Yellowjacket Blog - Sara Gress,
Women's Soccer
Sept. 30, 2007
This last week we were on the road again, to Seattle and Idaho.
Traveling two weeks in a row is basically death when it comes to
keeping up with classes and sleeping. So by today, I am officially
exhausted. But it’s ok, because we had a fairly successful road
trip.
After a few days of practice and going to class, we flew out on
Wednesday evening to go to Seattle . We got there safely despite
the skull rattling turbulence and stayed at a hotel right across the
street. Which was nice because then we didn’t have to deal with
riding the shuttle to the rental car lot and having people ask us if
we’re a chess team. The beds were sufficiently comfortable so that
was all right, too.
The next day we had a late morning practice on Seattle Pacific’s
nice, flat, and green artificial turf field. It wasn’t all that
strenuous, but when we went to the grocery store afterwards, one
would’ve thought that we had just burned every last calorie in our
bodies. I play soccer solely because it allows me to eat whatever I
want, whenever I want. Well, I guess there are some other reasons,
but that’s at the top of the list. And as for the rest of the day
before the game, we just hung around the hotel, being extremely
lazy. Some of us were productive and did homework; I was not one of
those responsible people.
The rest of us slept and or watched the replay of the slaughter
that was the USA vs. Brazil semi final game of the Women’s World
Cup. It’s comforting to know that the best players make mistakes,
too.
It rained the majority of our Seattle Pacific game, which I guess is
to be expected. After a pump up, umm…speech from Don at practice
earlier that day, we came out and played with lots of energy and
intensity. It was mostly a defensive game for us, and we did a good
job keeping SPU out of the back of the net, minus one goal. And
even though we were on the defensive most of the game, we played
well and put the pressure on them at the end of the game. Losing is
disappointing…well, actually
it’s more than disappointing, it sucks, but that loss was one that
was halfway bearable. We’ll get them at home.
We flew to Boise early the next morning. We had lunch at my house,
which was great. My mom is a grand cook and that’s one thing I
really miss about being home. I don’t really miss my family or
anything, just the good food. Yup. We were all really tired from
the long night and early morning so we mostly just ate and stared at
each other. Sami, however, was nice enough to pull a prank on her
older sister, Brittney. Earthworms were involved, and that’s all
I’m going to say about that.
Later that day we practiced out at NNU’s field. It was good to get
the legs moving after sitting on a plane so we didn’t all feel like
old ladies the next day. Sometimes I want to invest in a wheelchair
because walking after games like SPU can be too much effort.
On Saturday morning I had a good start; two of my friends came to
visit me while I ate breakfast at the hotel. Playing in my home
state was good, although it was sort of weird being in a hotel
fifteen minutes from my house. Anyway, our game against NNU went
well. We won. So, I mean, I guess it went ok. Winning isn’t
everything…well, never mind, yeah it is. We were leading 1-0 at
halftime and the game ended up with a 3-1 score. We played our game
and things went well for us. The trip
home was much more enjoyable than last week’s. We got home late
Saturday night and had today off to catch up on all of our
procrastinated homework.
Rocky and Seattle University this week…excitement! Home games,
finally!
Sept. 23, 2007
After pretending to do my homework, eating meatloaf, and beating
my roommates in a board game (which can be wilder than any party
I’ve been to…not that I go to parties), I guess it’s about time for
me to reflect on the last week. First off, my body had a rough
week. I fell off my bike (on campus, in front of lots of people,
embarrassing), resulting in road rash on my ankle and shin, my big
toenail is falling off, I got a black eye during our Western
Washington game, and I sprained my ankle during our Central
Washington game. So basically, I feel like a big train wreck. But
misery loves company, so I’m happy to say that quite a few others on
the team feel the same. If you don’t want arthritis at age 30,
don’t play college soccer.
Anyway, the week started off with practices, which went well. They
almost always do. We flew out on Wednesday night to Seattle for a
two game road trip. When we got to Seattle we had to drive two
hours to Bellingham . Our game was on Thursday at 7 pm so the next
day we had quite a bit of time to waste. We got a practice in, ate,
watched movies, ate some more, and a few of us went to a Starbucks
where locals eavesdrop on conversations. I would have never thought
that people
would actually want to listen to college girls and their coach blab
about gymnastics and running, which we know basically nothing about,
but I guess some people are easily entertained.
That night our game at Western Washington was probably one of the
most intense games I have ever played in. It felt as if every
moment was life or death. We were up 2-0 at halftime. We played
well in the second half, but for some reason decided it would be a
good idea to give up a goal, hold them off for a while, and then
give up another in the last 49 seconds. We played out two overtimes
and ended the game with a tie. It was very frustrating to be that
close to an important win and have it slip away. Next time, WWU,
next time…
The next day we went to downtown Seattle for a while. Being used to
the hustle bustle that is not Billings , it was slightly
overwhelming to be around that many people. We almost got involved
in a bum fight, which was the highlight of the day. Dani Ritter ran
and ducked behind a car like a raging shootout was going to explode
any second. Everyone gave her crap for that one. Also, I’m pretty
sure someone else witnessed a drug deal.
After the team was exposed to the real world, we headed to Federal
Way to eat lunch at Mandy Ploskonka’s house. On the way, my van was
informed by Kari Foreman that Quaker Rice Cakes don’t contain any
trans fat. This was told to us as she was stuffing them in her
mouth, two in each hand. Lunch at the Ploskonka’s household was
delicious. We all ate to bursting and then watched Pat the Athletic
Trainer suck it up at the Wii. He did finally discover that he
could dominate the Wii in
boxing. He then experienced a real sense of accomplishment, more
than taping ankles could ever give.
Our game the next day versus Central Washington I really don’t want
to talk about, but I can’t just leave everyone in the dark. We lost
0-3. Embarrassing. We played like absolute crap in the first half
and gave up three sloppy goals, two of which were own goals. The
wind also didn’t help us. Our team has been ridiculously unlucky
this year. But it’ll come.
Although we lost, I feel that we did gain something from the
experience. At halftime, instead of being angry and acting
helpless, we came together and sorted things out. We pumped each
other up and came out in the second half with the attitude that we
could win. That obviously did not happen, but we did play much
better and ended up out shooting Central. Taking something positive
from a negative situation is the way to handle games like that and
that is what we did.
Now we just have to prepare to Seattle Pacific on Thursday. I think
I’m going to have someone punch me in the throat during warm up to
get me going.
Sept. 18, 2007
We are seven games into the season and currently 5-2. In the far
west region we are ranked 10th and we feel confident
going into this next weekend of games. Since we last wrote we
have played four exciting games.
We won our home opener against Regis University 3-1, which we
were very happy about considering we have never beat them before.
Mandy and Britt both scored again and Kari Foreman got her first
collegiate goal.
While the majority of MSUB students began their fall 2007
semester, we were on the road in Bismarck, ND. Here, we played
University of Mary. Unfortunately, we lost this game 2-1. Mary got a
goal off of a free kick and another one later in the game. Our goal
came from Abby Bennett off a corner kick. It was a long bus ride
home, but we were able to bounce back from the loss and play well in
our next two home games.
We had a convincing 3-0 win in our first conference game ever in
the GNAC. Mandy, Brittney and Amy all scored to help us beat
Western Oregon 3-0. Our defense helped Brittney Knudtzen to
get a shut out, she only had to make one save all game long.
Our second GNAC game was on Sunday against St. Martin’s, a first
year program from Lacey, Washington. We won this game 6-2 giving us
a 2-0 record in conference play. Sami Sandau, a freshman from
Billings, scored a hat trick, Kari Foreman had two goals and Britt
had one.
This Wednesday we fly out to Seattle where we will play Central
Washington and Western Washington. Wish us luck and you can
check the website for our scores!!! Until next time.
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