September 2nd

For the first blog of the new season, there is a lot of ground to cover.

My teammates and I arrived to FGCU at the beginning of August for everyone's favorite time of the year: pre-season! Okay, so I am possibly being a bit facetious. And as long as the three-a-days were, the week and a half before our first game seemed to fly by.

We bused to Florida Atlantic University to play a scrimmage match against the east-coast Owls. Instead of playing a formal game, both coaching staffs decided it would be best for teaching purposes to play four 20-minute quarters. We didn't care how they wanted to label it, we were there to win. And we did. With a shaky start and first-time-on-a-full-field jitters plaguing us a tad, we cranked out a 2-1 victory scoring all three goals of the game. (If we could refrain from scoring on ourselves again this season, we'll be good to go.)

A few more practices and a few more Artichoke meals later, the U17 Mexican National Team came to town on its college tour to prepare for the U17 World Cup. Before we played, both the US National Anthem and the Mexican National Anthem played. This was a legitimate international game--there were vuvuzelas blaring and a die-hard Mexican fan trumpeting and everything. The only things missing were FGCU fans in Eagle apparel to rival the sea of green Mexican jerseys. In front of a little over 1000 fans, we won 4-1.

Finally it was time to start the season! Pre-season was finally over, spirits were up, it was time to play our first regular season game, and we were ready to go. The Barry University Buccaneers arrived by bus, ironically, on Friday August 20th around five o'clock for a seven o'clock kick-off. It's a good thing they got here on time because we were lightning delayed all night.

Yeup…the game got canceled. Anti-climactic right?

Not all was lost, however. Julia, Anna, Lindsey Haw and I invented a little game that night called Hallway Cricket. There are written rules and recorded records posted in the locker room right now. Most of the team participated in the new rain-delay activity, whether it was through batting or fielding. A good time was had by all who played.

Six days later, and almost a full week of school under our belts, Florida International University came to town for our semi-annual meeting. Here was our chance to earn our first win of the season, until…lightning delay! Our kick-off time went from seven o'clock to just past nine. It was a tale of two halves, and then two more halves. We dominated the first forty-five minutes in possession and shots outshooting the Golden Panthers 6-3. In the second half however, the navy and gold posted up five shots compared to our measly one. None of them found the net, and we found ourselves in familiar territory--overtime. I'm not really sure what our OT record is, but I'm pretty sure it's not good, and it's only getting worse. In the final OT half, we put a shot just wide left upper 90. Then came the counter attack from FIU's speedy forward. She scored the golden goal. (Maybe a little pun was intended--golden goal::golden panther? No? Ok fine.)

Only a few days later, we played the perfect team to boost the morale around the locker room. The Delaware State Hornets traveled down for a quick stint to play us and FIU. Five different girls netted six shots to put on a clinic against the Red and Black giving the home fans who stuck around (3 lightning delays) a flurry of goals to cheer for.

At .500 we bused over to Coral Gables to play the U. After beating the Hurricanes 2-0 in the spring, we were looking for a similar result, and they were looking for revenge. In the first half, both teams had a couple solid efforts on goal that either went just wide or were saved by the keepers. At half-time, we talked about continuing to put pressure on the 'Canes in the second half, but that's all we did was talk about it. In the 59th minute, Miami scored, and then they scored twice in the 62nd minute. We had completely fallen apart within a four minute span. Late in the half, we missed a penalty kick and then scored one to make the scoreline appear like we had showed up.

Well, even though it is a dismal start to the season, Jim keeps reminding us that we started even worse last year to finish one point shy of the regular season title.

So at 1-2, here's looking forward to no more losing, better playing and winning conference. Our annual Embassy Suites Kick-Off Classic starts tomorrow. We play Kent State at 7:00 p.m. and Arkansas at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday. Come out to watch!

Until next time--Go Eagles!