Time Moves Fast

The season came and went now with our loss in the ECAC tournament. We didn't achieve our main goal of making the NCAA tournament. In the beginning of the year, we saw ourselves in the first round of the NCAA's and there wasn't one of us that thought we wouldn't make it there when it was all said and done. Each game, for us freshman, wore on and the loses put us all down and in bad moods when we would get back to the dorms together. Each game really took a tole on my body. I was banged up and bruised by the time the last game of our season rolled around. Each of my teammates could say the same. We had 12 girls on sitting the bench for injuries when we started warming up for our semi final game in the ECAC's.  I looked to my left and saw all the incapable players and then looked to my right and saw my coach standing tall with a confident look on his face. No matter what the numbers I knew coach would still be behind us and believing in all of us to do well.
Even though we lost the game, coach stood tall in the locker room after the game too. He said he was proud of us and that he was determined to do a lot better. After he thanked the seniors he sounded optimistic when he told us that next year was going to be different. Even though i'm not ready to think about next year just yet, I think we all know what its going to take to win. By winning I mean achieving our goal and winning enough to get to the NCAA's where we should be. Its hard to wrap your head around the fact of a season ending. Everything ends all at once and can be a lot to handle for us all. The fact that we will never see some of these people again on the soccer field next to us is overwhelming. Also, our everyday routines come to a complete end. Everything that we were used to is over and we learn to adapt to change once again. Going to practice and prepping for games was a huge part of our lives and now we are all about to see what its like to live without that.

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.  

One game can ruin an entire season

Imagine this, working your butt of for two weeks three times a day, everyday, for nothing. A teams main goal is success and accomplishment. Preparation for a season involves a lot of heart and guts. A positive outcome for our team would be finishing our season with a good enough record to make the NCAA tournament in November. This tournament is only for the most qualified teams in the NJAC conference of play on the east coast. Known as one of the most competitive conferences in all of division three soccer, in conference games in the NJAC league are always a battlefield. Going into a game against one of our competitors in the division, like the college of new jersey for example, is as nerve-racking as being in a broken elevator. The hype can be felt early as three and four days before a game. In the locker rooms, on the practice field, in the dorms, and in the classrooms, we all have our mind on one thing. That one thing is the reward waiting for us at the end of all our in conference games. That'd be a chance to go to the NCAA tournament in hopes of capturing a national title for division three soccer. Winning a prestigious title such as the national title is every soccer players dream. The feeling of being the best of the best is like nothing else.
I went to Brick memorial high school and i played for a man that would never accept defeat. Defeat in his eyes was inexcusable and he had the power to change a player in effort to create a winning team. He had the power, and he executed his power. We won sectional titles and state championships. I felt the highest form of adrenaline in my life playing in front of that man, He brought out the best in us all and he taught us that we were all stronger than we previously thought. Heart is the most important part of a team because playing with heart meant winning, and winning was literally everything. My sophomore year we had more talent that we could have ever imagined. When we lost 4 games in a row, nobody could understand why we weren't connecting our talent together as a team. It got to the point that if we didn't start winning, starting with our next scheduled game, our season would go nowhere but downhill and we would have no success. We prided ourselves by the motto's on the sides of our shirts. It said that we were the hardest working team at the shore. We were the fittest we could be come game time in September, every year. For all that hard work to be wasted was an unimaginable thought.
Unfortunately, we are in a similar situation right now here at Stockton. To make the tournament at the end of the year means a team must have at least a .700 percent winning record. Basically a season with almost double the amount of wins to losses. Even with that nothing is guaranteed. If we do not win our next game, which is an in conference game against Rowan, we can kiss our chances of making the tournament goodbye. This next game is pretty much do or die. Its amazing how one game out of 18 in a season can change everything. To not make the tournament would be absolutely devastating. I feel as if we owe our seniors one last chance at the national championship. To let them all down, would be a negative aspect of our team going into next year. More than that, we would be letting all of our coaches and fans that love and support us down as well. That is a burden that I do not want to take upon my shoulders as our season moves on. Out of the 1,440 minutes in a single day, all it takes is 90 minutes of hard work to change our season around. 10,080 minutes are in a single week. All it takes is 90 of those minutes in a single game to change everything, and to make everything you've worked for worth the while. With all the effort and preparation put into preseason, its would only make sense to have a winning record and want to be successful.

Hey freshman, clean the pennies, and don't forget the balls and the water jugs

The Women's soccer team at Stockton pride themselves on their past achievements. Team members not only play for themselves, but for their teammates of present and past as well. They lead by example according to upperclassmen ship and ability. Im a freshman, lowest on the totem pole, and i'm learning something new about myself and the people around may as each day passes by. Im also learning about all the muscles i never knew i had in my shoulders and hands. The standard water jug size of the collegiate level holds 7 gallons of water. Transporting that amount of water too and from the fields can be quite tiring and more arduous than i assumed. Being a freshman is a lot like being the new kid in the neighborhood, or the new kid in a kindergarten club on the playground. The superiors above you are more experienced therefore have gained the respect of many others around them compared to your minute level of respect. You are in the spotlight. You are about to step foot into something that means a lot to the people already involved. Its almost like an induction ceremony where your required to fulfill some sort of initiation. You feel as if you need to live up to the expectations of the team around you. Sometimes it feels as if somebody is watching your every move, just waiting for you to mess up. You want to make the elder team members happy and you want, more than anything, acceptance. I've been learning that the best way to deal with the pressure is to simply be respectful and not let all of your emotions get in the way of your true potential. The little requirements like carrying the ball bags, filling water jugs, pumping the balls, cleaning the pennies, and moving goals, are all part of the game. The game itself is prided by teamwork. Without ranking order and upper leadership, teamwork cannot be pulled all together. Leadership is what motivates those who do not know how to be led. These followers well someday become leaders. It's all a process that only brings a team closer in the end. Good vibes and connection off the field throughout a team leads to success on the field and on the record board.
Im starting this blog 9 games into my freshman season. We are currently 4-3-2. That means we have four wins, three loses, and two ties. We've been through the bonding sensation of preseason. Being together for three sessions a day and all the in between time solidifies the teams relationship with one another and the coaches as a whole. Being a freshman, experiencing all of this has had a very positive impact on my life in the past seven weeks and i'm really looking forward to the seasons continuance.