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Hello!

Ashle Norling introduces herself as she steps into the managing editor role.

View from the top of the Wonderwall
View from the top of the Wonderwall
Tim C McLaughlin

As of today I have moved into the role of managing editor of E Pluribus Loonum.

I want to give a huge thanks to our first site manager, Nate Siems who brought me in and Eli Hoff who taught me a lot in the past year and a half and helped me grow as a writer.

I have been writing for EPL since prior to the inaugural MLS season in 2017. For most of the past three seasons I have mainly focused my coverage on Local and College soccer in the Upper Midwest, and have officially been the Local Soccer Editor for the last two seasons. In covering Minnesota United FC I have made an annual appearance the past three seasons in the press box at TCF Bank Stadium and Allianz Field, along with covering Pride Month activities by the club in 2018 and updates on the construction of Allianz Field.

I was born and raised in Minnesota and grew up in a small town an hour west of the Twin Cities. The biggest influences for sports were on the gridiron with football and of course, hockey. I did play football in high school and honestly never really had any interest in soccer for most of my life. The first ever soccer match I saw was the 2013 NASL Fall Season opener against the Atlanta Silverbacks at NSC. The following year I took my brother to see Manchester City (his favorite club) play Olympiacos at TCF Bank Stadium. The second match of the night with the Loons hosting Ottawa Fury was what mattered to me. Standing at TCF hearing the Dark Clouds sing and chant in the pouring rain made it known I loved this game and this club.

I have had MNUFC season tickets since the last season in NASL and attended quite a few matches before I got them. Along with MNUFC I also follow 2. Bundesliga side St. Pauli to the same extent as the Loons. During Pride month 2018 I came out to the EPL community as a queer identifying trans-woman. Prior to the start of the 2019 season I relocated from my longtime home of Mankato in my home State of Minnesota to the Illinois side of the Quad Cities area. With that move I do and will continue to hold my season tickets, albeit I will only make 6-9 home matches per season. I also plan on making every United match played in Chicago, Cincinnati, and Kansas City along with the plan of taking a longer road trip at least once per season, which will begin this year with a trip to Atlanta for the US Open Cup Final.

We have a fantastic staff here at E Pluribus Loonum from top to bottom. Our photographers Seth and Tim are some of the best I’ve ever seen and do amazing work at every match. Jacob Schneider will be heading our coverage out of the Twin Cities and taking over reporter duties at home matches, you’ve probably seen him a lot covering MNUFC training in Blaine as well, which he will continue to do. Our Local Soccer reporters Dominic out of Duluth and Tim Abbott out of Fargo/Moorhead have done an amazing job and will continue to work with and help expand our local soccer coverage in the role of Local Soccer Editors.

The last three years of covering Minnesota United, NPSL, WPSL, college soccer, and others have been a delight and I look forward to continuing to cover soccer in the Upper Midwest as managing editor.