Women's Soccer Blog (Erica #4)

Last night, our volleyball team played against cross town rival Dominguez Hills and because it was a Wednesday night and not a Friday night, a good part of the men and women's soccer teams were able to come out and support them along with the baseball team and several from the basketball teams. I came into the night halfway through the 3rd game and our team was sitting on 2 losses and only 15 points from the whole night going to DH, but instead I watched them battle their way through to get one win, then another and finally the last game, they really gave us a game and came back at the last possible moment to win. They were like a well oiled machine, the way they all move as a group for each other and they knew where to be and what to do. It is a beautiful game to watch! And a quick shout out to my fellow blogger (#9 NG), Nice service ace in the fourth game, it was so sick!

Back to soccer, last weekend was a long weekend. We were on the road and left early Thursday for Stanislaus.

The weather was looking to be quite warm the whole weekend and so we huddled in our air conditioned rooms as much as possible to avoid the heat. Thursday night, Coach Mike arranged a great team dinner at a little Italian place. It was buffet style pasta, salad, lasagna and breadsticks. The food was so good and it felt great to eat together as one big team (men and women).

Come game time Friday, we were fired up. That energy I talked about us having at San Bernardino, we had it throughout the week during training and we were all ready to take on the game Friday night. Stanislaus had the best record and highest national ranking in conference coming into the weekend but all that changed once we got the chance to play them. As we were warming up for the game the sun was setting and it was beautiful, the clouds were bright pink and orange and to the east there was a rainbow. It was perfect weather for a soccer match and we were so ready to get a Friday night win.

We got an early goal from Stacy/Ann it's still a bit unclear as to who really scored or in what order but none the less it was directly off Stacy's corner and it was a restart goal. They scored off a penalty kick (weak call in my opinion but that happens sometimes) and as we as a team were suddenly faced with another 1 to 0 lead gone as the second half started, we knew what had happened the last two times we gave up our lead and we didn't want that to be the case a third time...we came together, kept our heads up and got goal number 2, got it taken away (offsides), and got another fantastic goal that ended with Ann tangled in the net with the ball. 2 to 1 and it felt great.

On to Chico…it was another drive to get up there. Saturday night we were dropped in downtown Chico for dinner and I was able to eat at Pluto's, one of my favorite restaurants in Chico. I had an amazing salad, amazing. It wasn't just lettuce and dressing, it was lettuce, chick peas, pineapple, homemade croutons, potato wedges, sprouts, cucumber, sunflower seeds, soy beans, and caramelized walnuts...oh so good...and for dessert, Jon n Bons frozen yogurt, another Chico favorite. Food and the proximity to nature are probably the only two things I miss from Chico.

Sunday arrived and we were ready for another match. To come out of this weekend against two of the top northern teams at their home with two wins would be awesome. We came out hard and so did they, but after a foul on Jocko, we got a free kick. Stacy hit it into the mix, Nat got a touch on it and then I laid it off to Liz who rocketed it into the net past their keeper. Ironically Chico attributed no assist to the goal but we all know how it really happened. Plus with things moving so quickly there really should have been three assists with all those one touches :D.

We spent the rest of the game shutting down their opportunities and creating more of our own. With only 3 minutes left in the match, our forwards showed some of their best stuff with all three of them combining to make mince meat out of Chico’s defense and put another goal away. 2 to 0. Not bad at all.

Long weekend, 6 points, 2 wins, 4 goals, over 20 hours in the bus, Good times!

This weekend is coming up fast, two home games and they will be tough, as always. Friday is against East Bay who we slammed 6 to 0 the first time we played them this season, however they’ve gotten some results against good teams in our conference so we’ve got a game on our hands. And Sunday is against UCSD which is always, always a battle regardless of score.

If you can, come out and support us at home. Friday night kicks off at 4:30 for the men and 7 for the women, Sunday is 11:30 for the men and 2 for the women.

ET