Nov. 2, 2009
Warning: This blog might be slightly sentimental.
Last Saturday was my last collegiate soccer match. My last time riding out to the field in the back of Coach Mac’s truck. My last time putting on the lovely black and orange tiger-striped #2 jersey. My last spit circle. My last time slapping Drey’s (Dresden Mattson) stomach during the starting line-up announcements. My last time reciting the NAIA Champions of Character values (…so you the spectator may enjoy!) My last time defying the athletic trainers (sorry Leyna, it was an accident). My last time warming up my fellow goalie. So many things that I will never do again in my life, each one a little thing that I will truly miss.
These past four years have been filled with ups and downs, joys and pains, laughs and tears. I don’t know if I’d want to live through them again, but I can honestly say that I’m glad I lived through them at least once.
Wins, losses, injuries, goals, saves, all things that as time goes on I will probably forget about. But the things I will not forget are the bus rides, the pre-and-post-game meals, the fun practices, the cursed fitness assessments, the Bible studies, the jokes, and the list goes on.
I will miss playing the game I love everyday, but I’m not gonna lie, I’ll love the free time too! I’ll miss seeing my teammates all the time, but I’m sure I’ll still see them every once in a while. I’ll miss 120’s…wait….no I won’t!
All this to say that being a part of this team for the past four years has been a major part of my life and an experience that I will forever cherish.
Our season is officially over since we lost on Saturday to Mt. Vernon. It was a hard fought game and I think we left it all out on the field. For the five seniors, it was our last game in a Cedarville jersey, and I think all of us are ready to move on and let the next group of players step up into leadership roles.
We hope we’ve left a legacy for those behind us to follow, and that they’ll remember our senior class as a good one. This team has so much talent returning and will undoubtedly get new players that will help them be even more successful next season. I’m sure I’ll be back to cheer them on and to heckle "Cheats" (Alysia Bennett) from the stands. Once a part of the Cedarville University Women’s Soccer team, always a part of the Cedarville University Women’s Soccer team!!
Thank you to everyone who came out to our games, who supported us, and who invested their time in us. We’re truly thankful for our fans, coaches, athletic trainers, and everyone else who helped make sure our team functioned like it was supposed to.
I don’t know if I have a say in who takes over this esteemed blog, but I would highly recommend "Spri" (Megan Spring). She’s got quite the literary skill and would do this blog proud next season! It has been a pleasure to share the inside scoop with you this season, hopefully you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing it! Goodbye my faithful readers, and may the road rise up to meet you!
Oct. 26, 2009
It seems like every year, one way or another, our team is bound and determined to play in a game that can only be described as a mud bowl. A game where there is only the faintest signs of grass and solidarity, the field shapes to your every step, and the ball doesn’t bounce as much as it splats when it hits the ground. This was the situation we found ourselves in for our final regular season away game at Ursuline College on Saturday.
The day was dreary and cold and our hearts were heavy with the absence of our defensive leader, Lacie "Lace-Face" Condon. Thankfully, Jill "I’m a little bit country" Davis and "Big Bad" Courtney Brown stepped up for us and helped keep our defense solid.
Speaking of defense, "Cheats" (Alysia Bennett) had a very fun day in the muck and mire. As goalies, we’re used to having our home on the field be a little ripped up. Most of the time, if there is going to be a spot on the field that is torn up/muddy, it’s the area right in front of the goal. Well, this field was no exception, and Cheats got very very, dare I say it again, very muddy. It was fun for me to warm her up and see the agony in her eyes each time she slid through a puddle or got mud splattered on her face.
But back to the game, the field was the great equalizer, as balls didn’t go where they were supposed to and people had a hard time getting and keeping their footing. Everyone got muddy, even those of us who just walked across the field to get to the bench. To make things even better, it started to rain about halfway through the first half! At about the time it started raining, Ursuline snuck their very speedy forward behind our defense, which led to a breakaway. Cheats almost made an amazing save, but alas, the ball found the back of the net and put the other team up 1-0.
At halftime people huddled together for warmth, and Coach gave us a rousing speech on how this game was a test to see if we could come from behind and get a win. Inspired, the girls retook the field and vowed to get the goal back. We had lots of great chances but just didn’t seem to be able to get one in.
Finally, with 11 minutes left, a penalty was called on Ursuline, and a free kick was set up about 30 yards out. Erin "Land" Landers stepped up to the ball, and I said to myself, "Self, Landers has a wicked free kick and being a senior leader, I bet you she’s going to step up, shoot a money ball, and put one in the net." Well folks, I should advise people in which stocks to invest (General Motors…trust me) because she did just that. The game went to overtime tied 1-1, and despite several close calls we ended in a tie.
It was a very physically demanding game due to the crazy field conditions and the added time. Those who had played trudged off to the showers, where an extra long time was taken to get the layers and layers of caked-on mud off their bodies.
We ended the day with an extra special treat. Once again, Land stepped up and provided some leadership, this time though in the area of post-game food choice. She convinced Coach Mac to let us eat at the greatest of all fast food restaurants, Chick-fil-A! Yes, your eyes did not deceive you, that night we all dined on the world famous chicken sandwiches and waffles fries, and some of us even splurged on cookies and cream milkshakes. It was a great end to a long day!
This week we have two more big conference games, one Tuesday against Walsh, and one Saturday against Mount Vernon Nazarene. These games are huge as we make a playoff push, and two wins could help us lock up a first round playoff game at home!
Oct. 19, 2009
It was a short week for the majority of Cedarville University, but no rest for the weary as far as the sports teams are concerned. Both our team and the men’s team traveled to Pittsburgh, Pa. to play Point Park.
Since we were sharing a bus, space was limited, meaning only the healthy got to go. Seeing as I had a concussion - my fifth one! - I was among the injured and therefore not on the bus.
Thankfully, I hired an apprentice blogger who helped me give a full account of this week. The following is a mostly-first hand account of the weekend provided by the one, the only, "Cheats" (Alysia Bennett)!
Cheats: The whole team had Thursday off and the people traveling on Saturday had to report to practice on Friday at 6:00 p.m. Since we were playing on turf once again (fourth game in a row) Coach Mac had us practice in the field house just to get a feel for the speed of the ball.
Indoor practices are always a little less enjoyable for goalies because we don’t usually get to do much. The gym floor doesn’t feel so hot when we have to dive on it, so to avoid injury, most of the time we just end up kicking the ball back and forth. To spice things up a little though, the goalies did lots of abs workouts this time (which is good since we’re trying to beef Cheats up).
After practice the team went out to celebrate the day of birth of two beloved seniors, Torrie Pepper (she took a break from modeling to join us) and Lacie "Lace-Face" Condon. We went to Olive Garden, a women’s soccer team favorite, and got a good carb-load for the game on Saturday.
We all got on the bus at roughly 9:30 on Saturday morning and started the long four-hour drive to Pittsburgh. The boys decided to serenade us with songs, some of which included "Lean on Me" and "A Whole New World." They came prepared by printing off several pages of lyrics…gotta give them props for their preparation.
We ate some Subway (club sandwich with mayo) and watched the always inspirational "Remember the Titans" (Strong side! Left side!).
Like I said, the field we played on was turf again and it was a pretty cold and somewhat rainy day. My hands were pretty numb because of the combo of wet gloves and below freezing temperatures. However, I overcame those obstacles and we pulled out a 2-1 win over Point Park.
"Hawaii" (Jaimie Watkins) scored our first goal on a really sweet upper 90 shot. The next goal was by "Land" (Erin Landers) and her goal was all about the placement. She tucked the ball right into the lower corner of the net, and I can say from experience those are always some of the toughest to stop. Overall, it wasn’t the greatest performance, but it was our team’s first win on turf and it was Coach Mac’s 100th win as the women’s head coach!
After our game I went out to eat with my parents (shout out to Rosy and Gary Bennett!) at Max & Erma’s while the rest of the team ate pizza and watched the men’s game. My parents decided to make the long trek from Indiana to Pittsburgh and made a weekend trip out of it. They stayed in a "fancy" hotel as evidenced by the jewelry store inside it! They truly are "super-fans" since they have traveled to most of our away games.
The men’s game finished and we all got back on the bus and started the long drive home. We watched "Hook" and once again the boys sang to us. They tried to convince us to sing with them, some of the other freshmen caved and joined them but most of us stood our ground and refused. We made it home safe and sound and our ears even survived the boys singing! The End.
A special thanks to Cheats for her recollections of the weekend, I had the utmost faith in her ability since goalies are always good at everything they do! Lucky for us we get to travel back to Pittsburgh on Tuesday, this time no men’s team though (sad day). We’ll be playing Carlow and looking to get back into a groove and back on a winning streak!
Oct. 12, 2009
One of our team pillars is to leave a lasting legacy. This could be leaving a legacy to younger people on our team or to people we will come in contact with when we are members of the Cedarville women’s soccer team or a number of other things.
One way we as a team are leaving a legacy is through our support of two girls in the Dominican Republic. Through Compassion International, our team has sponsored Kimberly and Cherlie for the past three years. The amazing Torrie Pepper (still America’s Next Top Model) came up with the idea our sophomore year, and the team has been supporting them ever since.
We send in around $30 a month and this helps provide for education, food, and any other physical needs the girls might have. We also get the chance to write letters back and forth with them and we get little updates every few months on their lives. Kimberly, who is 14, writes the letters herself, but Cherlie is only 5 or 6, and her mother writes to us.
The really sweet thing about this is that some of us on the team got the chance to meet these two girls when our team went to the DR two summers ago. We got to see where they went to school and even visit with their families in their homes. I know we really loved seeing just what our dollars and prayers were going to, and I’m sure the girls loved seeing us.
I’ll admit, Cherlie was a little scared of us, but she was only 4 at the time and there were about 30 big, white girls trying to get close to her, so it’s understandable. Kimberly was a little shy at first but "Spri" (Megan Spring), our resident Spanish speaker, talked to her for a while and she opened up a little more. They seemed like special girls, who hopefully through our support, can grow up to have great lives full of serving the Lord.
It’s crazy to think that next year I personally will not be giving money to support these girls, but that this is something we can pass along to the people behind us to continue. Kimberly and Cherlie will know that the Cedarville women’s soccer team loves and prays for them, even after the people who started supporting them are long gone. This is just one of the ways we try to leave a legacy, and I think it is something really special that we as a team get to do.
On a more athletic note, we did have two games this past weekend. We had a close match with Roberts Wesleyan that ended in a 1-1 tie and a hard fought 1-0 loss to Houghton.
Due to the torrential downpours that the Miami Valley received last week, our games were moved to the turf wonderland, also known as the Athletes in Action Complex in Xenia. Normally, turf is hard to adjust to because it is a lot faster than grass and balls usually run a lot farther. This can throw off passes and through balls, especially if you do not play on it often. However, I think we did a fairly good job of adjusting to the surface and Coach’s tweaks to warm-ups helped us get a feel for the turf.
These games on the turf will probably help us as we travel up to Ohio Dominican Tuesday where, wouldn’t you know it, their field is turf! Keep praying for our injuries as some people are thankfully on the mend, while others are still not feeling so hot.
Oct. 5, 2009
Well, this week was full of ups and downs - with a big win and a heart-wrenching loss. Things started off well with our trip up to Malone to face off with an unbeaten opponent.
It was a cold and misty day in northern Ohio, and an especially bumpy field. When I warm up "Cheats" (Alysia Bennett) and I usually start off with low shots right at her just to get the feel of the goal box. Well, this time I shot an especially powerful ball at her that was on the ground, until it hit a bump in the field. It flew up and hit her right in the face! I laughed, she looked shocked, and the warm-up resumed.
The game started off with a bang, for the other team that is. We knew Malone was going to be a good test since they were undefeated in the conference just like us. They took the ball right down the field and got off a good shot right away. It was a good wake-up call for our team, and we got down to business the rest of the game.
We turned up the pressure and took the ball down to their end and got off a few shots. We finally got on the board with a nice cross from "Kelso" (Kelsey Watkins) to "Hawaii" (Jaimie Watkins). I like to call it the Watkins and Watkins connection. It looked like Malone’s keeper was going to get it but the ball squeaked out of her hands and right to Hawaii who drilled it into the back of the net.
The next goal was also a Watkins to Watkins connection. This time though, Hawaii sent the ball up to Kelso. She settled it, turned, blew by the defender, and sent a nice shot past the sprawling keeper. Once again the defense played solid and helped preserve the 2-0 win. Cheats made some good saves and we got our fourth shutout in a row!
The week continued on a high as we came to Homecoming Weekend. We were playing Notre Dame (Ohio) on a bright and sunny Saturday afternoon. We started the game strong and seemed to be controlling things. Kelso once again scored the first goal and the assist came from an unlikely source. It was a somewhat windy day and Cheats got off a great punt that the wind caught. It flew through the air and landed across the half-line. It bounced over the Notre Dame defender and right to Kelso who took a touch and put the ball in the net.
The rest of the game was a battle and it looked like we were going to hang on for the huge win. However, Notre Dame had other plans, as they scored late in the second half to tie things up, 1-1. The game went to overtime and once again we had lots of good chances to score. The second overtime session was back and forth also. Finally, with about a minute remaining in overtime, Notre Dame got one in the net.
It was a hard loss to swallow, as we all felt that we had played hard enough to win the game. We got some tough breaks, but the fact is we couldn’t get more in the net than them. We’ll build off this loss and learn that we are capable of playing hard in the face of opposition.
Pray for our team as we’re somewhat banged up right now with some people with big injuries, and lots of people with little nagging things. We’ve got a big week before us - with two huge games this weekend against Roberts Wesleyan and Houghton - so we need everyone in tip-top shape!
Sept. 28, 2009
Once again we just had one game this week, but to spice things up, it involved a bus trip with the guys team. Last year, we had to travel with them to New York and needless to say our taste in movies differed greatly.
We wanted to watch "Beauty and the Beast," a sensible, family-friendly movie! I mean who doesn’t love when Belle declares her love for the Beast as he’s dying?! Well, the boys tried to put up a front and complained, but we looked back to where they were sitting as the movie progressed, and they were riveted.
Anyway, the trip went well with both teams getting victories; the guys’ was especially exciting since it was Coach Belleman’s 100th win!
Our game was scheduled for 2:00 p.m., so we stopped at Subway and picked up some sandwiches (Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki sub!!) for our lunch. We arrived at Shawnee State about two hours before our game since we always have lots of things to do before we are ready to take the field.
First off, we have to scour the opposing team’s campus for our locker room. Some are definitely nicer than others, and sometimes we get stuck in their guy’s locker room, which can make for some interesting experiences (e-mail me for specific occurrences).
Once we’ve found the locker room, we can change into our uniforms. A lot of people take this time to listen to their iPods to get psyched up for the game. The other half of our team has to go to the training room and get their ankles taped or legs heated or shoulders shocked.
Once everyone is treated and dressed, Coach Mac comes in, gives us a rundown of what we need to do to win and gives us the starting line-up. As he likes to say, he doesn’t give motivational speeches, just tells us the facts! We pray when he’s done and then break out into the time-honored tradition of the "Red Hot" cheer.
Kelly Wise leads us as we bang on lockers and shout about how red hot our team is; it gets us pumped up! After that we walk or ride the bus out to the field, do our warm-up, and try our hardest to win!
This game against Shawnee State was one of those times, as we won 4-0! It was a hot and humid day but thanks to all our fitness work, and our depth on the bench, we were able to play hard the whole game.
Rachel Brown got us on the board with a nice high shot over the keeper about halfway through the first half. Shawnee’s goalie is very good, so the fact that we were able to get four goals in on her shows just how much pressure we put on them. We went into halftime with a 1-0 lead, even though we had a lot of scoring chances.
In the second half "Land" (Erin Landers) got her second goal of the year on an almost perfect shot. There were lots of good passes through the midfield and the ball got played out to "Kelso" (Kelsey Watkins). She could have had a shot, but instead she played a perfect ball to Land in the middle who put the ball away with a low shot to the corner.
The next goal was a rocket by Becky Burton. As a goalie, I’ve had to face her shot day after day in practice and let me say her shot is hard…and sometimes painful. So, "Cheats" (Alysia Bennett) and I feel the other goalie’s pain on that goal. Becky just ripped the shot from about 30 yards and it went right under the crossbar; it was an amazing shot! The last goal was by "Drey" (Dresden Matson) with only a few minutes left; so it was a nice "cherry on top" to finish the game.
Cheats got her fourth shutout and even though the stats say she just had one save, she made lots of other good plays. There were a few crosses she dove out to get and some other balls she ran out to clear away. She was probably showing off for her mom who made the long trip to see her!
We have a big game against Malone on Tuesday, so pray that we’ll have a good day of practice Monday and that we’ll come out hard for the game. They are 4-1 and undefeated in AMC play, just like us, so it should be a good battle!
Sept. 21, 2009
We had a whole week of practice between our game at Campbellsville and our game this weekend against Daemen - which meant a week of hard work. Coach Mac kept us running and we worked to keep the intensity up. We got a little breather on Wednesday with a day off but went back to work Thursday and Friday. All our hard work and momentum from the last game paid off as we won our match against Daemen, 2-0.
Things seemed to start with a bang as "Kelso"(Kelsey Watkins) scored just seven minutes into the game. Since she has lightning speed (she is on the track team) and she blew by the Daemen defense, cut the ball into the middle, then cut it back out wide, and finished with a sweet shot over the keeper who was coming out.
This goal set the tone of the game for us and we kept the pressure on for most of the rest of the game. Kelso almost had a few other goals in the first half, but we went into halftime with a 1-0 lead.
Once again our defense was solid. Lacie Condon, Torrie Pepper (America’s Next Top Model), Bethany Wailes, and "Spri" (Megan Spring) did a great job keeping the ball in Daemen’s half of the field and made sure "Cheats" (Alysia Bennett) only had to make one save.
The shots kept coming in the second half and finally we got another one in the back of the net to make the lead a little more comfortable. Kelso had a shot that the keeper couldn’t handle and the rebound went right to "Hawaii" (Jaimie Watkins) who was crashing the net. She pounded it in and we went up 2-0. The rest of the game was a little back and forth with Daemen getting a little bit of desperation pressure, but we kept them off the scoreboard and secured the win.
Things seem to be clicking right now, probably from Coach Mac and Krista (Asst. Coach Krista Mattern) drilling it into our heads at practice these past two weeks! Amanda Bunton and Alison Scharold played really well in the middle, which was especially important since Sarah Brownfield is down with an injury. They stepped it up and helped our midfielders control the game. They had a really big job to do since everything in our system flows through the mid and if they are off, we’re all off.
Our next game is Tuesday at Shawnee State in Portsmouth, Ohio. Please pray for us as we have to share the bus with the guys team and if it is anything like last year, it should be an exciting trip!
Sept. 14, 2009
A weekend trip to Kentucky was just what the doctor ordered for our team! We started off our week losing to Indiana Wesleyan and after losing two other heartbreakers, we needed something to put a little bounce in our step.
We all slept-walked onto the bus at 6:45 a.m. on Saturday and began the roughly 4-hour long bus ride to Campbellsville, Kentucky. Most people (including myself) went back to sleep once Coach Mac prayed and we were on the road. Others (Torrie Pepper) were studious and did some homework.
Sleeping on the bus is an art form and one that after four years of practice I think I have perfected. There are roughly four ways to sleep on a bus, and it all depends on your height.
The first, and most ideal, being you put your pillow near the window and stretch out your legs across the aisle to rest on the seat across from you. This can be tricky since most seats are occupied so you need to find someone nice enough to let you put your feet on their seat.
The second is putting your pillow at near the aisle, leaning up against the armrest, and having your feet up against the window. This is tough if you’re over 5’4" because the seats are kind of short.
Thirdly, you can wedge yourself between the seats and lay on the floor. This is great for the most part because there is lots of space, but sometimes there are also metal bars on the floor, which cause slight discomfort.
Lastly, and the way I tend to sleep, is just reclining your seat and leaning up against the window. Sure, this leaves you exposed to pictures of you with your mouth hanging open being taken, but it’s worth the risk.
At about 9:30 a.m. we stopped in Lexington and ate at Denny’s. I ordered the Grand Slam and it was delicious (eggs over medium, white toast, sausage links, and fruit)! This was a nice treat since we usually just stop at fast food restaurants, but since this meal had to act as our breakfast and lunch - we splurged a little.
After eating, we piled onto the bus once more, watched the classic movie ‘The Sandlot’ (You’re killing me Smalls!) and arrived in Campbellsville at roughly noon.
The game started at 2:00 p.m. and for the first time in a long time, we started off the game firing. We tend to be somewhat slow starters, but we knew that if we wanted to win we’d need to come out hard. Rachel Brown and "Kelso" (Kelsey Watkins) had lots of great runs and a few scoring opportunities but once again we couldn’t seem to get one in the net.
However, about 20 minutes into the first half, "Hawaii" (Jaimie Watkins) sent an awesome corner kick into the box and Jill Carroll headed it in. That was just what we needed to get the scoring started and we ended up winning 4-0. "Hawaii" had another sweet assist on a cross to "Kelso", Rachel Brownfield scored on a beautiful upper 90 shot (the top corner of the goal), and one of our wonderful captains, Lindsay Raybuck, scored on a breakaway in the second half.
The defense was solid and "Cheats" (Alysia Bennett) had some amazing saves (probably because I was the one who warmed her up) and earned the shutout.
After the game, our amazing trainer Leyna (Hebert) had ordered us pizza so we could get on the road quickly and get home before it was too late. We all rode home in high spirits, especially when we found out that Michigan had completed an amazing comeback against Notre Dame! GO BLUE!!!
Our next game is not until Saturday so we’re looking forward to a good week of practice and hopefully we can continue to build upon our victory! Come out and see us this weekend as we take on Daemen in our first AMC match of the season.
Sept. 7, 2009
Our team is full of people with the same first name or the same last name so we like to come up with nicknames. So, if you come to one of our games you might hear some crazy names being yelled. Never fear though, I will fill you in on the various nicknames people have and some of the funny stories behind them.
A major source of these nicknames is everyone’s favorite twins, Sarah and Rachel Brownfield. They have a habit of cheering whatever comes to their mind and this can result in some hilarious nicknames.
They gave Erin Landers her nickname, Land, by just forgetting to say the second half of her last name. They also like to add –ster to people’s names; for instance, Tor-ster for Torrie Pepper, Bri-ster for me, and the craziest one, Hawaii-ster for Jaimie Watkins.
We had to draw the line at Hawaii-ster because a) Hawaii is already Jaimie’s nickname so you can’t nickname a nickname and b) it doesn’t make one lick of sense! The Brownfield’s also started the craze of calling Arianna Pepper R, or "Ar" I guess you could say. They’re just good with nicknames!
Some other nicknames are Kelso for Kelsey Watkins and this comes from a TV show character. Also, there is Drey for Dresden Matson and Spree, like the candy, for Megan Spring. These two are pretty self-explanatory since they are just variations of their names.
One of my personal favorites is Schar, and it’s pronounced just like Cher, for Alison Scharold. It has nothing to do with the singer Cher, but that’s what I always think of when we cheer it, and I get this crazy mental image of Alison as Cher…ah sorry I’m digressing. Then there is Lace-face for Lacie Condon, inspired by the amazing Saturday morning cartoon Brace Face! B-Wailes or just B for Bethany Wailes and Brownie can apply to any of the four people on our team who have "Brown" in their last name.
Also, Alysia Bennett is now called Cheats. She told us her family used to call her that because she cheated in card games as a child and she likes to cheat in some of the drills we goalies do, so it still applies to her life! A major reason though was because Kevin Roper (our goalie coach) couldn’t pronounce her name properly so she needed a nickname.
I’m sure by the end of the season we will have developed more nicknames for our freshmen, so I’ll be sure to keep you posted. I’m trying to get the name Beast to stick for Amanda Bunton because she is a beast on the field. So, if you come to games, be sure to cheer that and help a sister out!
Aug. 31, 2009
It’s hard to believe my fourth and final year as a member of the CU women’s soccer team has begun, but it has arrived! In fact, we’ve already had two games, but I’ll give you a quick recap of our season so far, before I talk about the games.
It all started on August 2nd with our first official team meeting. This is always one of my favorite parts of pre-season because I get to see my friends I haven’t seen all summer and it is our first time to be together as a team. At the meeting Coach Mac went over the schedule for the two weeks of pre-season and we played some "ice-breaker" games so the freshmen didn’t feel completely awkward throughout pre-season.
The next two weeks were filled with two-a-days, fitness assessments (my favorite part), and hours spent together getting to know our teammates. We got to see the freshmen’s personalities (some of them are crazy, you know who you are) and it was cool to see the dynamic our team was going to take on.
We’re normally a pretty rowdy bunch, and I’m glad to report that that is not going to change this year! Everyday we had Bible study and we went over the character values our team wants to embody and looked for biblical support for them. We also had three scrimmages, all of which we won, and they were a good chance to see how people played in game-like situations, and to see how our new system would work against an opposing team.
Pre-season ended and classes began. It was weird not seeing my teammates all day everyday, but we still had practice Monday through Friday so we got to see each other for at least two hours a day. It was funny listening to the freshmen talk about their experiences with roommates, classes, and all of the mandatory meetings they had to go to.
Our first regular game came last weekend in the Cedarville Classic and we had a good week of practice leading up to it. The game was supposed to start at 7:00…well, after a few hours of being delayed by thunderstorms, we were finally able to start the match at 9:30! It was a well-fought game by both sides, and we ended up on top 1-0 over Taylor University.
Kelso (Kelsey Watkins) had a sweet goal and we almost had a few more thanks to great runs by our forwards and midfielders. The defense was solid, and the goalkeeping by Cheats (Alysia Bennett) was particularly good if I do say so myself! This blog might be biased towards goalies a little, just a disclaimer.
The next day was a tougher test with Marian University, and even though we played hard and had some good scoring chances, we just couldn’t get one in the back of the net. It was a tough 1-0 loss, but I’m proud of how we played and I think it showed our team that we’ve come a long way since my freshman year.
We did get to see how well our new system could work when we play within it. It is really hard because the temptation is there to just look for the open player, but it is critical to play to feet and to look to the players who are supposed to distribute the ball.
This upcoming week we have a home match Tuesday against Wilmington and it should be another exciting game so come on out. Cheer loud and proud and we’ll do our best to bring home a victory and give God the glory!
Brianne Barnes, a senior goalkeeper from Fenton, Mich., is a four-year member of the Lady Jacket soccer program. She is a Dean’s Honor List as an electronic media major, who was earned recognition as an NAIA and NCCAA Scholar-Athlete.
