Marquette University Athletics
Marquette Women's Basketball Team Visits Italy
5/14/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
May 14, 2003
MILWAUKEE - The Marquette women's basketball team will go on its longest road trip of the past couple of years. The Golden Eagles will travel thousands of miles and be gone for 10-days, but no one on the team will complain about being away from home. The team will be participating in a four-game exhibition tour of Italy. The MU women's team departs for the tour on Wednesday, May 14.
The foreign excursion, allowed once every four years by NCAA regulations, offers teams a chance to practice and participate in competition during the summer months. For head coach Terri Mitchell, it gives her the opportunity to hold 10 more practice sessions before the trip and get the team a jump start on next season. Mitchell also used this trip as an exercise in team bonding.
"This will be a great opportunity for each of our players and staff," head coach Terri Mitchell said. "Not only will we have an opportunity to play more basketball games, but there is so much history in Italy. Our country is just slightly more than 200 years old. Italy is thousands of years old, and I hope each player will use this as an chance to experience as much as they can."
Marquette will play teams of varying quality during the mini-schedule. Marquette's first game will be on Monday, May 19. MU will play Pakelo San Bonifacio, a team that was 8-18 in the A2 Italian League. The next day, the Golden Eagles will take on Italsoft Reyer Venezia, a team that went 9-17 and finished 11th in the Italian A1 Division. After a day off, MU will return to action, taking on Pool Comense in its most difficult game of the tour. Comense was the champion of the Italian A1 league with a 24-2 record. The Golden Eagles will conclude the tour with a game on Saturday, May 24 against Energy CA GEAS Sesto San Giovanni. The Golden Eagles final opponent was 11-15 in the Italian A2 Division.
While in Italy, the team will also tour Rome, Venice, Florence, Como and Vatican City. The tour also includes day trips to Milan and Lugano, Switzerland.
The European trip is the second in Mitchell's tenure. She took a squad to Sweden to compete four years ago and the squad benefitted from it's trip.
The 2002-03 Golden Eagles are coming off a successful season, which culminated with a trip to the Women's National Invitation Tournament. Marquette advanced to the second round before losing to Iowa in the game's closing moments.
For updates on Marquette's Italian Tour, visit the MU website at www.gomarquette.com. The website will contain daily athlete diaries, photo galleries and game recaps.
