Roll back the calendar to July 10 of this past summer.
Members of the Central Bucks West girls’ soccer team had just returned to their hotel in Goch, Germany, with one goal in mind – to watch the World Cup quarterfinal pitting the USA against Brazil.
“We all came running off our bus, running into the hotel, finding any TV we could see, and we all just plopped down in the middle of the lobby and we were all just watching the game,” West senior Elena Ochsenreither said. “We were all holding each other’s hands.”
The group’s interest was not simply because they are avid soccer fans but also because they had tickets to the semifinal contest featuring the winner of that quarterfinal game.
The game had a storybook finish, and in one of the World Cup’s most dramatic moments, Abby Womach scored the tying goal, and the US team went on to win in penalty kicks.
“Once Abby scored – oh my god, I’m pretty sure the hotel shook,” Ochsenreither recalled. “We were screaming, we were jumping.
“It was incredible, and then winning in PKs – we were all just crying and laughing and jumping and screaming. I think all of us lost our voice that day, and we weren’t even at the game.”
The group – comprised of 21 West players, three players from CB East, West coach Chris Freudig and 20 chaperones – was in attendance when the US defeated France 3-1 to earn a spot in the World Cup final, and as trips go, they don’t get much better than this one.
“It was awesome,” West senior Lindsay Horst said. “Just the whole experience of being able to represent your country in a different country and cheer for them and know that everyone in your country was watching your country play.
“It was just crazy to see how many people come together to watch the World Cup, and to actually be there and experience it all firsthand was awesome.”
Freudig has been taking teams through the Doylestown Soccer Club on trips for the past 20-plus years, but this was the first time it was almost exclusively West players.
“We try to go every three or four years,” the Bucks’ coach said. “We offer it, but kids don’t have to take it. There are no strings attached.”
“We play some games, and everyone is going to play. We’re there for the experience. The common denominator is soccer.”
In 2003, Freudig took his club team comprised almost exclusively of West players whose team won a state championship on a trip to Norway, Denmark and Iceland. That team captured the Dano Cup, one of the most prestigious tournaments in Denmark with 1100 teams participating.
This year, Germany – with an opportunity to see several World Cup games - was an easy choice for Freudig, and he had no trouble finding interested players or chaperones.
Chaperone Bob Horst, father of players Lindsay and Kelsey, opted to take his whole family.
“It’s really a phenomenal thing,” he said. “As a parent, you realize how exciting it is for them to have these opportunities, and simultaneously, you hope they realize how lucky they are.
“They got to see a significant part of Western Europe. They had a chance to follow their women’s national team, but there’s more to it than just being a soccer trip.”
Talk to the players, and it’s clear the trip was about a whole lot more than soccer.
“It was just really cool to see the different cultures over there,” Ochsenreither said. “I just loved the European buildings and the towns. It’s so beautiful.
“At first I thought we were just going to Germany, but then we also got to experience some of Holland. I still remember riding our bikes in (Arnhem,)Holland in a park. That was absolutely beautiful. You’re riding along, and all of a sudden there’s a castle, and you’re like, ‘Where did this come from?’ That was just so cool to see.”
While in Arnhem, the group had an opportunity to visit the Kroller-Muller Museum, which features the world’s largest private collection of Van Goghs. In Germany, they took a cruise down the Rhyne River.
The group also had an opportunity to do some shopping.
“There were a lot of clothes shops, little boutiques that had clothes that Americans don’t really wear,” Lindsay Horst said. “It was cool to see what they wear and how clothes we wear are perceived as kind of weird to them, but we don’t think it’s weird at all.”
“Personally, I loved it,” Ochsenreither said. “I think it’s so cool the way they pay attention to the little accessories.
“I could shop there all day. Everybody looks so put together. Here we have the brands – the Hollisters, the Abercrombies, and everybody seems to look similar. There isn’t as much brand name clothing there. It’s more unique. It’s so cool.”
The group had the added bonus of staying in a hotel called the Sport De Poort in the village of Goch that included two indoor soccer courts, tennis courts and saunas.
“There even was a room with bowling alleys,” Ochsenreither said. “There were rooms for all these different things.
“We were like, ‘Okay, soccer practice,’ and we walked downstairs.”
While in Germany, the team played five games.
“Playing time was distributed,” Freudig said. “We weren’t really worried about results but, instead, the experience of playing.”
On the team’s second full day in Germany, they were scheduled to play a night game.
“It was weird because the sun doesn’t set there until 10 o’clock,” Horst said. “We were playing our night game in daylight. You would think it was three o’clock in the afternoon, but it was 8:30 at night.”
The players exchanged gifts with their German opponents.
“It was really fun,” Horst said. “We brought pennants and little gifts from Doylestown. They gave us pennants too. It was a memory we can keep with us.”
The players left Germany with countless memories, but few could top their memories of the World Cup games. All told, they went to three games – their first pitting South Korea and Colombia gave them a taste of what World Cup games were like.
“We said, ‘Okay, we get it now. We know what the environment is like. We know how to handle it,’” Bob Horst said.
When the group attended their next game featuring England against France, the players were more than ready with most dressing up as English fans.
“We played the part of England,” Ochsenreither said. “An English television channel came up to us and said, ‘You’re from England.’ We just went along with it and got interviewed.
“Eventually we told them we really are from America.”
By the time the USA/France game rolled around, the players were seasoned fans. They made signs, they painted their faces and hair, they wore USA t-shirts and toted American flags.
ESPN even gave the entire Horst family some TV time.
“My cell phone exploded,” Bob Horst said. “It goes to show what a small world we live in – I’m standing in Germany at a women’s World Cup game, and later, between texts, emails and phone calls on my hand held, 67 different people reached out to say, ‘I just saw you on ESPN.’ It was amazing.”
And ‘amazing’ is a sentiment that is echoed repeatedly when the topic of the 12-day trip to Germany comes up in conversation.
“It was just a great time,” Freudig said. “I told the parents I didn’t mind them coming, but I wasn’t deviating the plan for the parents. Everything was for the kids.
“For as nice as the weather was, it was not very nice when we saw the U.S. game. The kids went out in t-shirts and just sprayed themselves up, and they were having the best time. That’s what it’s about. It’s about learning. I told the parents if we didn’t play any soccer games I still thought it would be a great experience, and I do feel that’s absolutely true.”
For everyone, especially the players, it was a most memorable experience.
“It was great, especially going with my team,” Horst said. “A lot of my best friends are on the team, so I got to take a vacation to a foreign country and play the sport that I love with all my best friends and my family. I don’t think I’m ever going to have that chance again.
“To be able to do it, especially going into my senior year of high school, it was awesome, and I would definitely recommend doing it to any other soccer team. It was a great bonding experience. All of us got along so great together, and we all had such a great time.
“There wasn’t one of us that said, ‘I didn’t like this trip. I wish we would have gone somewhere else.’ Everyone loved it, and everyone was happy we did it together.”
“The whole trip just brought all of us closer together,” Ochsenreither added. “It was that one experience that we all can relate to. It bonded us.”
And left everyone with memories to last a lifetime.
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