Trio of MP girls combine with SEC rivals

Conference rivalries run deep, especially the one between Fairfield and Mt. Pleasant, but on Saturday, the Trojans and Panthers will be one in the same at the Iowa Games. Three Mt. Pleasant players have traveled to Ames to join Fairfield in the 19-and-under female division, which began its tournament today (Thursday).

Two recent graduates, Mary West and Lizzie Litchfield are of the squad, which has donned the name, 'The Blizzards.” Sydney Doak, who will be going into her senior year next fall, is also on the team.

'Bryanna Popejoy texted me and asked if I wanted to get a few girls together to join their team,” says Doak. 'Mt. Pleasant has never had a team, and this year we were kind of trying to pick one up, but there weren't enough people. I asked Liz and Mary, and now we're playing with Fairfield.” Doak says she wasn't about to be the only Panther in a sea of orange, but once her teammates joined in, she was down to give it a shot.

'I wasn't going to do it unless both of them did it,” Doak says. 'But it will also be nice to play with them one more time.”

The Panthers played the Trojans twice in the regular season this spring and won games 2-1 and 3-1. Mt. Pleasant held on to knock the Trojans out 2-1 in the regional tournament. West had two goals against the Trojans in the regular season, Litchfield scored one in the regular season, and Doak burned them with both goals in the regional final game.

'As a team, of course we don't get along on the field,” says West. They're like really big rivals, but alone I've talked to a coupule of girls and they're actually pretty sweet. I”m kind of excited to see where this one goes with two different teams, and see if we can get over the Mt. Pleasant-Fairfield thing and just play soccer.”

There are 17 players on the Blizzards, 14 Trojans and three Panthers. The three Mt. Pleasant girls don't quite know where they'll be playing on the field, but all have hopes of getting their natural position.

'We don't really know the coach,” says Litchfield. 'So we don't really know if they know where the three of us have played on the field, or where position-wise we'll be playing. That will be really interesting!”

Litchfield describes the trip up north as a 'mini-vacation,” and the three of them aren't quite sure of the level of competition that the other two teams in the division will bring. The other teams in the league are the 'Nevada Cubs” and the 'Barracudas.”

There is one growing concern for the three Panthers on the team. The 'Blizzards” uniforms didn't come in as quick as they expected, meaning they might have to wear Fairfield orange during the games.

'One of the girls ordered uniforms for us, but she doesn't think they're going to come in on time,” West says. 'So if they don't come in on time, us three have to wear Fairfield uniforms ... the old ones, too!”

The tournament began this morning with the Blizzards playing the Nevada Cubs. They will also play at 4 p.m. today. The Blizzards will play both of their opponents twice over the three-day stretch.

The team didn't get to practice together before the games, but the Blizzards hope to bring home the gold to Mt. Pleasant, and Fairfield, when the games are all said and done.