September 24, 2009

Hey Eagle Fans!
After a couple weekends of very successful home stands, we were back on the road again. This time to play in a tournament hosted by our conference foes University of North Florida. The other two teams ready to compete were Mississippi State University and the Citadel. We left last Thursday around 2:30pm for what seemed like the longest bus ride this season. That could be because it was up until this point, but that’s no conciliation. The trip was cut in half by dinner at Outback Steakhouse, which obviously made it a bit more bearable. Thanks Jim!

Friday: Game Day #1! We woke up early in the morning to go for a jog in office parking lots next to the Hampton Inn. Mario set up our warm up in the parking spots and partially across the road. Everyone was getting well stretched and relieving the lactic acid from the long ride when a FedEx truck came racing around the corner of the building. Headlines for the paper in the morning almost read: FGCU Women’s Soccer Team Injured—Aren’t as fast as FedEx. Since our game was at 2 in the afternoon, we ate an early pregame meal at Jason’s Deli, and as the team finished eating, we watched the coaching staff indulge in the complimentary ice cream. Lucky them! The Citadel was our first opponent on North Florida beach field. Yea, there was hardly any grass to be found, and many of us have sliding scrapes on our knees to prove it. Being a military school, we knew Citadel was going to be fit and ready for a hard fought battle. When the whistle blew it seemed as though we weren’t ready to play at all. Nothing we did worked and passes were rarely strung together. Because of our own incompetence, Citadel scored first, slapping us in the face as to say get going. Within the next 5-7 minutes we rallied back and netted a couple of our own thanks to Jess and Stacey. The final result was 2-1, bringing our win streak to 5.

And on the sixth day, they rest. Yea right! We got up early again Saturday morning already dressed to train, ate the hotel breakfast and left to practice at UNF. The good old circle drill was back, along with line passing, shooting for the forwards and heading for everyone else. We ate lunch at Moe’s and then headed over to the outside shopping mall right near the school. Everyone split up, walking in and out of many of the stores, once in a while bumping into each other. After being in the hot sun, most everybody was looking forward to going to the movie theatre to see Love Happens. It was a very cute chick flick, causing about half the team to cry. Right after, we walked across the strip mall to the ever popular pizza joint, Mellow Mushroom. We drove back to the hotel stuffed full of fantastic pizza. During the evening some people did homework, while others hung out or slept. The coaches called a meeting circa 8:30 to talk about our next opponents from the SEC, Mississippi State.

Sunday: Game Day #2! Our game against MSU was at 11:30 am, so we got up just as early as the mornings before and ate breakfast with the enemy in the hotel lobby. We arrived back at UNF pumped and ready to go. Finally, after a few games, we were playing a team that would legitimately get us ready for our first two conference games. From the start of the game we moved the ball around MSU and recorded shots on goal before they crossed half field. Throughout the first half we dominated in the shot count and frustrated their forwards to the point that they had to come off the field, which, according to Mario, almost never happens. We were playing so well and went into half time with such a high. Unfortunately it didn’t last very long when the second half started. Within the first couple minutes MSU had a free kick about 30-40 yards out. They sent the ball in deep and their forward, who was on the end line, scored the goal of her life. With virtually no angle, she sent the ball high and it bounced off the bottom of the crossbar and hit the inside of the far post. Like I said—goal of her life. Just as in the first half, we dominated possession and shot count. And in the last few minutes we seemed to have tied the game. Kat took a free kick, passing the ball to me. I crossed it into Lindsay, who first timed it far post. Unlike the MSU goal, the ball bounced back into the six yard box and Amber nailed it home. But as everyone was celebrating, they failed to realize the linesmen had raised his flag for off sides. Story of our lives. It was a tough loss to swallow. We worked so hard to win that game and lost it because of a little bit of misfortune.

Oh well. The first half of the season is over and now it’s on to our first pair of conference games this weekend in Georgia. These are the games that really start to matter if we want to do well in the future and continue playing strong teams like MSU. We’re going to play Mercer and Kennesaw State, both of whom are two of the best teams in our conference.

Until next time—Go Eagles!

September 10, 2009

Hey Eagle Soccer Fans!


It’s time to find out, if you haven’t already heard, if a little bit of home cooking was all we needed to score some goals and earn some wins. This last weekend was the Embassy Suites Kick-Off Classic, which included ARMY, Tennessee-Martin, Stetson and FGCU. We were favored to win the tournament—according to me anyway—but why not? It’s our field, our tournament, and our Southwest Florida heat (got to love that sun!).


We arrived to the locker room about two hours before kick-off pumped and ready to go. KC, Lindsay and Kelli set up some intense Powerade/Water games in the T.V. room to hydrate for our home opener. This team bonding tactic almost backfired when girls started trading partners due to the high levels of competitiveness. About an hour before the start time, Jim came in to talk to us. We thought it was going to be our usual pregame speech; however, he told us there was a bit of lightning and the ARMY-Stetson game had been stalled until it was safe to play again. This of course delayed our game and some of the girls became a tad hungry. If you were really quiet, you could hear stomachs rumbling throughout the back room. Jim brought us some energy bars and we were again good to go.


The game may have started late, but hopefully that wasn’t a sign as to what was to come. We definitely did not want to come out flat during our first home game of the season. Right from the whistle we controlled the ball well, passing in and out of the back, working through TM’s low pressure system. Most of the possession belonged to us and we were not looking to give it up. The half ended at 0-0, but with the shots on goal statistic in our favor. Okay, time to finally put one in the back of the net. The second half was much of the same. We held the ball, passed around very well, and increased the shot count. Towards the end of the second half, KC turned to me, telling me there were six minutes left. My smart aleck reply was, “No, twenty six.” I pessimistically added the two ten minute over times in and we had a fun little laugh in the back. But, with one minute left in regulation, the ball rolled out to the top of the box, and after a quick little conversation between Olivia and Kat as to who was going to shoot, Kat sailed the ball into the back of the net! That was it—our first goal and in dramatic fashion.


After being reminded after the game that we earned a shutout, Jim delivered on his clean sheet deal and brought donuts to our Saturday morning practice. Training was very light, just enough to get us moving around. We played a little bit of possession, then juggling skill boxes and used the rest of practice for a much needed stretching session, which also involved some eating as well. The rest of Saturday was ours to spend with family who were in town, shopping, doing homework, or whatever else we wanted to do without expending too much energy.


Tailgaters were set up for Sunday’s game ready to cheer us on to what they hoped would be another victory. The food smelled amazing, teasing us as we walked passed to the locker room. Our pregame in the back room had a couple of the same antics as before the Friday night game. Remember the “heat comment” from the first paragraph? Well, Sunday’s 1:30pm game is definitely where it came into play. We thought it was wicked hot when we stepped onto the field dressed in white, but thankful that we weren’t West Point dressed in all black. It was time to make them chase, and chase they did. Our goal that day, besides winning, was to wear them out giving us ample amounts of opportunities to score. That first goal of the day came from newcomer Dani who scored off a header a few yards out. The half ended 1-0, but we were hungry for more, and it showed. Amber scored within the first two minutes of the second half, knocking the ball in also from a few yards out after a scramble in the box. We controlled much of the possession throughout the second half weakening a strong ARMY side, running them into the ground. The last goal of the match came within the last minute of the game by freshmen forward Jess, juking a couple girls before going one on one with the keeper, thus proving that this year we are out to score goals in the last third of games instead of being scored on.


We took two on the weekend and won the tournament improving our record of 0-2-1 back to .500 at 2-2-1. Again we host a couple of teams this weekend and are looking to be successful in both games. We play Palm Beach Atlantic on Friday night at 7pm and Austin Peay on Sunday morning at 11:30am. Come on out and cheer on your favorite women’s soccer team!


Until next time—Go Eagles!

Local News Articles from News-Press.com

Eagles Top Tennessee-Martin

http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200990905010

Eagle Women Top ARMY

http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009909070332

September 4, 2009

Hey Eagle Soccer Fans!

We’re back, and you know you missed us! Summer is over, classes are back in session, and a new season has begun. We reported to preseason camp August 9th and haven’t stopped since, except for the occasional thunderstorm that rolled through in the evenings, uncharacteristically giving the team a couple nights off. Ironically enough, lightning caused the ending of our only preseason game against Rollins College. The plan was to play 3 thirty minute thirds; however, ten minutes into the last third, lightning flashed across the sky and the ref blew the whistle, calling the game. With that familiar sound, preseason ended and the real work began.

The first week of school also brought the first game of the season against a very good University of Central Florida side on Friday, August 21. During our pregame meal at Olive Garden that afternoon, lightning struck again. Go figure, right? We walked out of the restaurant and stood under the overhang waiting for the bus to come around, counting the seconds between lightning appearances and deafening sounds of thunder. The storm was directly over us, although Gina and KC might have begged to differ. As soon as the bus came around the corner, we filed on and drove the fifteen minutes to school to wait out the storm. Eventually both teams were able to begin warming up in UCF’s field house, every once in a while attempting to walk out onto the field. One time we even got to jog halfway across the field before the sirens signaled another thirty minute wait. After a two hour delay, the game finally began. The first half was pretty even ending 0-0. Even though UCF had the shots on goal advantage, our defending and goalkeeping were stellar. The second half was a battle—I think a sniper was seen in the stands (can’t be sure though). Unfortunately, UCF broke through our brick wall with twenty minutes left in the half and again with about five. Ok, so our first game of the season didn’t go as planned.

Well, neither did the second. Four days later, August 25, we bused down to Coral Gables to play the University of Miami. We started strong, passing the ball well, being more physical than I believe we have in a while. Unluckily, they capitalized on our mistake and Miami was up 1-0 with ten minutes to go in the half. The score changed again eighteen minutes into the second half, when Miami scored again on another header. And seven minutes later they scored again. 3-0 would be the final score. To our credit, we never stopped fighting, just couldn’t find the back of the net.

So you’re probably thinking: Two games on the road, they have to have a home game next, right? Nope. We traveled back to the city of Miami to play Florida International University on August 30. We have played them four times over the past two years and have won each time. We were not about to start losing now. Right from the first whistle we knocked the ball around, creating chances on goal. Opportunity after opportunity just seem to miss by inches. Lindsay, Caytlan, Ashley, Bri, just to name a few, were just a bit unlucky in the box, causing FIU players to sigh in relief. The first half ended, tied at zero, as did the second. And then, overtime came. We were pumped to go and knew we needed a win. Golden goal. The first team to score wins. Well, we didn’t lose. The two ten minute OT halves ended, with the scoreboard still showing goose eggs for both teams. Sorry to get your hopes up.

There is a recurring theme in these games that we would like to change at tonight’s game against Tennessee-Martin. Finally it’s our season opener and our ever popular annual Embassy Suites Kick-Off Classic. Come out! The whistle blows at 7:00pm sharp. Anyway, back to this reoccurring theme—0s in the score column on the box scores. This is no good. I think we are just waiting to get home to give our fans some phenomenal goals to talk about at the water cooler after the long weekend. Yea yea, that’s it! The stage is set: Lady Eagles are looking for not only their first win, but let’s get that first goal too! The TM game is not the only one this weekend. Come out again on Sunday at 1:30pm to watch us play Army to finish opening weekend.

Until next time—Go Eagles!