@CanesFutbol Captain's Corner, Aug. 20, 2015

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The captains of the University of Miami soccer team for the 2015 season are writing a blog for HurricaneSports.com this year called Captain’s Corner.

After recently being named a captain, redshirt senior Erin McGovern checked in with her first entry Thursday. A midfielder from Oradell, N.J., McGovern details the team’s final week of preseason training, including some major weather issues, and its preparation for the first weekend of the regular season . . .

Hello, Canes fans! I am excited to have the opportunity to join Shannon in keeping you up-to-date with the team and our season! You will be hearing from Natalie and Gianna as well shortly. Preseason is coming to an end and we cannot wait to get this season started.

Unfortunately, this past week was full of weather delays and forced cancellations, but we were still able to have a great week of preparation. Last Thursday we were scheduled to play FIU at their place. We were delayed due to weather for about an hour until we were able to take the field to warm up. We got in just under a half of play before the storm forced us off the field again. That half was full of good play and learning opportunities. We combined well and were able to come up with a bunch of scoring chances.

We were fortunate enough to go up 1-0 in that half as well. I played a ball over the top to Ronnie who had a great shot to finish. Playing against a different opponent forced us out of our comfort zone to be much more organized on offense and defense, which was exactly what we needed. After coming back out after half, we only got in about another five minutes of play until they called the game.

Since we didn’t get a full game in Thursday night, coach had us play full field at practice Friday morning. We focused on connecting our passes and finishing scoring opportunities because we need to carry these concepts over to our games in order to be successful. Saturday’s practice was cut short due to lightening once again, but we had a very productive finishing session before we were forced off.

That afternoon we departed for our game at Stetson, which was scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. Once again, we ran into a lot of weather delays for that game. Our warm up lasted about 10 minutes before the lightening alarm system went off and we were forced into their weight room. We eventually got about 11 minutes of play in before we were forced off again.

We were very frustrated when they decided to call the game because of our long day of travel and our desire to finally get a full game in! However, these things happen and they are situations we are forced to deal with. The bus ride back was full of movies, music and even a little freshmen initiation! Let’s just say the freshmen don’t have the best singing voices that I’ve ever heard.

This week at practice we were focusing a lot on our upcoming games this weekend. We play the College of Charleston on Friday and the University of Texas on Sunday. We worked a lot on passing patterns, defensive shape and finishing. The coaching staff has given us all the tools that we need to be successful this weekend. I couldn’t be more excited to finally take the field with this team and show everyone how hard we’ve been working! Look for our post next week to see how we did! Thanks for reading!