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European vacation: Griswold home for holidays after playing soccer in Croatia
GRISWOLD HOME FOR HOLIDAYS AFTER PLAYING SOCCER IN CROATIA
By Greg Gulas
CANFIELD
Canfield native and Cardinal Mooney graduate Katie Griswold is glad to be home for the holiday safter helping her team to a 6-3-1 mark during first half play in the Croatian Women’s First League professional soccer season,
The first-year striker won’t have much time to rest, however, as she intends to travel in order to visit family and friends. She says remaining in shape is paramount for the second half of the season with her team, Dinamo-Maksimir, which resumes play in March.
“We’re currently in fourth place but with a break or two, could easily have been in second place at the break. Having reported to camp on August 6, it’s just a great feeling to be home. There’s still plenty of work that must be done,” Griswold said. “I need to stay in shape because we report back as a team in mid-January for practice where we will get ready for a Cup game in February. We still need a month or so of practices and preparation before the season gets going again.”
The Croatian Women’s First League is comprised of 10 teams, all from Croatia with Dinamo-Maksimir considered to be one of the best organizations over the past two decades.
It was through her trainer, Joe Pavlek, owner of the Canton United Traveling Soccer team, (and whose brother serves as goalie coach for the team) that she was able to secure a tryout.
The former Butler University star, who incurred two knee surgeries during a stellar college career, has nine goals during her first 10 professional outings.
There are two divisions of play in each country and of the 16 players who comprise a roster, a team is permitted two Americans among its pool.
Emily Cancienne of LSU is the other half of Dinamo-Maksimir’s dynamic American duo.
“It has been a dream of mine dating back to when I played at Cardinal Mooney High School to play professionally in Europe. It’s very hard to make a contact abroad so with Joe’s help, everything just came together for me,” Griswold said. “Language has been a challenge at times, but thankfully our head coach, Davor Cvetkovic, speaks English quite well and can relate strategy and anything regarding the area and team to both Emily and me.”
The team with the most points in a season advances to Champions League play the following year.
There are eight different four-team groups from all over Europe that make up the 32-team Champions League. They play each other twice then after six games move on to the next round.
Griswold’s best outing thus far was recording two goals and an assist during a 5-0 win over Agram, a team they lost to earlier in the fall.
“Soccer players move on, try to upgrade all the time and while the Croatian League is a good league, some of the best women’s professional soccer is played in Sweden, Germany, England and France,” Griswold said. “It’s humbling in that Slovenia has already contacted me about playing for them next year.”
Griswold holds two, four-year undergraduate degrees. She earned a chemistry degree from Butler and was simultaneously accorded an engineering degree from IUPUI.
“I am in the process of looking for a job and have been sending applications out with the hopes that something might break for me in February or March. There are very few women in the mechanical engineering field so that is a plus,” she said. “Of the 60 students in my IUPUI graduating class, only three were women.”
The impact that Griswold and Cancienne have made thus far has resulted in a feature article in the November issue of Croatia’s Max magazine, which highlights their play during the first half of the season.
Entitled “Born in the USA” and penned by Damir Mrvec, the article addresses their style of play, how they have adapted to Croatia’s culture and the fact that everyone from coaches to owners are happy with the team’s two newest additions.
“I love seeing new cultures and learning about their history,” Griswold said. “My dream was to travel and it’s absolutely great to see how the people of Croatia pride themselves in how pretty their country really is.
“I am used to the hustle and bustle of home while Croatia is a very laid back country. I absolutely love the environment and it has been a wow; isn’t this just great moment ever since I arrived.”