The Official Blog ofCal State L.A. Athletics

Women's Cross Country Blog (Melissa #5)

2010-11-19T18:06:00.000-08:00

Today is the day before regionals. We have been out here in Washington, Bellingham since yesterday at 6 p.m. The weather is cold, but it is great weather to run in. Our race is tomorrow at 11 a.m. at Lake Padden. We all are excited to show everyone how hard we worked thisseason. We ran the course today to become familiar with the trail we are going to be running in, and so far we have become more confident.

This season has had a lot of ups and down, but for sure many great memories. We have bonded real well, and any time you see us out on the trails we have a smile on our face and enjoy the sport we do. We had a small team, but we worked real hard and proved to many that we are a good and strong team. We placed fourth at conference with only seven members on our team; that says a lot.

Tomorrow is the day where we will put all the work that we have done these past couple of months, and try to place in the top 6th so that we can make it to nationals.

“I have faith in my team that they will run their hardest. No matter the outcome of our race I feel privilege to have run with these 5 strong girls, and I know that this season we have ran our heart out. Let’s go!” (Mariah)

Run without Limits, and run your best. Good luck team! Let’s do this!! J

Ps: Happy Birthday Raizah

Melissa Lopez ♥

Volleyball Blog #3 (Natalia)

2010-11-16T09:26:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year!

Turkey, orange, yellow, and red leaves on the ground, pumpkin pie && VOLLEYBALL!

After finishing out the second half of conference strongly with five wins in our last six matches, we were able to earn the seventh seed in the western region. The road was tough, but we definitely showed we deserve to be there after struggling through several injuries and tough losses... CSULA volleyball is right where it should be.

Last weekend we were on the road at Sonoma and Humboldt. Thursday night we handled the Seawolves in four sets, it was an impressive team effort and also our play was very reflective of our readiness for playoffs. Before playing Humboldt on Saturday we had a long drive through the California redwoods and got to explore the wilderness haha.

The Jacks gave us a bit of a surprise and took us to five sets, but we secured the "W" and although the trip home was a long one, we all returned home Sunday with high hopes and excitement for the release of the regional tournament brackets.

Now we are currently gearing up to play #2 Seattle Pacific at San Bernardino on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. On paper we are evenly matched, however we are looking forward to showing the Falcons how much faster SoCal volleyball is, as well as how much tougher our CCAA conference is. It's a great way to open our run in this tournament and I know I speak for all my teammates and my coaches when I say it would be awesome if you could make your way out to the match!

Hope to see you all there!

#9

Women's Cross Country Blog (Melissa #4)

2010-11-03T19:23:00.000-07:00

There are only two days left of training till the CCAA Cross Country Championships.

All my teammates and I have been training real hard for this day. We are very nervous yet excited, and can’t wait to race. It looks like it will be a close race to the finish. It will be a matter of who wants it more.

Our conference schedule goes like this: On Friday the day before our race, we will head out to Cal Poly Pomona for the CCAA Award/Pre-Race Banquet. Then Saturday November 6, at 10 a.m. it is race time! We will be racing at Whittier Narrows Regional Park around Legg Lake.

We hope many people can come support us at our race, since it is close to school.

We know our teammates from track will be there. Well, hope to see you all there.

Melissa Lopez ♥

Women's Soccer Blog (Erica #6)

2010-10-27T13:34:00.000-07:00

Two games left in the regular season and we are sitting in a pretty good spot right now.

We've secured our spot in the CCAA's and with a chance to defend our title from last year. This past week we played against Dominguez Hills twice and beat them twice. We were really amped to play Dominguez for many reasons, including the fact that they knocked us out of the NCAA tournament last year and we were looking to show them it wouldn't be so this year.

On Wednesday, we came out on fire, scoring 2 goals in the first 5 minutes. Before the end of the match we added on 2 more and they scored off a questionable hand ball in the box PK rebound.

On Saturday, they got the first goal and we entered half time down. But we got ourselves regrouped and refocused and came back to score two and win. And we did all that will two our our forwards down and out with injuries.

But our work isn't over, this weekend will be a tough one as always against Pomona and San Bernardino. We'll be looking to even things up with Pomona on Sunday and to sweep San Bernardino for the season on Friday. Two wins this weekend means a lot for the CCAA's and the NCAA tournament seeding and for bragging rights as well :D

Sunday is our final home game and we will be having a ceremony prior to kickoff to honor our 8 seniors. Hope to see you all at the games this weekend!

Women's Basketball Blog (Shatori #1)

2010-10-20T22:05:00.000-07:00

Mind over matter

By: Shatori Dearman

Mind over matter is a simple quote to live by

Its ability comes from a remote place which is simply sublime
Distinctions of this quote and practice of this skill
makes the body easily oppose it and want to appeal
Easier said then done the legs said to the brain I'm moving the most and your position stays the same
Run jump and hop, get around the cones
Suck up your pain no time to hear moans
Its a practice of mind over body the pain is imaginary
I know it feels like the pressure is on which can be hard to carry
I question this quote how can my mind be used over the matter set fourth
The pain is real no actions are still and my body feels it the most
Quote after quote talk after talk coach expresses her motivational sayings
Some times its hard to focus on the job with interference from these pains
As days progress my recovery time decrease
Its amazing how to gain breath my activity no longer has to cease
Your getting better my brain tells my legs just a few more of this action then its rest and relax-tion just do it for a few more days

Individuals, conditioning, weights, the routine stayed the same
Its 3 weeks later and we can finally do activity I never realized how much I missed that rock
From day one I promised my self ill do my best I can give more, hell ill give it all I got
Precondition training can be hard on the brain and hard on the legs but that's the point that your breath does not stay the same.

Looking back on my running I appreciate my progression.

That's just a few of my thoughts I want to reflect in

Women's Cross Country Blog (Melissa #3)

2010-10-20T09:24:00.001-07:00

Was this a fantastic weekend for us cross country girls.

All seven of us recorded a new 6k personal record at the Northridge Invite. We ranged from being faster by 46 seconds to a top of three minutes and thirty-one seconds. You can see how much hard work we have been putting in.

Maritza also had another achievement, not only by dropping down her 6k time by two minutes and fifty-five seconds, she was also named CCAA runner of the week, for the week of October 11-17. What a great birthday gift for her, since her birthday was on Sunday.

We only have one invitational left which will be this Friday at Cal State Fullerton at 5p.m.

After that in two weeks will be our conference race at Legg Lake. For now we will keep moving forward, practicing real hard to reach our goals, and celebrating my birthday which will be next Wednesday.

Congrats girls, keep working hard, and never give up!!!

Melissa Lopez ♥

Women's Soccer Blog (Erica #5)

2010-10-18T13:29:00.000-07:00

Four games left in the regular season.

Four big games, each win will get us one step closer to securing a playoff spot in the CCAA's. There are essentially 5 teams in the race for 4 spots with two more teams right on the edge. The great news is we are in complete control of our season. We win, we're in. Once we get in, we can set our sights on being repeat champions. But first we have to face Dominguez Hills twice, San Bernardino and Pomona. Our next game is on Wednesday at home at 7pm rain or shine.

This past weekend we secured wins over Sonoma and Humboldt. Two teams that are out of the race for the playoffs. Taking a look at the conference, the North has quite a few teams with records below .500, while the South has quite a few above .500. With a weaker North, its harder for Southern teams to get in to the tournament as we have to play each other twice. No matter, we just have to take it one game at a time.

Women's Cross Country Blog (Melissa #2)

2010-10-07T18:48:00.000-07:00

6 miles, 7 miles, 8, 9, 10, and the miles keep going.

We are well into our season, and many great achievements have come. Many of us are improving from practices to races. As each race goes by our times have been dropping a lot.

Maritza Hernandez has been named CCAA Cross Country Runner of the Week for the week of Sept. 13-19. We have also gone up to being seventh in the most recent NCAA Division II West Region rankings.

The latest race that we have competed in was the Pomona Pitzer Invitational. We finished seventh out of the twelve teams that were racing. Many of us improved our times by more than one to two minutes from the first 6k we raced at the Fullerton Invitational. In CrossCountry improving our times by that much takes a lot of hard work.

We really liked that course. The weather was great as well. It rained for the first mile which kept us cool.

I can see that our team is bonding great. Each of us is helping each other get through these practices. We are also getting stronger, the drills and weight workouts that we do are easy to us now.

Our next race will be on October 16th at the Northridge Invitational. It will be at the Cricket / Japanese Garden Area- Woodley Park at 7:45a.m.

As for now, each of us will be running for an hour and forty-five minutes on Saturday.

That’s going to be a lot of miles!

Melissa Lopez ♥

Volleyball Blog (Natalia #2)

2010-10-07T16:49:00.000-07:00

Hello again!

What a night… Wednesday’s game against Dominguez Hills was not what we expected, but it sure was what we needed. We snapped a four game losing streak after taking them an exciting five sets… a little too close for comfort, but in the end we definitely showed how great of a team we can be.

The past two weekends of competition on the road were extremely difficult mentally. We struggled to finish after leading teams an entire set or coming back to tie up the scores and as a result suffered several disappointing and tough losses to teams that we have easily handled in the past.

In our defense, the CCAA is a little strange this year. Despite the fact that it has been notorious for hosting some of the toughest Division II match-ups any given weekend, it’s always been quite easy to predict who the top four or five teams would be. However, this season has been anything but that. As we close out this first half of conference this weekend with Humboldt and Sonoma, it will be very interesting to see what happens next when everyone starts facing each other for the second time.

This week is a big one for us.

It’s a relief to have last night’s win under our belt and also I believe a much needed boost to help us prepare for Friday and Saturday.

We started out quite rocky in the match, but finished strongly and are looking forward to using that momentum against our NorCal opponents…. To those of you who made it out the game, thank you so much for your support!! It was amazing to finally have a full home crowd cheering for us now that school has started.

I hope to see you all again soon! :]

Natalia #9

Women's Soccer Blog (Erica #4)

2010-10-07T12:30:00.000-07:00

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.

Women's Soccer Blog (Erica #3)

2010-09-27T13:22:00.000-07:00

It was a HOT weekend for us. On Friday we played at 4:30pm at Pomona and it was blazing at 100 degrees and on Sunday we played at 2pm at San Bernardino and it was 106. Both games brought back memories of our season opener against Cal Baptist when it was 108 degrees. After such a mild summer, the heat really was shocking. The good news (if there is any to be found about the weather) is that our opponents were also subjected to the same extremes we were.

Friday night we fell in over time to Pomona, 2 to 1. This game felt like a déjà vu of last Friday against San Fran. A game we should have won, but didn't put it all together to get it done and allowed them the space to snag two goals. Needless to say we were very upset after the game about a lot of things. As a team we were in all different places going into the game Friday and we never stopped to put aside the rest of the going ons in our lives to really play. Classes started on Thursday so many of us were thinking about books, expectations in classes, homework already assigned, our new daily schedules, etc. I guess you could say we were a bit scatterbrained individually. We also didn't have our usual pep in our step for some reason, we weren't excited enough to just be there, playing soccer which is something that can't be missing, it's essential.

Saturday we took some time to reflect on our current situation and debrief the game from the night before. Message sent from the coaches was essentially we have to figure out what we want out of this season and that if we wanted to have a post season in November that we'd better pick it up real soon to make it happen.

Sunday we loaded onto the bus at 7:30am for San Bernardino and by 9 am we could already feel the heat. We were all drinking water, Gatorade, vitamin waters and electrolyte enhanced waters left and right trying to get our bodies ready for the game. After dropping the men's team off on campus, we took the bus to get our pre-game meal. But it was only 10am on a Sunday and our usual spot to stop was all closed until 11am, we drove a bit further down the road to Ralphs. I personally didn't like the idea of Ralphs and what was around it, but after I took my first bite of my deli sandwich...oh I changed my mind...one of the best sandwiches I've had in a while and yet it was so simple, nothing fancy to it, but definitely finger-licking good.

Our time in the locker room before the game already felt better than it did on Friday and despite the fact that once we walked outside it felt like we had stepped into an oven, we were smiling and laughing together about it. The result of the game itself wasn't going to make or break our season, but it sure felt as though if we didn't win that we were going start heading down a road that didn't look good for November. With the expanse of the field at San Bernardino and the heat, the game felt almost awkward at times because there was so much space between players. It wasn't until the ball traveled closer to one team's 18 yard line that the defending or offense took on the intensity it normally has. At halftime, the team collapsed together in the shade and the score line remained a 0 to 0 tie, yet again another game that would be decide against whoever blinked first. We remained strong in the second half and Liz scored a goal that was almost identical to the goal she score there last year, dinking it in off the far post on a shot that had almost no angle on goal. Crazy but hey, we'll take it! And as important as the goal was to us, the fact they remained at 0 was huge for us as a team as well. We didn't want to make a habit of scoring 1 goal only to give up 1 or more and the game shortly after. Our defense did a fantastic job of stepping up to keep it that way and our goalie, Gabby, also had some great saves to keep us ahead.

We've sold ourselves short the last 2 Fridays and the bitter taste it left in my mouth makes me want to do anything and everything to prevent that from happening again. This Friday, we'll have the challenge of playing on the road at Stanislaus, the top team in the North. And on Sunday against my personal biggest rival, Chico State. All I can say is I hope we start this weekend off right and end that way we have the last few as well.

-ET

Men's Soccer Blog (Anton #1)

2010-09-23T08:54:00.000-07:00

We started of our pre-season with our “beloved” 2-mile run about 5-6 weeks ago.

With 21 new guys and only 9 returners we are facing a tough year and with a handful guys in the hospital beds from day one our journey could have looked a bit easier.

Now we are here though, 5 games deep into our Fall 2010 season, with five straight wins and five shutouts and ranked number one in the nation.

Well alright, the ranking doesn’t mean anything until the season is over but recognition is always a moral boast for a young team like this year’s version of the Golden Eagles. So far the results look pretty good but we still have a lot to work on and we can’t rely on our defense scoring as many goals and keeping a shutout every game as they have so far.

Our first four conference games weren’t against the strongest team in our league but for the next two weeks we will be on the road playing against team that will be fighting for spots in the conference tournament. So it will a few very tough weeks ahead and now we will finally see how far we actually got with this “new” team.

This weekend we play Pomona and San Bernardino and the following weekend will be against Chico and Stanislaus.

Spending a lot of time on the road might mean that the “black mamba” once again will show up. Be aware, and don’t fall asleep!

//Anton

Women's Soccer Blog (Erica #2)

2010-09-22T11:42:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we took a bit of a hit as a team on Friday night.

We played SF State and lost 2 to1. It was the first taste of defeat we had as a team together and it was bitter. No one likes to lose but we felt as team that game shouldn't have been a loss for us. We started out great, moving the ball well, finding each other and creating a lot of opportunities and space. Sure enough our first and only goal came quickly from a nice and quick give and go on the 18 to send Ann through.

At halftime, with a 1 to 0 lead we felt pretty good. We knew there were more goals out there and SF didn't show us anything 1st half that we couldn't handle. That's not to say we overconfident, we knew there were still 45 minutes left in the game but we didn't remain as focused as a team for the full ninety and that cost us 2 goals.

Needless to say there were several lessons to be learned from that game and even though it is bad we lost it is good it happened semi early in the season so that we know what it feels like and do everything we can from here on out to prevent it from happening again. None of us want that feeling of we should have won, not even we should have tied but we should have won again this season.

As a team we hope to move forward from that game with more 'maturity' to take care of business next time and every time.

Sunday we played against Monterey Bay and bounced back from our first loss with a 4 to 0 win. Coach Chris always says the sign of a good team is that they don't lose multiple games in a row, and to come out and pick ourselves up after a disappointing loss was a big rebound for us.

Liz Franco scored a hat trick and I personally picked up my first assist. We scored two goals off restarts, one coming from a well placed kick by Stacey Rodwell to Liz's head. Another off a throw in to Ann, cross by me to Liz's head as well. The first two goals came from the run of play. Ann found Liz who tucked it past the keeper for the first goal and then Ann blasted a shot from the 18 for goal number 2.

Ann has been a scoring machine, racking up the goals in every game. Our forward line, despite the loss Friday, has been working together so well, combining and moving and finding any little hole in the defense of the opposing team.

This next weekend promises to be a big one. Two big games verses Cal Poly Pomona and San Bernadino both away.

Cal Poly is one of our rivals, being only 30 minutes away. Each year, playing them is a tough game. And playing San Bernadino at San Bernadino is always a little bit more of a challenge due to their gigantic field and often the heat that must be battle through. Both teams are coming into this weekend with 9 points just like us. It is essentially a 3 way battle for 1st place in the south and if we can pull out two wins this weekend that would give us a nice edge over our two currently closest opponents.

All in all, if we truly learned our lesson from last Friday and we come out hard and flying and playing our game, we should do alright.

Erica

Women's Soccer Blog (Erica #1)

2010-09-13T15:13:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a weekend!

We opened up our conference games with a bang!

Friday night we played against UCSD at UCSD. It was lined up to be a showdown between the two favorites to win conference. Going into the game we all knew, returners espeically how much of a battle the game was going to be. Every CCAA game is a battle, but some are harder than others. This was going to be a great test for our team.

We came well prepared and came out flying for the first half and even though we didn't score, neither did they and we were starting to wear them down.

Second half, Ann's goal broke the tie, Alex added goal number 2 and Gabbi aka Segall put number three past the keeper. UCSD snuck in a goal off a corner with about 10 to go in the game but it wasn't enough.

It felt so good to beat UCSD by that margin. Normally games against them are 1-0 battles that can go either way depending on who makes a mistake first.

After the men's game ended we all piled back on the bus to return to LA. We got in around midnight, went home to our beds only to return to campus at 6am to depart for Hayward.

Needless to say, no one got enough sleep, even those that napped on the 6 hour bus ride up there. We also somehow managed to get a shorter charter bus than usual which made for a very, shall we say, 'cozy' trip.

Sunday's match against East Bay was played on their brand new turf field which is great but it was also gigantic in comparison to our field. We were all feeling a bit tired/sore/fatigued from friday's game and the traveling, but we have a deep bench and great conditioning so we made it through sunday's game just fine with a 6 to 0 win over East Bay.

We had a very successful opening weekend and snagged all 6 points for our two wins.

One of the most exciting things about scoring 9 goals this weekend as a team is that they were scored in so many different ways by many different players. We are a very multidimentional team when it comes to offense and a very sturdy team when it comes to defense. At the start of this season, we had more newcomers than returners and so we knew we had our work cut out for us in terms of coming together as a team and figuring out how to keep our tradition of being a winning program going.

As of now we are 3-0 overall, with 14 games left to play in the regular season. We play against San Francisco State at home this friday. That will be another hard match. San Francisco always brings a good solid group players together and from what I've read, they like overtime so our goal will be to avoid overtime and finish the game in the regulation. And Sunday we square off against Monterey Bay at home.

Its going to be another tough weekend and I'm so excited for it!

Erica Thomas

Volleyball Blog (Natalia #1)

2010-09-13T10:25:00.000-07:00

Monday, fun-day.

It's time to get ready, our team has a big weekend ahead of us at home. Friday we play defending CCAA champs San Bernardino, and Saturday we've got cross town rival Cal Poly Pomona.

Pumped!!!

Last weekend, we opened conference with Chico and Stanislaus and bettered our record to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in conference.

For those who don't know me, I have been on the team here at CSULA for the past two years, however I was forced to take a redshirt year my first year after transferring from CPP and unfortunately missed all of last year as well after tearing my ACL two weeks before season started.

Thankfully, after waiting for what seems like forever and training endlessly, I am ready to play and eager to make my contributions to a program that has been so supportive and rewarding for me despite my absense from the court. I don't know anyone else who has been as excited as I was about double days starting, haha, but those two-a-days and the six matches that have
followed over the past month have been one of the most exciting and special experiences for me.

Our team is amazing.

We are highly physical, super fast, and most importantly, we have depth in every position; allowing for competition every day at practice. In turn the constant challenge has allowed each of us to become mentally stronger and also a much more cohesive group. I am thrilled to finally be a part of the Golden Eagle winning tradition and look forward to this season. It is going to be a great one so make sure you come out and support!

Any match will be an exciting one because the CCAA is home to some of the best DII volleyball.

NG :]

Women's Cross Country Blog (Melissa #1)

2010-09-12T18:57:00.000-07:00

Hey, my name is Melissa Lopez, and I am on the Women’s Cross country team. I am currently a sophomore and this will be my second year running for Cal State LA.

This season I have the privilege to be the student-athlete Cross Country blogger. I am really looking forward to sharing with yo

u all, our journey through the 2010 Cross Country season.

Our season started with a new assistant coach, Coach Laguna. The team this year is small, it consist of myself, Valerie, Justina and our new comers Raizah, Mariah, Maritza, and Sara. Even if we are a small team, I believe we will be a strong and competitive team.

We had our first race on September 4, at the CSUF Season Opener. I believe we did well. We came in 13th place and finished second out of the three CCAA teams that were there.

With our determination and strive we will have a great 2010 Cross Country season. From hill repeats, 10-12 mile runs, drills, weights, and more we will be ready for the obstacles and challenges that come our way.

Well, hope to see some of you at our race next Saturday, September 18 at the UC Riverside Invitational.

Bye!

Melissa Lopez ♥

women's Tennis Blog (Linda #4)

2010-05-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

After 10 weeks full of practices, battles, fights and traveling, our season 2010 is over. The last conference match was against Cal State Stanislaus which we lost 2-7. It was also a day of our Seniors: Adri, Lana and Dori full of cakes, balloons, fruits and presents:) We finished with an overall record 8-10. Compare to previous year´s 3-10 is much better.

Some of us finished up the season with the 110th Annual Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament. Me and Jill lost in the first round in singles against players from Redlands and Westmont. Dori got a BYE in the first round and won next two matches against CMS Colleges and Cal State Stanislaus. Then she lost in Quarterfinals against the finalist from Fresno Pacific University. In doubles Jill and Adri won the first round and in a dramatic match lost to Cal State Stanislaus. The officials did not really help us when our girls

had a match point and the official called Adri´s amazing passing shot OUT! Then they lost in a super tie-breaker 10-4. Me and Dori got a BYE in the first round, followed by the victory against Biola University in the second round. We fell short against Cal State Stanislaus in the Round of 16. Girls that did not play came to cheer on Friday and Saturday. Overall, it was a good tournament for us. We got many new experiences, watched some really good tennis of PAC 10 and had fun outside of L.A. for couple days.

We’ve all put a lot of work in throughout the season and have improved a lot, got many new knowledge, skills and experiences which will our returning players need next year:) The whole CSULA tennis team is a level ahead of where it has been in the past and it's a whole lot more fun for the team to be competitive in the future. It was an amazing year with great people and memories we will never forget. Thanks all of you guys, you have been a great part of this program. Thanks the athletic department that was supporting us the whole season and also gave us the opportunity to travel to Hawaii:) And last but not least, we all want to thank our coach Cari Groce who made us all better players and stronger personalities:)

We are looking forward to next year with many new players and even more victories than the previous one !!

GO EAGLES!!!

*LiNNdaaaa*

Women's Tennis Blog (Linda #3)

2010-03-31T07:11:00.001-07:00

Tennis team has been pretty busy lately. The week before finals we had four games. As I mentioned our first win came in our conference match against San Bernardino and was followed by three other victories in a row! We won 9-0 against Western New Mexico as well as against Hawaii-Hilo. Last match that week was against Grand Canyon, which we won 7-2 and improved our record from 0-4 to 4-4. The week was very exciting for us and our hard work was finally shown in the results. Team spirit and enthusiasm was continuous throughout the whole week and there were no signs of tiredness or resignation. Girls were fighting for every single point and did not let anything to slip away. I am very proud of our team for this exceptional and successful week!!

We were not really happy about what was coming up next...finals!!:)) On the other hand we were really looking forward to our spring break! Trip to Hawaii sounded really exciting and focusing on studying was hard. But we made it and had an amazing time in Hawaii! Our flight there was a little bit scary; the turbulence was just too long, but we safely landed in Honolulu on March 20th, rented a van and drove to our hotel located on Waikiki Beach. After short, but intense practice, we took our swim suit and went to check out the beach. The weather was amazing and although we were using suncream all day long, we got burned the very first day:)

The next day started another long week of matches at the Central Oahu Regional Park Tennis Complex against Hawaii-Pacific University. It did not go so well and we fell short 1-8. The only point earned was by our valuable freshman Jill Sangria!

The following day we played against BYU at Northshore of Oahu. On the way there we stopped at the Macadamia Nut farm. They had free samples, which took care of our lunch:) Nuts can make you really full:) We already knew some players of BYU from Fall tournament in Pomona and knew they are ranked very high in the nation. Despite that fact we really tried to fight, but unfortunately were not able to win any doubles or singles match and lost to BYU 9-0. It was a really good practice match and personally I really enjoy playing against good players. We learned a lot and were ready to beat Hawaii-Hilo the following day.

On the fourth day of our trip and after 2 loses we beat Hawaii-Hilo 6-3 which brought us back our confidence and we felt pretty good about playing our last match in Hawaii on March 24th. But before that we enjoyed our last day in paradise and went surfing (some of us trying to surf:)) and then had a nice dinner in Waikiki resort. Our last match went pretty good:) We beat Chaminade University 7-2! Marine played the most dramatic match of the day and won in the exciting third set! Good job Marine..and all my girls did an amazing job in Hawaii. We did not feel tired, the heat did not bother us at all and overall we had the best time in Hawaii! Our flight back was just perfect! The plane was half empty so we all got our own rows with three seats and most of us slept the whole 5 hours (except Adri) hehe:)

We arrived home at midnight, unpacked our stuff, did our laundry and packed again for our trip up north to San Francisco. We left the next day at 10am from school and arrived at Double Tree Hotel at around 6pm. We went for a night jog and then straight to bed to get ready for our match against Sonoma State.

This was a very important conference match and we knew we need a lot of determination to win, since we already lost to Sonoma 3-6 this season. After doubles we were up 2-1, which was already better than last time when we lost all three contests. All we needed was to win three singles matches and Sonoma would be beat! I finished first with my match at no.2 and won 6-3 6-0, Jill followed and won at no.3 6-3 6-1 and then Lana at no.4 6-2 6-2. We got it!!! Our no.1, senior Dori Kiss earned one more point for CSULA and we beat Sonoma 6-3! Coach was right when she said after we lost to them at the beginning of the season : "They better enjoy the victory because this is the last one they have against us!":)

After our game all happy about our significant win we drove to another hotel and expecting to beat CSU Stanislaus the next day, which unfortunately did not happen. We fell short 2-7 with two points earned by Dori and Jill, who did an amazing job and we are proud of them! In the doubles contests no.2 and no.3 were very close to win, but were not able to bring it to a successful end.

We are meeting with CSU Stanislaus on April 16th again and hope we will do better at home. We need some fans so tennis addicts come out and support us in our last home match of the season! In between we have three more conference matches in San Bernardino, San Diego and Pomona.

*LiNNdaaaa*

Women's Tennis Blog (Linda #2)

2010-03-10T22:15:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!!

Finally!!

First win of the season came! Despite the horrible conditions and extremely strong wind, we beat CSUSB 6-3 yesterday!! It was pretty exciting!

In doubles me and Dori swept San Bernardino no.1 team 8-0!!! We played aggressively and didn't give them a chance to take one game away from us:) No. 2 doubles, Jill and Adri played amazing too. It seemed to be pretty easy but then CSUSB came back and the match turned to be really close, but our girls were better and won 8-5!

Lana and Marine did their best to earn the third point for us, but unfortunately they made many mistakes which ended up with a loss 5-8. In singles we won 4 matches out of 6! We were really happy that our hard work was finally shown in the result!

We have three more games to go this week.

Hope to see you all there!!!

*LiNNdaaaa*

Women's Tennis Blog (Linda #1)

2010-03-07T11:36:00.000-08:00

As you all know tennis season has started. There have been many changes made to Cal State LA tennis program. This is my third season and I have seen and played with many great players on the team. What I can say is that I haven't seen as much enthusiasm and energy to play as this year.

Our practices in fall were tough. We were sweating. We were leaving practice exhausted and ready to rest for at least a week. But of course practices are every day so we had to deal with it and be strong. Couple weeks had passed and we started to feel better, we noticed the improvement not just on our tennis game but also in our condition. Miles, sprints on the track or intervals in the gym that we ran were not such a big deal anymore and we were enjoying practicing.

We started off with some tournaments in Fall in Pomona, Fullerton and Northridge. We went through some tough matches and were able to win many of them in singles and doubles. Girls showed how they enjoy competing and after our last fall tournament we were all excited about the season to start.

First match of the season that we were supposed to play was against Fresno Pacific University, however due to rain it go canceled. To be honest we were a little nervous about starting season with this strong opponent.

Finally, after postponing the game with Fresno Pacific, we opened the season against Sonoma State and dropped 6-3. I think we came to that match pretty confident and ready to show our n

ew coach what she has taught us. We wanted to show the improvement, imply all the things we have learned in practice and prove that we are WINNERS. Unfortunately, we were not able to win two more matches against Sonoma which would make the difference in the final result. Even though, we thought we are better players, showed more fighting on the court and girls were playing their best.

The three points we earned were from our senior Dori Kiss, who won easily and proved that she is our No. 1 player. The ne

xt two points, after very tough and close matches were from our freshmen Jillian Sangria and me. We all think that in the next battle against Sonoma State we can do better, we will keep working on our doubles game and I am pretty sure the result will be different.

Next game we had was against Cal Poly Pomona 3/18, which we are not really proud of. All the matches were so close and none of us could bring it to a successful end. Scores like 6/8 or 7/9 in doubles speaks for itself that doubles were going better then in the previous game against Sonoma, but the the numbers of won games wasn't enough. Marine and Dori had very close matches and were fighting but unfortunately finished with loss.

We really enjoyed the game against Division 1 school Cal State Northridge 2/26. It was a good practice for all of us and prepared us to face UCSD on 2/28. UCSD tennis team had 62 conference victories in a row so we knew there is nothing to loose. We started off in doubles aggressively and did the same in singles. There were some good fights on the courts but unfortunately Dori was the only one who could win her match. We are proud of you our genius!:)

We are ready to beat Cal State San Bernardino this Tuesday !!!:)

*LiNNdaaaaa*

Women's Volleyball Blog (Annie #6)

2010-01-06T12:49:00.001-08:00

Heading in to the NCAA Regional Playoffs, we were known as the underdogs. Cal State LA was seeded sixth in the region.

We were a team that has definitely came a long way since our first practice; probably the most improved team in the conference.

We made it to the West Region Finals and wrapped up our season against Cal State San Bernardino. Gaby Bulawczyk, Mary Laupepa, Zuzanna Cizova, Kaylynne De La Rosa, and Stephanie Gay were all named to the West Region All- Tournament team. It was a good run; a run that would definitely set the bars for next year's team.

Our senior outside hitter Gaby Bulawczyk and our Middle Blocker Mary Laupepa both earned first- team honors. Kaylynne De La Rosa, Marquis Mora, and Zuzana Cizova all earned second- team honors. Zuzana Cizova was also named the CCAA Newcomer of the Year.

All in all, we had a great season full of great wins, a couple of hurtful battles, important lessons learned, and fun memories made. Now we start winter/ spring training for the amazing chapter of next year's season. To our seniors, Gabi and Kes: we love and miss you both!

Annie #10

Women's Soccer Blog (Liz #8)

2010-01-01T20:55:00.000-08:00

So the season is over and it ended up being our best season ever in CSULA history. I am very proud of our team and their work this season. I knew

from the beginning we had a great team and that we were going to accomplish many goals( which we did ) this year.

I had a blast getting to know 17 new girls!! And they are all amazing. I had a great experience playing with our seniors this year and they all played their hearts out!!

It is a great feeling to see their improvements throughout the years and to see them succeed. Good job Kat, Gabbi L., Reaunna, Heather, and Amanda. We all will miss you guys!

Not only was this year great, we made more history towards our school. We ended with a record of 17-3-2!!! WOW ? this record didn’t hit me till now. I still cant believe it. After winning the CCAA championship against D.Hills for our first CCAA win.. I was still in shock. 4-0?? Are you kidding? In a final?? Individually I do not remember being nervous. The first game against Chico really took the nerves out of everyone. I had a lot of fun playing that game and winning.

Being in this program for 3 years now has been a life changing experience for me because I remember girls who I played with my freshman year start to build this program better. They each have helped me become a better a player and I am thankful for that.

Congrats to all my teammates who won awards this year! You guys deserve them. For me this year, I am really happy to have won all the awards and accomplishments. Breaking records is fun, but its more fun when you are making a difference in your school. All the hard work I put in last year, over the summer and in the beginning of august have really paid off for me this year. I wanted to have an amazing season individually and as a team.

Thanks to everyone who showed support this year. Thanks to all the girls for playing their best in every game. You are all amazing.

---lizzzZZZZZZzzzzzzz

Women's Cross Country Blog (Vivien #4)

2009-12-01T17:09:00.001-08:00

The cross-country season is officially over.

I was the only one from my team to make it to the national race, which was bittersweet. Although I worked really hard to get there, I missed being part of a team. However, I had Coach Asher, my parents and my best-friend to cheer me on.

It turned out to be a great trip because I got to spend time with my family and best-friend Ruthie. I almost forgot why I was there. I was ready for the season to be over, although it was a short one for me. I was sick 3 weeks leading up to the national race, so I didn't know how I was going to perform. I didn't do great at the regional meet, but was able to clench the first individual qualifying spot. I finished 8^th the previous year, so I wanted to be in the top 10 for sure at nationals.

The night and morning before the race I was distracted by spending time and catching up with my family which I suggest everyone do. Surrounding yourself with people you love and who love you and don't sit in your hotel room thinking about the race.

Finally, it was time to race. There's nothing you can do at that point, but rely on all of the training you have done over the summer and your season. There is not one thing that will make you faster, so in the end you have to believe in yourself.

Coach Asher was right there at the start line rubbing out a cramp and making sure I had water. He said all the right things to help me stay focused and ready for the race, which calmed and relaxed me.

I had a good start, and quickly found my comfort zone, which you don't necessarily want to do in a race, but I was able to maintain my spot throughout the run. It was a challenging course with multiple hills, but I prefer that than a flat boring course. I heard my parents, Asher and Ruthie during the race, which made me feel truly blessed that I could be running this year.

I finished 7^th in a time of 21:02. Everyone was really excited, and I was the top CCAA finisher. I feel a great sense of pride being able to represent my conference and school. I also, finished with my 3^rd All-American honor.

I'm glad the season is over, but I look forward to the upcoming indoor season, where I have unfinished business to take care, lol.

Volleyball Blog (Annie #5)

2009-11-17T11:57:00.001-08:00

It has been one crazy fun season!

Our last game I updated you guys on was against San Francisco State. We had a successful win again SF State on the road after our disappointing loss again UC San Diego. We won back to back five sets against Cal Poly Pomona and Monterey Bay. We always seem to give our opponents a little bit of hope and then put them away in set five. This only makes us better because every team is out to get us. They bring their best game to us and when we have yet to play our best game. When we do, we will be unstoppable. The wins against Stanislaus, East Bay, and Dominguez Hills were a walk through the park.

We dropped a loss against Cal State San Bernardino. We all had some great performances but bad plays at the wrong time came along as well. We have not played nearly as well as we could have against SB. But the tables will definitely turn when Regional's start this Thursday. It's all in or nothing and we are here to win it all.

Last saturday was a huge success for us. We honored our seniors Gaby and Keslie at our last CCAA conference match. Everyone played amazing. We went through some intense long rallies against Chico State and won every single one. Chico played their heart out against us because a win against us would be their only hope in seeing another day of their season. It was head to head in all three sets but they could not keep up in set four. Last night was a great end to head to playoffs.

Playoffs are hosted at San Bernardino from 11/19 to 11/21. We will not be home until the 21^st because we plan to win it all. We are more ready and prepared than we could ever be. It is amazing to reminisce how far we have come along as a team since day one. Each one of us are ready to play our hearts out and give it all we have on and off the court. Whether you are a big time scorer, the" quarterback" of our team, a player cheering on the sidelines , a player who goes in to serve once or twice, or a blocker for simply one rotation; we are all ready to give it 110% in everything and anything we do.

We have everything we need to be national champions.

We have each other and our great coaching staff who has put up with us through thick and thin. This is it. We are ready to be amazing.

To our seniors: We love you Gaby and Keslie!

AK #10

Women's Soccer Blog (Liz #7)

2009-11-09T17:06:00.001-08:00

CCAA CHAMPIONS 2009!!HECK YES!

We completed one of our main goals of the season and we are ready for the ultimate goal which is to be National Champs!

Man o man this is exciting!

I am so proud of our team this weekend. We showed heart and courage to show everyone we are the BEST in the conference.

Being part of this program for 3 years now and seeing it progress to what are today is an amazing feeling. Seeing all the seniors performing their best was exciting to watch. I wish them the best in the future. I am glad they got to experience something like this before they graduate. But it is not over yet, we have a great mentality going into Nationals. We are still hungry for success and another championship.

This past weekend was one my best highlights in college soccer and I am very proud of everyone on the soccer team. At the banquet all the girls looked very pretty and boys looked handsome in their formal attire. The banquet was fun and it was great to see all the players win awards. Congrats to all the award winners for both Women and Men Soccer teams and to our coaches.

It is not over yet so let's keep going =)

-LIzzzzz

Women's Soccer Blog (Liz #6)

2009-11-04T12:45:00.001-08:00

This is it. We are now officially in the CCAA tournament. IM SUPER EXCITED!!

I can't wait to play this weekend when we play against Chico State. These past 4 games were very hard and challenged us as a team. The game against San Diego Friday night was very intense and high in energy to keep ourselves at the number ONE spot.

I had a lot of Family and Friends come and watch and it was great! It was good to play at my hometown of SD to see all of my family there. All the girls after the game were exhausted and tired but we still managed to keep ourselves moving by waking up the next day at 6 to leave for East Bay at 7AM!!!!

The East Bay game was a hard game because the field was covered in dips and holes on the ground and it was hard to connect, and again we stuck it out and performed our best. We knew we had to win this game to keep our spot at # 1.

Everyone after the game felt accomplished and happy at the same time that we reached one of our many goals of the season.

The next goal that we have is to win the CCAA tournament! Which we will =)

Good Job Ladies! Stay Strong and Fight.

-LIzzz Franco

Women's Cross Country Blog (Vivien #3)

2009-10-28T12:00:00.001-07:00

This past Saturday the women's cross-country team had our conference race. Out of a field of a 100 runners we had 6 finish in the top 50. I won the race for the 2nd time in a row. It was a tough course, with a few brutal hills, and there are some talented runners in our conferenece. So, I was really excited to be able to win the conference title again.

The team finished in fourth place, but we were only 16 points away from 2nd place. In order for us to make it nationals, we will have to run our butts off at the regional meet next week in San Francisco.

Only the top 4 teams in our region will advance to the national race. The team is strong and healthy, now we just have to really push hard this next race, or the season is over for us. I'm hoping to make it as an individual by finishing in the top 5. However, I would rather be able to go to nationals with my team.

Women's Cross Country Blog (Vivien #2)

2009-10-13T17:22:00.001-07:00

The cross-country season is well on its way. Our team has been progressing, and I have faith in them and hope we are able to get it together for our conference meet next week.

Vivian Rico has been a pleasant surprise this season, her times have dramatically dropped from last year. I expect her and Lorena to really step it up and help the team make it to nationals. Keri and Justina are also doing well, but we will need them to really push hard in the next few races.

The talent and potential is there for this team to make it to nationals again this year.

We will be competing this week at the Cal State Norhtridge Invitational at Balboa Park in Van Nuys. The race starts at 4:45 p.m..

Women's Soccer Blog (Liz #5)

2009-10-13T11:18:00.001-07:00

AHHHHHH I can't believe we are half way done with the season.

The scores and standings this year are tight. We are fighting our way to stay in first, but this year is the toughest in the south division since I got here. We are pretty much even in points with 3 other south teams and I believe we have what it takes to be the CCAA conference Champions.

It's been crazy to see our team develop from day 1 to today. It has been a journey and adventure to the greatest.

The San Francisco trip was a blast and the Humboldt /Sonoma trip was even more interesting. We fought back from being down 3-0 in the first half against Humboldt and stayed with a tie. That game was outrageous because their fans were yelling and screaming but that didn't stop us. I am so proud to be part of this team and that night, we all as team were proud to represent CSULA.

Sonoma game, we knew we had that game no doubt we just needed to finish our chances and it took us again to double overtime to come out with a win. We are excited to play San Diego and East Bay this weekend and hope to see all our fans there!

Liz

Ps. The Bus Drive to Humboldt was insane and long.

Volleyball Blog (Annie #4)

2009-09-28T23:00:00.001-07:00

This is just what we were looking for.

We have won four consecutive matches since last Tuesday. Things have been looking great for us the past three games. Cal State Dominguez Hills didn't stand a chance in any of the three games. We played amazing against Cal State San Fransicsco and Monterary Bay. The tables have turned and we are on a winning streak that isn't about to be broken.

The next two weeks we will be traveling. This week we play at Cal State San Bernardino on Friday and at Cal Poly Pomona on Saturday.

Bring it on!

Annie K

Volleyball Blog (Annie #3)

2009-09-14T10:02:00.001-07:00

Things have been a bit hectic lately in the volleyball world.

Let's see, where did I leave off from? On August 4^th and 5^th, we were down at UCSD for a tournament. We started off really rocky in the morning against Alaska Anchorage. It was our first loss in the tournament.

In honest opinion, it was one of the worst games I have ever seen us play. We just weren't in it that morning which really shouldn't happen or be an excuse. Our court culture and demeanors were horrible.

Our next game was in the afternoon against Mesa St. We rebounded quickly and swept them easily in three. Our next match was against Northern Michigan. We let them get away with a game but took them down in four. Our last tournament match was against Saginaw Valley. This team basically out played us with heart. We lost in five. This definitely wasn't our best weekend.

After this tournament, Randi and Breezy pushed us to our limits in practice. Practice was pushed up to a faster tempo. Although we left exhausted, we were getting the training we needed. Conference was finally starting.

We had a super long travel weekend up to Humbolt and Sonoma. The kick off to season was amazing for us. We put a statement on Humbolt and took them in three. We didn't give them the slightest hope. The next morning we drove four hours to Sonoma.

We came in to Sonoma knowing that they had an undefeated record and were ranked 15^th in the nation. We knew they had everything to lose and we had everything to gain. This was the game we trained for all week long. Coming in, we had one of the best warm ups of our season. We definitely were ready to play and break their perfect record.

We battled it out back and forth till five games. Sonoma should have been done and over with at game four but something with us just didn't click. Passes were off, sets weren't on, and the ball wasn't being put to the wood. Game five was where we just fell apart.

We are furious and disappointed in ourselves. We all need to step up our game mentally. Physically, we can compete with anyone. Our mental game is where the work needs to be done. "Winning is the only option." This quote needs to all be engraved in our minds and hearts. The past is the past. It is now done and over with. We start a brand new week of training and matches.

This week we play against UCSD @ home on Friday at 7 p.m. On Saturday we play against CSU East Bay @ home, 7 p.m. UCSD will be a definite big game. Come support and cheer us on!

Annie Kim #10

Women's Soccer Blog (Liz #4)

2009-09-06T19:40:00.000-07:00

Another win Saturday night and we are now 3-0. I am super excited to start conference games this coming week.

We are up against Dominguez Hills and they are going DOWN!!!!

I feel like we are ready to show everyone what we are capable of doing. We still have yet to show our full potential. Our team is growing everyday and we are having a great time enjoying our success on the field ( keep it up ladies).

This last game we won 9-0, we wanted to show no mercy and to be professional about it at the same time. We got our shut-out (which we wanted) and clearly this kind of score won't happen again in season.

I am also very excited because I broke the record for most career assist!! This is a huge accomplishment for me because I came to this school wanting to break records and I succeeded that as a junior.

I would like to thank my forwards and to everyone else who have scored a goal off my assist. Haha without you guys I would not hold this record.

Lets continue to Rock and work hard so we can enjoy the win.

Volleyball Blog (Annie #2)

2009-08-30T22:33:00.001-07:00

This week has definitely been a roller coaster for us. We have had a ton of injuries L and ineligible players (thanks to NCAA). It's okay though because our team will be back in action in no time..

We had an outstanding day this Friday taking down both Alaska Fairbanks and Seattle Pacific. First game nerve jitters were unleashed against UAF. SPU definitely put a fight up against us but the golden eagles definitely took on the spot light. It was an amazing day for us all!

However, we lost in five against Western Washington. This game showed us our mistakes and the weak areas we definitely need to work on. This loss will be a lesson learned. Overall, we've had a good weekend and there will be many more to come.

Our next tournament will be hosted down at UCSD. Good job girls! Keep our heads high and keep working hard!

Women's Soccer Blog (Liz #3)

2009-08-28T11:08:00.000-07:00

What an amazing performance from everyone last night.

Good Job Ladies!

The energy was high, everyone was excited to play and nervous at the same time. I was pretty nervous and eager to start the season myself and it is finally here. I noticed that all the girls were really loud getting ready in the locker room, which meant nerves were kicking in. Which was pretty funny to watch, it reminded me that I wasn't this excited or nervous last year and couldn't remember how I felt my first game.

It was exciting to see all the newcomers play for the first time under the stadium lights with the excitement of the crowd. I can see that they were focus to win and ready to come out with lots of energy to make this season the best.

The first few minutes of the game were crazy, everyone was filled with energy and competing 100%. The first half was also a nerve breakout. Everyone started to settle down second half after the first 5 minutes when we were up 3-0.

It was such a great feeling because we knew we had this game, when we scored the 4th, it was over. We knew we just had to keep the shutout, which we did. =)

The soccer boys and fans did a good job in making sure we felt the support and help feeling the thrill of playing our first season game home.

Thanks!

I am more excited to play the next game and cant wait to see the success of this amazing team.

-Liz Franco

Mens Soccer Blog (Derrek #5)

2009-08-20T17:01:00.001-07:00

So once again I’m back and have more to say about the past week or so. We have made a lot of progress this year and we’re showing a lot of promise. We are a good group of guys and we seem to be coming together more and more each day.

Where to start though?

We’ve played three games and won all of them. One being the alumni game and the other two were NAIA schools. Now that we are coming over the hill into the last few days of two a days we are getting very excited about season. Hopefully all keeps going in the right direction and we don’t acquire any major setbacks.

On the lighter side, it seems Federico Cino has a secret admirer from our women’s’ team, if anyone has any information please contact him via facebook or any other medium. I believe it’s a (661) number so maybe we should check the phone list. Also, today we had a cross training session in the pool and we all agreed that Freddy looked dashing in his man-kini, even though he missed a spot or two!!!

Kristian Gaustad has been the first victim of the bottle buy-back from Lori. Although he didn’t actually know he had lost it somehow, using my entrepreneurship skills, I was able to coax Lori to selling it to me for $1 and I am now awaiting his payment of $2.50. I think there’s hope in this business for me yet! Lets see, I’m not too sure what else I have to report to everyone so I guess that’ll be it for this week.

Hope to see more people at the next game(s).

Women's Soccer Blog (Liz #2)

2009-08-19T14:24:00.001-07:00

Hello to everyone who reads this! I like to keep my blogs short and simple because I know nobody has the time to read a 3 page blog.

We are almost done with double days and we have one more pre-season game to go. Last night's game was fun, I think everyone played hard and competed pretty well. I feel like we could of done better, but this was just an exercise for us and mentally as a team I think we need to prepare ourselves more better for season.

Personally, I had lots of fun at the game because my mom came and she has not seen me play in a year! Ha-ha I was super excited and glad she saw me score.

There is one more pre-season game to go and I am looking forward to seeing everyone there to support us.

Women's Volleyball Blog (Annie #1)

2009-08-17T22:18:00.001-07:00

Constant whistles blown by the referees, volleyballs bouncing out of control, fussy fans cheering in the stands, and every girl in the gym is hungry to play the game. This is the epitome of a volleyball tournament.

CSLA women's volleyball team had their very first scrimmages of the season at Azusa Pacific University (APU). The three teams we battled it out against were APU, Biola University, and Cal Baptist. We swept APU in both games; there was a slip up against Biola in the second game, and there definitely was some deep competition against Cal Baptist. All in all, we proved to show a promising season.

UP AND COMING: This year we have a great freshmen class. Our middle blocker, Marquis Mora was unstoppable at today's tournament. This girl is like the Great Wall of China. She "houses" balls like no other and hits bullets to the ground. Sade Greene is also another one of our middle blockers. She is currently battling a knee injury but will be amazing once she is back on the court. Bianca Ngo and Kaitlynd Carroll are our talented and bright freshmen liberos. No balls drop when it comes to them.

Upcoming junior, Kassie Faulkner has got to be one of our most athletic girls on the team. This girl can jump out of the gym! Once Kassie jumps in the air, you might as well go and take a nap because she won't be coming down for a while. She red-shirted last year but she will definitely be one of our impact players this coming year.

Amrita Tuladhar is our multi- talented setter. Not only can she set but she can pretty much do "all of the above" in the game of volleyball. She is one of the fastest girls on our team. Amrita will red- shirt this upcoming year for the Golden Eagles.

These next five days are double day hell. Actually, they're really not too bad. They only make us stronger and the team can only go up from here.

The next time we play will be on…

August 28^th

UAF v. CSULA at 1pm @ HOME

SPU v. CSULA at 7pm @ HOME

August 29^th

WW v. CSULA at 7pm @ HOME

Therefore you should mark your calendars and cheer us on! =]

Annie #6

Women's Soccer Blog (Liz #1)

2009-08-17T16:00:00.001-07:00

Hello, my name is Liz Franco I am on the women's soccer team. This would be my junior year playing at Cal State LA!!

I am very excited to start season! We just got done with two preseason games and we are looking very sharp. I am very happy with the performances that our newcomers are making and I am very pleased to see our team coming together.

This year we had the biggest recruiting class of 17 new girls and I feel like we are about ready to start this season. I can't wait for double days to be over, I feel like everyone is improving daily and are working very hard to make this season the best one.

Keep up the work ladies!

Cross Country Blog (Vivien #1)

2009-08-16T15:50:00.001-07:00

Hello, my name is Vivien Wadeck, and I am a distance runner for Cal State Los Angeles. I was asked to keep a blog this season, and I'm really looking forward to share the ups and downs, and the triumphs and struggles of being a distance runner.

Our season has officially begun, but we will not have our first meet until September 5th. What most people don't know about distance running is we only get a few weeks off a year. We are constantly running, and for the past couple of months we have been doing high mileage, between 60-80 miles a week. I have always wondered why we had to do so many miles of training for a 3 mile race, but I really see the benefits of all the hard workouts.

My cross-country team is young, but the girls that Coach Gretchen has recruited, have a lot of potential. Many of them are tough and willing to do the work to make this season more successful than last years. I'm really excited to be running with such talented athletes!

Mens Soccer Blog (Derrek #4)

2009-08-13T19:01:00.001-07:00

As I look over the past few blogs I have written it becomes apparent to me that I really need to stay awake when writing these! I apologize for my use of grammar, or lack there of!! If you can’t understand what I wrote don’t worry because I’m sure you’re not the only one. It would seem that a senior in college should get this type of stuff right but hey, I’m a film major so words aren’t my forte! Anyway, this morning was a bit on the easy side, slowing down for some ladder work and shooting drills. We spent the majority of the practice going straight to goal with a mixture of crossing and mixed running patterns, trying to get our techniques right. We finished off with a small sided drill in which we split into two teams, and whoever scored the most won. It was a slow morning because we would be playing full field in the afternoon.

This afternoon was straight up 11 v. 11. We got into our teams, warmed up for ten, and then played. Two 33’ halves would be enough for the day. Trying a few new things, like some players in different positions for both teams, the orange would end up winning the day. Returning player Spencer Tripp would work for a hat-trick showing he’s ready for this year. The main goal of the full field game was to simply look at players in various positions. So, after that, we warmed down and called it a day. So hopefully this was an easier one to ready and I’ll be sure to be more aware in the future, but bare with me cause I’m sure I’m not the only one who needs his sleep!!

Mens Soccer Blog (Derrek #3)

2009-08-12T15:58:00.000-07:00

Each morning it seems that we are getting up earlier and earlier when the truth of the matter is nothing has changed. But when we get our gear on and warmed up it seems to all go away. The mornings have consisted of overcast with sun trickling through at the end so it’s a nice way to start off. This morning we went straight to a 5 v. 5 tournament, two teams played, one team set their players as neutrals on each side of the goals and the fourth team of 5 did a bit of running. So far everyone has put forth all their energy and it’s been showing. The competitiveness never stops and this fueled that spark even more. The games were very close, coming down to the end when the second third and fourth place teams all had two wins a piece. But that wasn’t all once we had played all our games. We went straight into running shoes and hit the track for a good hard 12 minutes, just over the 2 mile test pace. After waking up early, playing twice a day for the past few days and just having practice for a solid hour in a tournament style competition, it was not just a walk in the park but a good test for us as we must learn how to pace and control ourselves. Then we calmly brought it in and finished out half of the days work.

To round out the day in the second portion, we started off with some much needed longer warm up with some cone work and lots of stretching. When we are preparing for season it’s imperative that we take good care of ourselves both on and off the field therefore by gradually warming up to playing we make sure to prevent major injuries or minor ones for that matter. However, the meat and potatoes of the day we played a version of 8 v. 8 in which we boxed out two guys, making them players 9 and 10 on either side, as targets to put in service when needed. It’s all about defense for now. Each day we get closer and closer to pre-season games and we just want to be ready by the time we kick off our season so knowing that all the work and effort we put in now will show up when we need it most. But today was a challenging day in all. It’s just a matter of making the right habits now.

Mens Soccer Blog (Derrek #2)

2009-08-11T15:57:00.000-07:00

Another early morning on the rise today, only the second of our 2 week double day training period and what wouldn’t be nicer than getting up at 7am to do what only a small percent of people are lucky enough to be a part of, yet still in the back of our minds wishing we could have got an extra five minutes of rest! Showing up early in the training room trying to get injury free we walked out after some stretching and TLC to our minor aches. We warmed up together as a team and went straight to 1v1 defending drills. We use this as a building block for our season, if you can’t do this well, we won’t survive the later minutes of our season. Many guys showed well on the attack, others on the defensive side. No matter what we all have strengths and weaknesses so by identifying what we can do better now will work wonders in the long run. Transitioning what we just learned over into a 7v.7 drill to targets we tried to focus on our defense. Three teams total, two played while one ran. It was non-stop throughout as we finished off with some sprints dribbling the ball down the field and back as a relay race against the other teams. The effort today was very good. If we can hold up like this all year things will shape up quickly and we will be a contender for a championship yet again.

In the afternoon we played a variation of games that also used the tactics we were taught during the morning session. Starting off with 4 v. 1’s, transistioning to 7 v. 3’s, 10 v. 5’s and then 9 v. 9. The first three games were for us to concentrate on our defending, closing men down and working together in tight spaces. The numbers were uneven to make us get a good hard workout in because when we were the ones defending, we were chasing down the ball as a unit to cut off passing lanes and make the players move the ball in the direction we were forcing them. To close out a long day we simply finished with some push and sit and called it.

Mens Soccer Blog (Derrek #1)

2009-08-10T13:56:00.000-07:00

Today we started off at 8am on an overcast morning. For the first time this year we would be able to run together as a team. We kicked off with group 1 running the 2-mile. Our goal is for everyone to come in fit and run as far below 12:00 minutes as possible. With everyone putting up a good time it was a good start to the year. Group 2 then ran and did not disappoint. They were able to hold up to their part of the deal showing that this year was going to be different as both captains stepped up and took the first place finish in each group. After all the remaining guys who had to run as a 3rd group because of certain uncontrollable factors due to the recent furlough days, we walked off the track this morning feeling pretty good about each other.

The afternoon today was just to get a feel of each other. We played an 11v. 11 scrimmage dividing up into our respectable teams and played straight up. Tying 2-2, there were signs of hope for the season. Many guys came to play even after putting up some of their personal records or tying their personal records on the 2-mile. Only a couple guys had to tend to unforeseen circumstances but we rotated guys in and out playing with a bit of fire and tenacity that we only hope will increase each day of training. After two thirties we could say that we are ready to gear it up and get to some training tomorrow. So after a long day we called it and await tomorrow.

Volleyball Blog (Natalia #1)

2009-07-23T12:19:00.001-07:00

Hiiiieee! For those of who don't know me, I'm Natalia Gonzalez, but most people simply just call me Tall or Tal. I'm a junior on the volleyball team here at Cal State L.A.

So, what to write for a first blog? Hmmm, well I think you all should know I'm pretty gosh darn excited because, I'm turning 21 on Wednesday! Haha, no not really. Well, I mean I am, but that's not really why I'm so excited... Actually, volleyball season starts up again on August 10th, that's only a mere 17 days away!

I came to CSULA last year in the fall, after playing two seasons at CCAA rival Cal Poly Pomona; many people considered me a traitor, but... that's okay because there's plenty of CPP athletes and staff that have made the switch, haha. Anyways, I had to red-shirt last season because I transfered within the conference. It wasn't as hard as some people might think. I definitely looked at it as something that could only make me better; I learned alot more about the game and took advantage of the whole extra year I had to train on and off the court. The only downside was not being able to travel with the team anywhere, even close away games. I had to drive all alone to San Diego and San Bernardino in my little Prelude with no AC. This year, not so much. Alot of things will be different.

In January of this year long time head coach Bill Lawler decided to coach at Golden West JC, so now we've got a new coaching staff. Randi Smart moved from assistant to head coach, and she brought on one of her old players, Breezie Jordan. I've known both for a very long time and have learned so much about the game from them and I know that they will do an amazing job leading us, I'm extremely happy they are here. They have also recruited seven new players to add to our ten returners. I am super anxious to meet all of them as well as see the rest of the girls who will be back, because although I've been playing and working out all summer, it's been a long one waiting for season to start since I'm coming off a red-shirt year.

But I know I'm not the only one on the team this anxious, last year we lost in the Regional Semi-Final match to... it hurts to say... Pomona... by two points in the fifth game. In the off-season before summer, we were training almost everyday as hard as we could because everyone of us has made it our goal to win the Region and advance to the Final Four this fall. It's going to be a great season. ;]

But I do still have two weeks of summer left, so when the 10th finally does roll around, then I'll let you know all about our glorious two weeks of double days. In the mean time, I'll continue to soak up as much sun as I can get and countdown to my adulthood, which I will be celebrating with The Fray in Irvine. Happy Birthday to me!

Natalia