So, this is the first blog post of the official year, YAY! It’s been a long time coming, I know, but for whatever reason, I decided it would be advantageous to further my knowledge at Centre College by taking Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Organic Chemistry II, Government: An Introduction to Politics, and Anatomy and Physiology all during soccer season while maintaining active roles within my sorority and my parish community. So, three science classes and a six hour lab day every week on top of a Gen Ed, soccer practice, chapter meetings, etc, etc, here I type today. Fortunately, I am alive and well enough to be writing this. Unfortunately, in the process of my academic and social endeavors, I have lost many of my faithful followers to the blog. As this does sadden me, I promise now to set aside a procrastination hour every Monday dedicated solely to the blog.
So, since not everyone is aware and may not been keeping track on us this year, let me be the first to summarize what an incredible ride we have had thus far. Our season started off strong as we went 6-0. We were ranked as high as #8 in the nation and #1 in the Great Lakes Region. We won games that some people thought were impossible. Since then, we have also won games that we thought should have had different outcomes. We have backed 8 shut outs led by our fearless goalie, Kelli Lenz and we sit today as 9-3-1 overall and 2-2-1 in conference play.

A bad record? I would not say that. When you compare our schedule to our stats, never in my wildest dreams would I imagine that we would have scored over 27 goals, 9 of them being off of dead balls, at this point in the year. Overall, only four goals and one penalty kick have been scored on us in 13 games. At the end of the day, we have shaped up to be a very, very good team, and we are just now settling in.

“Where has all of this success come from” is a common question asked around school. With the loss of a very precedent senior class, how did we make such a quick turnaround? Honestly, there is not one thing that can be pin-pointed as our reason of success. Sure, we have all put in hard work and dedication over the summer and that showed during pre-season. Yeah, we have had some lucky finishes and stops, but I would not say that all of our success has come from luck alone. Luck would never be able to happen if we didn’t first put ourselves in a position for the luck to pay off. What does this mean? I don’t care what anyone says, if someone “luckily scored off of a header” then it had to have come from a good cross. Or if someone on the other team had “luckily missed that goal” it was because our defense settled down and was directed well enough by our goalie and didn’t give proper angles. Plus, luck doesn’t happen over and over and over no matter how good of a person you are. Case closed, luck is not what it has come down to this year. This year has come down to straight up inspiration.

Our very first game against Transy started off our season. It was a mid-week game and we had been going non-stop for all of pre-season. Before the game, Jay read us a letter from a former player. Her words of encouragement inspired us to leave it all on the field and to play every day as if it were our last game. That game was a nice 4-1 victory. Inspiration carried us through our next 5 games. Were we expected to beat Otterbein #2 in the nation at a field that was smaller than what we are used to playing? No. Did that stop us? No. Jay simply looked at us all and said, “We have nothing to lose, they have everything to lose. Go out there, and play the game you love with your best friends.” We won 1-0. Being led by underclassmen, we scored 19 goals in the first six games. Not only that, but 7 of those goals were off of corner kicks, which previously have always been a struggle for Centre Women’s Soccer. That is not luck, that is inspiration.

Our first loss was a hard in-region game, but we did not go down without a fight. Our second loss was our very first conference game. We played Trinity at home, and it was not by a lack of inspiration there. Our fans, known as the “Centre bros and babes” came out and painted up to spell out “Centre Soccer” and they cheered until they could cheer no more. As far as our play went, we played some of our best soccer, afraid of nothing, playing for everyone in white. We scored in the first twenty minutes and controlled most of the game. With 6 minutes left in the game, through some controversial officiating, Trinity scored. They ended up winning in double overtime. We won the next conference game versus Southwestern 2-0. We went the next week down to Texas and played Austin for our third conference game. We ended up losing 1-0 due to a PK. We as a team couldn’t find the back of the net. It was here where we saw a lack of focus. In an effort to change that around, Coach Jay and Coach Chis decided to change our warm up for field players and keepers alike. This did, in fact, inspire us to perform at a level we had previously forgotten as we went on to win 3-0. Over Fall Break, we went on to play at Sewanee and after controlling the entire first half got scored on in the second half. Within the next 2 minutes, senior Chloe Toohey decided she had enough and found the back of the net to try and inspire the rest of the team to follow. Although we all worked hard, unfortunately, the game ended in a drawl.

This leads us back to last night. We have been in the need for a good win for the past couple of weeks. We also had been in the need for a little inspiration, you know, just a little reminder of who we are as CWS and what we want to accomplish. Our seniors, without any kind of hint from the coaches, went out and bought us ribbon. They had each of us tie a piece of ribbon to our left cleat. This ribbon reminds us every time we hang our head low that even at the lowest of times, we are here for each other. We have to find and dig deep when all else fails. When we seem to come up short, we have to find a way to persevere. If one girl next to us is working hard, we need to have the mentality to work harder to push each other to the best of our abilities. That is what Centre Women’s Soccer means to the senior class and therefore that is what CWS means to all of us.

So, where does that leave me? Well, I’m still in my classes, and I’m still having a rough time figuring out what I want to do with my life. I am still trying to keep my head above the water, and I pray to succeed. But, now, I also realize how much inspiration is around me. One time, I had a test from 3-4 before a game on game day, and a team mate ran to my dorm, got everything I forgot and got me Subway so that way I could have 20 extra minutes to take a nap before focusing on the game. Then, there are those times I look out on the field at the first year girls who have made an immediate impact to this team, and to those who have so much to learn and continue to share with us. I look around at those girls who bring so much to the team in areas other than just soccer. I look out at the girls who are injured, who are rehabilitating, or those who have just come back from a serious injury and I cannot even imagine the type of dedication and hard work that it took them to be where they are today and what they have to give. Those people, along with the players we always hear about who can score off will or prevent a goal without a second thought, are the people who inspire me most at Centre College.
Inspiration is not something that can be said, only something that can be seen through actions or felt. It’s the reason that I play with reckless abandonment. It is the reason that I don’t want to stop in the 89th minute because I’m too tired to make that last tackle or that one last sprint. It’s the reason that at the end of the game, there is always a piece inside of me that hopes that we could play for just 5 more minutes. Inspiration is the reason that good things don’t die hard, and a definite reason to why good things never truly come to an end.

Our run for the 2011 season began on October 18 with a huge in region win over Maryville in overtime 1-0. Our run won’t end for another 3-4 weeks. Although I haven’t been on much yet this year, this news is definitely blog worthy, so I thought I’d share. Until Monday, Centre Women still Rock!

Preseason is both mentally and physically exhausting, so in an effort to release as much tension as possible, the Centre Women’s Soccer coaching staff tried to create different activities throughout the week to promote team unity.  After our scrimmage versus Bellarmine on Sunday afternoon, Monday morning we took the day off to go visit Claiborne Farms.

Claiborne Farms is where Secretariat was conceived.  Secretariat was born in West Virginia and then returned to Kentucky after winning the triple crown to breed for the remainder of his life.  Jay and Coach Chis thought taking a visit to Claiborne Farms would be beneficial to our team this year especially since we have a very diverse Freshman class.  This is the first time ever where we have girls native to eight different states around the US (Texas, Indiana, Illinois, Arkansas, North Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, and Kentucky).  Going to Claiborne Farms allowed them to understand the tradition of Kentucky and to see how the past has helped shape what we still do today.

Below is a picture of “Blame” who won the Breeder’s Cup last year.

While talking about the care it takes to uphold such amazing animals, we learned more and more about the tradition and pride that the horse farm takes for their horses and the horses bred there.  Jay proceeded to relate this to Centre Women’s Soccer.  He had a former player write to us a letter about what CWS meant to her.  She went on to explain a year by year account of her favorite memories of the good and challenging times working within the program. Much like at the horse farm, we began to see the pride and joy that can be found throughout our program.

The team behind Secretariat’s grave

The team in front of the Kersey’s house:

After the horse farm, the team traveled to Winchester, KY, home of Mariah Pohl (’15) and Mary-Taylor Kersey (’13).  We went to the Kersey’s house for some great food and fun.On Tuesday, to further promote team bonding and to see how well we could work together, we went to “Wild Thyme” in Lexington to participate in a cooking class!

All in all, through the bruises and pain, preseason was a successful one.  With the respect, hard work, and optimism seen from the coaching staff, seniors, juniors, sophomores, and incoming first years, we are excited about the upcoming season and what is in store for this year’s CWS team.

Thursday ends the countdown that everyone has had in the works for the past ten months. The next season of Centre Women’s Soccer and the beginning of a new era amongst CWS with new achievements are within reach. It’s funny how everyone is so ready for this day, and then it finally gets here, and there are just too many emotions to express.

There is excitement: being back together as 30 individuals working for one ultimate purpose. There is curiosity: how will we all mesh as we welcome the new players into our close knit team? There is worry: am I going to be able to make a difference this year?  Can I do what is necessary to be a leader for this team? There is happiness: I’m ready to take on this season with my team, my family.

But how should a player enter preseason?

Honestly, there is nothing anyone can say to a player as they mentally prepare for preseason. Why? Because before we think of the season, preseason training sessions, fun activities, or even the opening scrimmage, we think of fitness tests.  We are athletes. We know that there are things we must accomplish in order to have the opportunity to play.

Whether it is your first or last time running those 20/40s, even if you have been able to do them all summer, everyone gets antsy around this time.  That is normal.  Keep this in mind: either be confident or anxious, but don’t be nervous. Confidence shows you are ready and know that you can do what you need to do. Confidence comes because you have complete control over your emotions and know that you are only ten minutes away from the next goal, a great pre season.  Being anxious is okay too, because it just means you’re ready to prove you can to yourself and the team and the coaches.  Being anxious means you know you can do it, you just want it to be over with. Nervousness is not what you want. Nervousness causes unnecessary worry, stress, and possible negative thoughts.  If you have been working out during the summer and following the workout program, don’t be nervous, you can do this.

Instead of being nervous and fearing, trust. Let your optimism be greater than your doubt. My dad has always instilled in me a saying, “Good things happen to good people.” Be optimistic, be confident, be anxious, and trust in yourself that you can do it. Its ten minutes. That’s all. And after, begins a wonderful pre season full of training, skill work, and memories.

The ability to play can be found in many people, but the passion to play can only be found in a few.  There are around 30 of us this season. Let’s start it right by being the few.

When you are thinking about the past or worrying about the future, instead focus your energy on the present moment. The now is where your power is the greatest.

Two days, my friends.

CENTER WOMEN ROCK!

Four current Centre Women Soccer players as well as an alum had the opportunity to play this past weekend in The Tournament of Champions in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  Pictured below are Jessie Deffendall (’11), Chloe Toohey (’12), Brittany Eisner (’13), and Kelsey Boling (’12).  These girls played for Louisville Soccer Association, which is a team made up of women between the ages of 19-28 coached by Mike Hayes.  In playing games with 30 minute halves, the Louisville girls ended up taking 1st place in the tournament winning their first game 2-1 and their second game 3-1!  Although none of the Centre girls scored, each of them played a vital role in maintaining possession and control throughout the game which allowed for their team’s total five goals.  They are pictured here with their winning trophies!
Not pictured here (because she was the photographer) is Aubrey Holle (’12).  Aubrey, a Fort Wayne native, played for her local team who ended up placing second in the tournament.  All five girls did an incredible job representing the Centre Women’s Soccer program.  We are all so proud of them, wish the best for Jessie, and excited to have the opportunity to have the other four continue on this season at Centre!  Centre Women Rock!

What do I mean by this? For example, take the word “hard.”  Hard is an easy word which is commonly used.  However, as an adjective, it describes something physically, such as “not soft” or “firm.”  As an adverb, “hard” takes on a new meaning, to harshly or severely make a strong impact.  Furthermore, if used in England, the British will use “hard” in slang references while in America, we will use “hard” as an idiom, such as “to be hard on someone” (which means you are being stern with an individual).  Used in different contexts (such as noun, adverb, adjective, verb, preposition, etc), most words can have a different connotation.

So, how does this all relate to soccer?  I was sitting down analyzing my long day.  My little brother didn’t leave the car we share with any gas (which he also left a huge dent in the side), I received news from my orthodontist I might be a 20 year old with braces, and basically anything that could have gone wrong today, did.  The more I thought about the events of today, the worse my mood got.  I was talking with another teammate and I finally realized everything that happened today happened out of my control.

Control: (v)- to excersize restraint or direction over (n)- the act or power of controlling, regulating, or demanding (synonyms)- manage, restrain, rule

Control is one of those interesting words since in different contexts it has different meanings.  No matter how you look at it, though, one lesson that some people in life never fully accept is this: In life, we can’t control everything.

Although we can’t control everything, that doesn’t mean we can’t control some things.  Thinking about this upcoming season excites me.  As a team, we can’t control what we are ranked in pre-season.  We can’t control the blistering heat that Danville has experienced thus far this summer.  We can’t control our game schedule or the fact that this is our last year as members of the SCAC.  We can’t control how the Bermuda grass grows, or even if we will like all the food given to us in the cafeteria.  However, in the grand scheme, there are three very important factors that every individual player can control, and these are what motivates us for the 2011 Soccer Season. Effort, Attitude, and Energy are the only three constants in life that we always have the ability of controlling.

We can control how much time and push we put into each work out session.  That is our effort.  We can control our mindset and keep it positively looking forward one  day at a time towards our ultimate goal.  That is our attitude.  We can control the amount of reps, the intensity of our runs, the rigorousness of our work outs. That is our energy. As a team, if we can find a way to focus all of our individual controls and put them together as a single unit, this year is going to be like any other. This year is going to be the year of a tenacious, persistent, stubborn, adhesive team that works together to have complete control of the game.

23 more days.

As always, Centre Women Rock!

All of the CWS players that were able to come work Centre Soccer Camp as Counselors:

So what do these numbers mean?  They seem cool, and they are, but in reality they mean nothing.  As of now we do stand at the top of the SCAC conference, but we still have three more conference games to play, and we must win to remain at the top.

Before practice yesterday, Jay asked us if we wanted to know all of these statistics.  In unison, we decided we wanted to know.  For most teams, they would be proud of our accomplishments thus far this season.  However, for us, we realize what we have done is great, but it is not good enough, yet.  A 14-1 record is bonzer, but a 14-1 record means nothing when you have a 19 game season.  These next 4 games that we have within the next 3 weeks will be the most difficult games we have played this season.  They will challenge us mentally, emotionally, and physically like we have not dealt with this season.  Not only are we pushing to win to remain on top, but other teams are scratching trying to prove themselves worthy to be at the top.  Every team at this point in the season has one thing on their mind: a bid to the NCAA tourney.

To succeed at this point in the season, we must find it within ourselves to bring our best game every day to practice.  This will not only improve ourselves personally, but our team on a whole new level.  If we can play to our upmost highest standard with consistency, then our team will know what to expect.  Everyday, we must strive to put in more effort and a more positive attitude than everyone around us, and they must do the same for us.  This results in excellence on and off the field and a desire from everyone to be their best to make others better.

We are ready for the challenge.  Good teams are respected and awarded, great teams play with consistency at a level that other good teams respect.  Yesterday, we had about 1 minute to feel good about being ranked #14 until we began work day, just like every other Tuesday.  Consistency.  It was full of sprints and running hills and playing small sided soccer.  That’s just how it is, though.  Nothing has changed just because we are awarded for our accomplishments.  After all, our accomplishments come from the amount of work we put into practicing when no one is watching.  In the end, we can’t control everything with school, relationships, friends, or family, but we can always control two things: the amount of effort and the type of attitude we bring with us daily to the field.

Traveling to Texas for fall break was a great experience for the entire Centre Women’s soccer team. Where most people got to go home and spend time with family, we had the opportunity to spend even more time with our family away from home. Nevertheless, we were very fortunate to have many fans of our own come travel to Texas with us! Thank you again for all of the parents who traveled far and wide to come cheer us on this weekend-it meant the world to all of us. After a fun Thursday filled with 4am bus rides, an airplane flight, some nap time, shopping, and the Rainforest Café, we all fell asleep readily anticipating game day.

On Friday, we played Dallas where we won 4-1. Goals were scored by Christina Giles, Sarah Mastey, Morgan Collins, and Aubrey Holle. It was an exciting game because we had the opportunity to play our starting keeper, Kelli Lenz, as well as our first year keeper, Megan Foley. Saturday was another fun day full of shopping, rest, and travels to Sherman, Texas.

On Sunday, our match was against a very good Austin College team. At breakfast, Jay asked a few girls to bring cups to the game. Initially, we were all a bit rattled, but finally decided to do it; after all, Jay loves quirky things. While on our way from the hotel to the field, Jay came around and handed us all cups filled with water.

When the bus stopped, we went over some final arrangements for playing. We went over a few of the patterns that we could expect Austin to form, and what to do and how to react if we were to go down by a goal or two. Then, Jay said, “My dad was a great man, and always loved to have toasts before special occasions. So, as I stand before you all today, I would like to propose a toast.” We all looked around at each other and smiled- it started to become clear the reason why we were all holding cups of water.

Jay continued with his explanation for the purpose of the toast. The toast was for a 13-1 start to the season, for the two things we can control: our attitude and our effort, for our ability and our approach to the game, not to any arrogance or pride in our accomplishments, but most of all, the toast was for another chance to play with 21 of our favorite people on this earth.

Was this a normal toast? Some would say no. We were not dressed for a lavish dinner, we were not eating food, and we were not celebrating anything in particular. All in all, however, there were more reasons for us to have a toast than to not. This rendition was not a typical toast, but that’s okay, we are not a typical team. We were more than dressed for the occasion with our uniforms, cleats, and tinker bell glitter. We were not eating food, but we had hunger in our eyes and desire in our veins to come out hard and strong to push our 13-1 record to 14-1 and 8-0 in conference. Not to mention, Colonel, our dog, back in Danville was pretty hungry. We were not celebrating anything in particular, but we were celebrating all of our gifts that we possess that allow us to play so well with one another day in and day out. And the host was our coach, a person we all look up to with respect, and he was standing at the head of the team.

I found it very fitting we had our toast before our second game. Traveling to Texas was like the appetizer- good and fun, but not filling. We were still hungry, so we ordered a nice big steak for dinner- our first game against Dallas, which tasted so good once we won. But, we are a growing team, so we needed a dessert. We wanted something just to top off this trip, a big warm brownie with ice cream (like the ones we all ordered at the Rainforest Café without Jay knowing) for dessert- a sweet and perfect win against Austin. At the end of the day, the toast was given at a perfect time, after the dinner, and right before the dessert- our second win of the weekend.

After Morgan Collins found the feet of Brittany Garr late in the first half to put us up 1-0, the Colonels knew they had to keep eating until they were done. With their second win of the weekend, a shutout, their eighth win in conference, and fourteenth win on the season, nothing thus far has tasted any sweeter for the Colonels. Traveling home, we all felt full and ready for another hard week in preparation at practice for our home game this coming Homecoming weekend on Saturday against DePauw at 5:00pm.

The girls have so much fun on away trips.  This trip, we had five people work to straighten Sarah Mastey’s beautifully spirled golden curls!

Before our game versus Rhodes on Sunday, Jay stood in the front of the locker room.  “What is your gift?” he began.  “Are you fast?  Are you skilled? Are you both?”  As all of us looked around in the eyes of our teammates and best friends we all felt a sense of excitement.  We are fast.  We are skilled.  We are both. “Well, that’s great.  But, if you never use your gift of speed, is it truly a gift?  If you never use your technical ability to it’s full advantage, is it truly a gift?  And if you don’t play your heart out every time you get on that field, is it honestly a gift?”  This time, when we looked around at each other, we all got twinkles in our eyes.  We knew we all had gifts, and we were beginning to understand where Jay was going with this.  Then, all of the sudden, we were taken by surprise when he pulled out an actual present.  “I like to open my gifts,”  Jay smiled as he began ripping off the paper like a kid on Christmas.  He pulled out a box and opened it up to pull out a white piece of rolled up paper.  He unrolled it and it was our roster.  He continued, “I have 36 gifts, and I hope they all realize what they mean to this team.  Today, let’s share our gifts with others like we have already shared many times amongst these people in this room.  Let’s go, we don’t lose at home.”

That was all we needed to hear.  We don’t lose at home.  We have not lost in 2 years at home.  The last time we lost was against Rhodes in 2008, and that sweet taste of revenge pushed us through the game.

In the first half, no one scored.  In the second half, with 30 minutes left, Brittany Garr scored to put the Colonels up 1-0 off of an assist from Christina Giles.  The Lynx responded with 15 minutes left, but five minutes later Garr scored her second goal off of an assist from Catey Hunter to put the Colonels up 2-1.  Centre earned 9 shots in the second half and only allowed one shot by Rhods.  Kelli Lenz made five saves.

With this, the Centre Women’s Soccer Team are 7-0 in conference and are just one of two teams remaining undefeated in conference. Some people would call it luck, others call it skill.  I would like to think of it as confidence.  Confidence is knowing you can and proving it. Confidence is a gift.  The Centre Women’s soccer team thus far has shown that they have gifts and this proves they do not want to hide their gifts any more.