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SEATTLE – Left to her own devices, Meredith Teague prefers to have a plan.

But last summer, she gave in to a spurt of spontaneity.

The end result for the former Seattle Pacific star: a year-long soccer adventure in Germany – where she practiced in the snow, learned that pre-game meals of hot dogs and cakes were considered normal, and didn't let a language barrier block her from having the time of her life.

“I (normally) like to know what I'm going into,” the 23-year-old Teague said. “But I was thinking, 'Why not? At this moment, what do I have to lose?'

“I didn't want to look back and go, 'Why didn't I ever try that?' “

Teague, a native of Redmond just to the east of Seattle who capped her stellar Falcons career with an NCAA Division II championship in 2008, is back home now, figuring out how best to put her visual communications degree to work.

And while part of her will miss not playing soccer competitively for the first time in a very long while, Teague steps away with the satisfaction of knowing that, for one season at least, she played it at the professional level with FC Saarbrucken in the top-flight Women's German Bundesliga.

“You have some teams who have German national team players, and you have other teams with international players and national teams players. You come up against those people a lot,” Teague said. “So I think it was pretty good competition.”

Pretty stiff competition, too. Saarbrucken, whose home city of the same name is located in southwestern Germany near the border with France (about 1½ hours from Paris by train), played in the Bundesliga this past season after being promoted from the second division. Playing home-and-home against the other 11 teams, Saarbrucken went 5-13-4, good for 19 points and ninth place – high enough to remain in the Bundesliga for next season.

“This was their first year of staying in the first division. That was kind of the goal, so it was a really big deal,” Teague said. “We had a goal to get 20 points by the end of the season, and we had 19, so we came really close.”

THOUGHT SHE WAS DONE, BUT THEN …
After an accolade-stuffed career at SPU, which included All-American and national Player of the Year honors as a senior in 2008, Teague seemed ready to pack away her competitive soccer career.

So, for several months after the Falcons claimed the crown with a dramatic double-overtime victory against West Florida, Teague continued with some training activities, but did not play competitively.

Around graduation time in 2009, she was in touch with former SPU player Carolyn Nason, who also was playing in Germany. Those conversations piqued Teague's interest.

“I didn't quite want to get a job yet, and I wanted to travel,” Teague said. “So I figured (playing) would be a good way to do that.”

She started e-mailing coaches, and Falcons head coach Chuck Sekyra also sent out some e-mails on Teague's behalf. Before long, she had tryouts set up in Saarbrucken and Berlin.

That's when Teague, with her penchant for planning, let that spontaneity spring into action.

“I didn't know anything about the team. I was just jumping in with cold feet,” Teague said. “I just packed my bag and booked a trip for two weeks. I wasn't sure if I was coming back.

“If things didn't work out, I'd fly home, and it would just be a trip to Europe.”

Just the opposite happened: things worked out great. In fact, her tryout at Saarbrucken went so well that she was asked to stay, decided to do so, and canceled her tryout in Berlin.

“I just had a backpack. So I had my parents send over the stuff I needed,” Teague said with a laugh.

As one might expect, communication was one of the biggest challenges for Teague, who does not speak German. But the team had two other American players, and she wound up living with them. The rest of the time, her German teammates were more than happy to help.

“For me, the first few months were a little shaky,” she acknowledged. “I was trying to get used to hearing a different language on the field. You're hearing that, and at the same time, you're thinking, 'Where do I need to be? What's my position?'

“Your head is kind of spinning.”

OF SNOWY PRACTICES – AND HOT DOGS
The season is a typical European one, stretching from August to May, with a break for Christmas, during which Teague was able to come home.

Not typical was the kind of weather Saarbrucken had last winter, with much more snow than usual. It was enough to postpone some games – but not postpone practice.

“The snow was like this deep,” Teague said, with her hand several inches above the table at which she was seated. “Sometimes, we would switch to an orange ball. But you were literally treading snow.”

As the season progressed, Teague, who played mostly midfield and some defender, moved up from reserve to occasional starter, then regular starter. She didn't score, but did help set up a couple goals.

“The second half of the season is probably where I felt most comfortable” Teague said. “When I went back from (holiday) break, I had friends, and I knew what kind of life I had there. The first half of the season, I was still trying to solve all of that.”

Road trips gave her a chance to see a good part of Germany – and experience a different kind of pre-game meal.

“The bus rides were really funny. You'd get on and they have a whole bag of hot dogs and they'd have tons of cakes – and people would be eating this before the game,” Teague said, adding with a laugh, “I was thinking I might need to be rolled down the field.”

When the season ended, former SPU teammate Kara Hamby joined Teague, and the two of them went around Europe for six weeks, visiting Switzerland, Italy, France, Spain and Portugal.

“We traveled by train, bus, plane – whatever was cheapest,” Teague said.

She had the opportunity to return to FC Saarbrucken. But Teague was ready to move on, though she certainly isn't closing any soccer doors.

“I felt like I got what I could out of the experience (in Germany). “I know I'll always play soccer – it will always be inside of me,” she added. “(But) I was kind of ready to start things here. I'm enjoying catching up with family and friends, I'm in no rush to jump into something.”

Someday, that might even include jumping back into competitive soccer – whether it's part of a plan …

… or a spurt of spontaneity.