With A Little Luck and Hard Work..

With our record standing at 10-6-2, the leaves on the trees are beginning to change their colors and really welcome in the brisk and cool feeling of fall. It's that time of year where we all are looking not only at our own record, but everyone else's in our divisions as well. With some luck in other in conference matches, we could still be in good standing for the NCAA tournament at the end of the season. Right now, our last game will be played this Wednesday, October 27th at home. A win is expected from my coaches and teammates. The past three games we've had good wins, and were all smart enough to realize thats its because we put the work in where it needed to be. Hard work wins games in the end. The team with the greater amount of girls that are able to out work their marks will surely come out on top, most of the time.
The other small, but seemingly large part of the time, soccer revolves around luck. A shot that hits the post, a ball that bounces off a stub of grass the wrong way, a deflected ball, wind gusts that swallow shots whole are all part of the unfortunate mis haps in soccer games. A lot of games are decided by one goal in soccer. The average amount of goals scored in a game on the national level is just 3, both teams included. So, nail bitters and close finishes are very common. Often, referring is a huge part of the outcome of a game. Soccer referees probably get the most blame out of all the other refereeing sports in the world just because there is so much decision laid on their shoulders throughout the 90 minutes of play they need to watch. Towards the finish of a game, luck can have a tendency to run rampid. Missed calls, post shots, fouls, all are attributed from frustration and anticipation on both teams looking for the win. As the minutes on the clock tick by, more and more players become panicked and frustrated. Competition grows fierce and the adrenaline in the athlete's bodies soar. I know personally that when my adrenaline is rushing and i ear the crowd all around me, my eyes focus on the field and only the field. The ball becomes the object of certainty in every players mind. The thought of a game winning goal lingers in the back of your head, and the even better thought of success leads the way as your body gets tired, but your adrenaline helps to numb away the fatigue.
In comparison with other sports, soccer definitely has one of the longest game run times of ninety minutes, two 45 minute quarters. Fitness is a huge part of the game. By this time of year each season, every team is fitter than when they first started. As the season goes on, players get used to playing game speed constantly. With that, bodies also break down and reach their breaking points. Currently, four girls on my team are scheduled for surgery on their knees in the upcoming months so that they can rehab successfully to return next year to play. Other than surgeries, stress can be a major contributing factor in putting good soccer players on the bench. Stress can be the cause of tightness in muscles resulting in tears and pulls. It can also being on reactivations of mono, like in my case. It can bring on bad headaches and extreme fatigue. Learning to cope and deal with this is all part of being part of the team.
My teammates, me included, are all in this for the better of our team. Our season is nearing a close but we still have a lot to look forward to with the NJAC tournaments and the NCAA tournament right around the corner, and our goals can still be accomplished through hard work and a little bit of luck.

A Step In The Right Direction

     With all the loses and the negativity in the past, our team was forced to look to the future and make the best of it. The past cannot be rewritten; it's over and done with and there's nothing you can do to change it. We can only learn from our experiences and take something worthwhile from them afterwards. Our record standing at 4-4-2, we realized that we still had a lot of games remaining in our season to be able to turn things around. Although it wouldn't be easy, our team knew that we had to work hard and start winning the majority of our upcoming games.

     We traveled to Gwendth Mercy on Saturday the 1st of October. The anticipation and anxiety was growing with every minute that passed by as I stared out the humongous windows of our 28 person shuttle bus. Everyone could feel the anxiousness around the bus. We all stared to the front, headphones in and hoods up, with thoughts of a victory on the road. A victory could turn everything around. We all knew that a win could really get us al believing that we could still do great things this season. Doubt and fear was beginning to set in our team, and no one could deny it. We've dug a whole deep for ourselves and now all we wanted was to be given a chance to fight and claw our way out. 

     With one minute left to go in the game, the score was two to two. We all knew that with over time meant risks. If the game were to finish in a tie, we'd have to play an additional 20 minutes until someone scored. Once a goal was scored the game would be over, this rule is called golden goal. If no goal was scored, the game would end in a tie. At this point a tie or another lose could have the potential of completely ruining our whole season. Anyway, our captain got the ball at her feet with a minute to go. She dribbled through the middle of two defenders and slid past the only one remaining. She placed the ball with seeming ease into the far left corner of the goal. The sidelines erupted in celebration. It was like everyone had a new hope bursting from them. Anyone would be able to tell that our team was automatically filled with new hope after that goal was scored. The bus ride home was uplifting and everything that we needed. Our record is now 5-4-2; Five wins, Four losses, and two ties. Now it is time to buckle down and concentrate hard on what we need to do as individuals to better the team and save a season with a shaky start. If we all do whatever we can to reach our own potentials we can have a surrounding effect in the whole team. The rain came down hard for the next week of practice. It was assuring to see us all work hard through it however. We all needed a wake up call, and hopefully we'd all realize now that we weren't going to get any more chances or wake up calls.