WPSL Road Trip: Rochester & Mankato Double Header!

The Women’s Professional Soccer League has expanded so rapidly in the area that Minnesota and its border communities now have their own conference. This summer, to celebrate that growth, we’re going to take a road trip to every single home field to do pre and post game interviews, live tweets, and a full game recap.

With the season still weeks away, we’re releasing a framework for each road trip with two key assumptions built in:
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1. Obviously the easy way to get to most of these games will be to drive. It might even be the mode of transportation we end up having to use for several of the games. But the plans we make will be more creative and encourage fans to try new options.
2. I (Matt) happen to live in the Midway neighborhood of St Paul, so we will make the outrageous assumption that everyone else is also starting their trips from that area.

When are we going?
Pick a day using our handy google sheet with all WPSL games for the Minnesota + Fargo squads.
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One thing the WPSL does, like many college leagues, is to schedule in pairs. For example, the Dakota Fusion may play Mankato one day and the Fire the next day because the teams are fairly close together. Because it’s a small conference, and there are so many staggered match-ups, multiple conference games rarely take place on the same day - **EXCEPT** on June 8th. Rochester hosts Dakota Fusion at 2PM. Mankato hosts Fire SC at 7PM. And that means we’re doing a double header road trip! (full disclosure: many of our road trip plans will be hypothetical. But this one seems so fun that we might actually do it…)

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First leg: St Paul to Rochester
For this double header, the travel will have to be by car. St Paul to Rochester to Mankato to St Paul is basically a triangle. Each leg takes about 90 minutes. Here’s how it breaks down.

Leave the Midway neighborhood around 10:15 so we can make it to Med City by noon for lunch at Trip Advisor’s top recommendation: Chester’s, where the “Contemporary vibe is felt through service and food preparation.” We’re nothing if not contemporary. Then it’s off to Mayo High School for the first match. We’ll assume it wraps up at 4PM. Add in some post game interviews and we’re on the road by 4:30PM.

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Second leg: Rochester to Mankato
Taking off at 4:30PM should land us at Mankato’s top Yelp rated happy hour spot, 7West Taphouse, by 6PM for a quick pregame beer. The top review says: “Date night with the hubby and friends. Great atmosphere. It is lively with music but we still could have a conversation with our friends.” Sounds good. We’ll have a chance to converse about match kicking off at 7PM. 

Third leg: Mankato to St Paul
The game should wrap around 9PM. After we post some final thoughts and players interviews, we should be on the road by 9:30 and home around 11PM. Just in time to let these sleepy pups out before going to bed and writing the game stories the next morning. ​

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