Off the Field With Anik Huffman and Lindsay Curtin
Sept. 9, 2004
Follow Anik Huffman as she takes us through her senior season at UM while freshman Lindsay Curtin shares the experience of her first season at Miami in a first-hand account of what it’s like to be a part of Hurricane Soccer.
Wednesday, September 7
Senior Midfielder Anik Huffman reflects on emotions beginning her senior season while dealing with Hurricane Frances.
Today is September 7, my birthday! It’s also Jyene Mack’s birthday and Jackie Garcia’s was yesterday – funny how we are all so close together. Last night we all came together for practice since Hurricane Frances was over. She really messed up the weekend, but oh well there are just some things we can’t control. We were supposed to play FSU and Georgia this weekend – we will definitely reschedule the FSU game since they are an in-conference opponent.
Most of our team in the dorms to weather the storm, but a few people went home to their families. I was in Orlando with my family and although it was interesting to say the least, but it could have been a lot worse. Luckily the storm weakened before it hit Florida.
Even though Frances was an unexpected break in our season and we had to miss some games, we are ready to bounce back for our game Friday with Auburn.
The first weekend was a disappointment to come home losing both games, but we now know what to expect in our ACC competition and I know we are definitely ready to step up. I think our team is so close this year and hopefully we will prove resilient and be ready to go back in fighting this week and get things on track. Knowing we are the newcomers to the ACC gives us incentive to prove ourselves and earn a respected spot in perhaps the nation’s best conference.
We had the opportunity to go to Brazil for preseason this year!! It was an amazing experience, I’m so glad I had the chance to do that in my final preseason. I found myself being sentimental about preseason a little. Myself, Radice (Andrea Radice), G.G. (Gitana Gotay), and Brit (Britney Butcher) are all the seniors. Everyone thought we were crazy to say, “oh, our last fitness test,” but believe us you guys will feel that way too in a few years. My experience has been amazing here at Miami and I continue to look forward to what this season will bring and our potential to make a name for ourselves. The freshman are awesome and it took them no time at all to bond with the rest of the team. We left for Brazil with a group of 23 girls and returned a close-knit team. It was exciting to bet to immerse ourselves in the culture and play some Brazilian teams.
The food in Brazil was interesting. They brought it around on skewers – so think a giant shish-ka-bob with just meat on it. You just have your little prongs and so the universal “yes or no nod” if you would like to sample a piece of whatever was rotating around. Everyone was hilarious trying new things and trying to step out of our comfort zone. We all learned “obrigado” meaning thank you in Portuguese. This is the only Portuguese word most of us took home and although the Portuguese language was hard, the people were so welcoming and gracious.
We went to two professional games for the local Campinas team (this is a sub-burb of Sao Paolo where we stayed). You know how you see the games on T.V. on Spainsh channels and see how excited the crowd gets? Well it really is that way in person too. We loved the games and adopted the team, Ponte Prete, like they were our own. We learned that in the club’s 104 years of existence, they have yet to win the championship. One guy told me “We suffer with the team because they haven’t won” – this is how deep their loyalty runs. Chappy (Kristen Chapman) Yach (Lindsey Yach) and G.G. were so funny and animated at the games. They taught the mascot of Ponte Prete American cheers for this team which he loved, and he taught us the Ole – Ole cheer they do. Oh my gosh, walking into the games was something none of us will ever forget!!! The people in the streets went crazy seeing American girls. We were so grateful for our bodyguards at that point – it was kind of overwhelming. Maybe the funniest point of the trip was when Jackie and Kelly (Kelly Pflugner) accidentally stepped in rotten meat in the streets walking into the game. I think it was the absolute most indescribably grossest smell (enough adjectives?) we had all ever encountered. We are all dying laughing. There are so many more wonderful memories we have created as a team so far in Brazil, and the first few weeks of the season.
It was a tough preseason overall, but will serve us well and hopefully we will gain momentum this week and carry it with us for the rest of the season. We are all anxious to make the impact we know we have the capability to do. I’m actually at the UC now and going to grab lunch before I head to practice. This group of ladies at the table next to me have a map of Hurricane Ivan and are sitting there comparing it to Frances. I know I speak on behalf of our team and really the whole state to say, “no more – go away Ivan” but whatever happens we will be ready and as the unexpected events that have already happened will show – we can overcome anything and won’t let anything get us down!!!
– Anik
Freshman midfielder Lindsay Curtin soaks up the privilege of playing her first match as Hurricane in her home state of Virginia.
After a little over two weeks of a grueling pre-season, 10 days in Brazil, and 2 days of class, we were already off to our first game of the season. Everyone was excited, but I was especially excited to fly to Virginia for my first ever college soccer game, and have it be in my home town. Our first game was Friday against George Mason which is two minutes from my house, so I was really pumped to play in front of my friends and family.
Despite out-shooting GMU in our first game, we came out with a disappointing 2-0 loss. We were all a little upset but we all set our minds to coming out hard against UVA on Sunday.Saturday morning before driving down to UVA we had lunch at my house, which was so cool, because everyone on the team was able to see where I lived and meet my family. Plus, I was definitely in need of a nice, home cooked meal!
After seeing my family it was off to UVA to play in our first ever ACC game. We were actually the first of any Miami sports team to play in an ACC game, which is awesome. Although we came out strong, we received a nice welcome to the ACC with a tough 4-0 loss. But now that we know what the competition is like, we will be ready.
And we were, but because of Frances, the Hurricane, our games against Florida State and Georgia were canceled this weekend. Hopefully they will be rescheduled soon, but until then, we have out first home game, Wednesday at 7. I can’t wait for my first ever game at Cobb Stadium! I know we are going to so amazing! Wish us luck!
– Lindsay
