the flight left at 9:30 P.M. We were supposed to land in Dallas at 6:00 A.M. …Unfortunately, one of the passengers had a “medical emergency” (we think it was kidney stones)…and we landed in Panama City, Panama and stayed for close to 3 hours!!

We did not get to Dallas until after 10:oo A.M….of course we missed our flight to Salt Lake City.
Our group of 34 people was placed on 2 different flights…after some stand-by’s and other movements, we think everyone made it.

The trip was great. The players have school in the morning…back to reality! We have lots of little notes, videos, photos and other gems to share and will be doing so…

The Utes will be back in action at the Temecula College Classic in Southern California on the weekend of April 5-6. We will face UC Santa Barbara at 3:00 P.M. on Saturday and Pepperdine at 9:00 A.M. on Sunday. Happy Easter!!

Immediately after our game on Friday, we jumped on the bus and headed across town to watch a game in the Primera Division…San Lorenzo vs. Arsenal. After our disappointment at not being able to see the San Lorenzo vs. Velez Sarsfield game on the previous weekend (and having to hear about the tragedy of a Velez fan being shot a few miles away on the way to the game), we were excited to see some top soccer.

On our way to the game, there was some nasty weather coming in…VERY dark clouds. We stopped the bus about half way and let the Rodericks out to take baby Rachel back to the hotel…and many of the players “chickened out” and jumped off the bus…the few die-hards headed to the Arsenal stadium as the rain started thumping down. We arrived and were escorted into a room to await the end of the reserve game and stay dry! Right before the first teams headed out, it stopped raining…Yes!

The game provided some interesting stories. Argentina has 20 teams in its Primera Division. There are two seasons (”Torneos“) each year where each team plays each other once…an apetura (”opening”), which ended in December with an incredible Cinderella story as Lanus won the championship. And now we’re in the 7th fecha (date) of the clausura (”closing”) season. Arsenal is in 11th place and San Lorenzo is in 13th…but it is early and there is a lot of soccer yet to be played.

Last year, Arsenal won the Copa Sudamericana, which is like the UEFA Cup in Europe…not quite the Champions League…but for the next group of teams in each country. It was a great victory for this small club. Arsenal’s coach Alfaro was the San Lorenzo coach a couple of years ago and got fired after some poor performances.

Well, as the game started the visiting sections of the stands were filled with San Lorenzo fans…and like the week before, they were singing in full force. And the home sections were empty as the local fans had gone home when the rains hit (many would come back as the game wore on). Here is a video of the fans getting ready for kickoff as we remind ourselves that we are now rooting for Arsenal as we are sitting in their section:

The game was exciting. It was hotly contested. The rains hit at halftime and things got wet during the second period. Alyssa Toomey always one to keep things interesting, kept us entertained at half-time by trying to catch rain drops! We have exclusive footage here at the blog…Check it out!

The game was on TV and we were pleasantly surprised to hear that we were shown several times during the game. We were also welcomed officially by the club at the half…Watch and listed to the announcer welcome us…a very nice gesture by our hosts….

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San Lorenzo won at the very end on a goal from a free kick that was whipped in from the wing and, after a scramble, tapped in the net. It was a great night of soccer. We ended by singing the San Lorenzo songs on the bus back to the hotel as the women’s coaches from San Lo rode with us and taught us the words!

We are getting ready to check out of the hotel and wanted to throw some tidbits in from the game yesterday(Friday). First, the San Lorenzo women’s team didn’t many hooligans available for our game as most were on the road, heading to the men’s game at Arsenal that night. Check out our exclusive video of the small, but passionate group at our game:

We caught up with Erin Dalley after the game, who couldn’t quite remember how her goal, Utah’s 4th of the day, was scored:

Then she came to her senses and commented on the game and opponent:

And we have some post-game photos: