Love Out Loud 5

Alphabet Soup

The caravan containing the Trinity Lutheran women's soccer team and its entourage arrived at the Courtyard Downtown Springfield a few minutes before 5:00. Following check-in, storing their belongings in their rooms, and a quick change of clothes, the 23 players, coaches, parents, and fans got back upon the team bus for the short trip to Jean and Allan Bryant's home.

***

Jean Bryant (to Ally, Brenda, and Marc): Amber was looking forward to getting back to Trinity after the extended summer break, feeling as though she had found her place on-campus in the first few weeks of Spring semester and had finally settled in.

Ally: I think knowing she would play a major role in our program's resurrection had to be a great help, as it gave her a foothold within the campus community that wasn't there previously.

Jean: I also think having her best friend Katie joining her this year is another boon in helping her focus on her and not on what everyone around her is doing.

Marc: I hope she'll consider gracing our presence at worship sometime this semester. A handful of her teammates are either part of the congregation's leadership or regular attenders, so there shouldn't be any fear of the unknown.

Ally: Leave it to my man to plug his own corner of campus out-of-context.

Jean: You and Deacon Schmidt are a couple?

Ally: Yeah. Been about a year now.

Jean: Have either of you had any trouble around campus? Here at Wittenberg, the faculty/staff couples usually exist before either one starts at the school. Most of the time, they come in as a package or one will get hired, followed by the other a semester or year later.

Marc: I was quite cautious about the campus community getting wind of our burgeoning relationship, doing all possible to keep it under wraps until the end of last Fall. Did the same with regard to the synod, although Bishop Emerson and several of my colleagues figured out we were together through our non-verbal communication.

Brenda: I knew both of them from the local soccer club Marc managed, and even I was stunned when they told me, since I never saw the signs during our time with MUSC.

Jean: I'm hopeful Amber can find someone who understands her and some of the little quirks she has. I should go mingle a bit with some of the players. Glad to get a chance to touch base with the three of you.

Erin, Steph, and Julie Koerner were hanging out with Cali and Leah, leaving the Matts to congregate with Cameron, Lexi, and Jordan. On another part of the deck, Teagan and her parents ate and conversed with Erica and Cami.

Cami: You OK, Teagan?

Teagan: Yeah, such a smidgen worried about tomorrow.

Yvonne Minor: Why? It's not as though you've never started at the college level before.

Teagan: Mom, the two games last year came against relatively inferior competition. Yeah, I was a little nervous before the Beloit match, but nothing like this.

Erica: I see. Thinking you won't be able to make the step up from facing Beloit and Eureka to going against a recent NCAA tournament team?

Teagan: Yeah. We're also dealing with a different back line than last year, even if most of the parts look the same.

Cami nodded at the goalkeeper's statement. "Two freshmen making up the left half of the back four, plus Amber further up the field."

Erica: I'll have some words for the team at breakfast tomorrow, since we have a good number of players for whom tomorrow might be a bit of a shock compared to Lawrence and Beloit.