Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Day 10 - Dachau & Game #5

This morning started at 9:00 again and we headed over to Dachau Concentration Camp, about 20 minutes away from Munich. The weather was a bit overcast, as it has been since arriving in Austria on the 11th. We had an hour to tour the Concentration Camp on our own, listening to hand-held battery powered guides with pre-recorded information. We all had maps to follow and at various points along the way pressed a coordinating number and learned about what we were viewing.

It was an extremely emotional experience that I felt was compounded by the gray sky above. I would have liked to have had more than an hour as I did not see several areas of the Camp, but we had a four-plus hour drive to Switzerland ahead of us and had to be on the road by 11:30. And even though it was brief, it was still a tremendous learning experience.

We drove for about two hours before stopping at a rest area for lunch and then we continued along to Switzerland. Switzerland is the only country of the ones we are visiting that is not a part of the European Union. It does not use the Euro, but the Swiss Franc. In addition, when crossing the boarder we had to go through a check point, which lasted all of a few minutes, unlike traveling from Italy to Austria and Austria to Germany where we simply passed into the next country. In Switzerland, there are also four languages spoken – Germany, Italian, French, and another that is based on Latin and only spoken by a small percentage of the people.

We hit some traffic as we got closer to Zurich and instead of checking into the hotel, we continued on to the site of game #5, against FCC Zuchwil. We arrived at around 6:15 for the 7:00 game and ended the 90:00 with a 1-1 tie. This team was extremely talented in all facets of the game and gave Brown a great match and a lovely post-game dinner at the restaurant at the field.

Zuchwil won the first half, scoring on a beautiful shot from about 30 yards out on the left side that nailed the top corner of the net and bounced in off the crossbar. Minutes later, Julie Wu ’10 nearly tied it for Brown, but her shot form almost the exact same spot hit the crossbar and bounced over the net.

Down, 1-0 at the break, the Bears controlled the second half, finally breaking through when Kellie Slater ’10 fired a shot from the left side that Zuchwil’s goalie saved. Andrea Pagnanelli ’08 was streaking in on the follow through and one-timed the rebound into the back of the net just before the goalie could scoop up the ball.

Both teams had ample scoring opportunities during the final 15 minutes, but both teams’ defenders and goalies made great stops to keep the game tied. Brenna Hogue ’10 and Steffi Yellin ’10 each made five saves.

Following the game, both teams enjoyed a dinner consisting of salad, pasta, and chicken at the restaurant next to the field. The game ended just before 9:00 and the sun had just set behind the mountains, creating a picturesque background for the meal.

We left the field at around 10:00 (it was still somewhat light out!) and headed to our hotel just outside of Zurich. Tomorrow, we tour the city and then have about three hours of free time before making what will probably be an exciting drive through the Swiss Alps and back into Italy.

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