Corner Kicks with Bryn Heinicke

Sept. 21, 2006

Alright well I am pretty sure I have kept you all waiting long enough for the next journal entry, so here it is.

Things have been hectic around here both on and off the field and a lot has been happening. We have had three in-state games since we went up to N.C. and the first one was against FIU which is always a big game like I told you all last time.

The team was ready for this one considering last year we tied them and they always come out and play us tough. They always have their best showing against us, but this year was a little different. The first half we came out firing on all cylinders and scored a goal in the first three minutes of the game. That’s another little five minute sign we get to put up on the wall.

Let me explain the sign, we started a little thing this year that every time we score a goal in the first five minutes of every half we put up a five minute sign in our locker room. That is one of our goals in every game. We actually have about five or six signs up which is pretty impressive.

Ok, back to the goal. We had a little roomie action between Paulelette and myself in which she scored a header off my cross. Becky (Rebecca Tweneboah) scored in the second half off a great down the line pass from Danielle (Wyble). We were able to keep the tempo up the whole game but sometimes we pressed too much and weren’t able to complete our final ball because things were going to fast. All in all it was a great win and a fantastic feeling, and great way to go into our game against FAU.

Friday rolled around and we went up to Boca Raton to play FAU. This is always a difficult team to play in the sense that every time the ball would get to their defensive line they would just kick it away so the ball was never on the ground and just bouncing everywhere.

It was very difficult for us to find our rhythm. We controlled most of the game and had numerous opportunities to score but just couldn’t find the back of the net. We found a little luck 75th minute when we got a corner kick and the ball decided to find the back of the net with a little help from the shin of a girl on the other team! We didn’t care because a goal is a goal.

Everything was looking like we were going to win this one until the last three minutes. We had a breakdown and they scored which meant one thing; overtime. For those who don’t know in college if it is tied at the end of regulation you go into overtime which consists of two 10-minute periods or first goal.

Well we made it through the first overtime scoreless but we weren’t discouraged because we had a lot of energy and we controlled the first part. In the first three minutes of the second period a girl was taken down in the box and the ref called a penalty kick.

Our hearts dropped and we couldn’t believe what was happening. I am sure you can guess that the girl made her shot and we lost the game. What made it even worse was that was FAU’s first win of their season.

Nothing about the loss was addressed by any of our coaches until practice the next day and none of us knew what to expect. We ended up having a very good talk as a team and addressed the things about the game that we did really well. We knew that we had just finished playing four games in seven days. That is a lot of wear and tear on the body both mentally and physically and we happened to hit the wall half way through the second half of the FAU game.

Everyone was a lot more relaxed after the talk, and we turned our focus to the USF game coming up in a week. We all agreed that we would take all of our anger about losing out on USF. We felt bad for them because they had know idea what they had coming! It was frustrating knowing that you had to wait an entire week with this loss on your mind before you would be able to compete against another team. It was a big week for us recovery wise because our bodies were just broken down and our coaches did a good job of running the practices to get the most out in the least amount of time.

We were so pumped up for the USF game, we went through introductions and during the national anthem our lightning detector went off. We all looked at each other in disbelief because it meant we had to leave the field and wait a half hour to see if the storm was going to pass over.

When we were finally allowed back on the field the game started right away and we came out very strong. Our only problem the first half was that we were playing to fast for our own good, so at half time Tricia just told us to relax and find our rhythm. We did exactly that and the second half went a lot smoother.

Chappy (Kristen Chapman) ended up converting a header off Jess Wyble’s corner kick to put us up 1-0. The goal came probably half way through the second half and we were able to absorb their push to score to and win. It was a very physical game and they were very fast which was great for us, because we needed a game like that leading up into conference play. There are not going to be any cakewalk games in the ACC.

We start our conference play off on Thursday against N.C. State and Sunday we play the Tarheels. They are both going to be very good games so make sure you follow us on game tracker and keep your fingers crossed. Stay posted for what’s coming up next!! Here we go CANES!!!