@CanesFutbol Captain's Corner: Sept. 21, 2016

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – For the second year in a row, the captains of the University of Miami soccer team will be writing a blog for HurricaneSports.com throughout the season called Captain’s Corner.

After guest entries the last two weeks, second-year captain Gianna Dal Pozzo returned Wednesday with her third entry of the season. The senior midfielder/defender detailed Miami’s recent trip to Tallahassee, Fla., to play Florida State and looked ahead to Thursday’s home match against Virginia . . .

Hello, Canes fans!

I’m baaaaack! Thanks to Em [Auld] and Gracie [Lachowecki] for the guest entries. It was nice to hear from you two.

Last week started the beginning of a new season: conference play. Our previous games are behind us and now we just have to focus on ACC games. The ACC is the most competitive conference in the nation and every game is a battle. This year, eight teams will make it to the ACC Tournament and our eyes are set on one of those spots.

Due to the strength of our conference, around eight teams will make it to the NCAA Tournament every year. That is the ultimate goal the team has this year. So, we need to prove ourselves in the rest of our games in order to get there.

We had a solid week of practice and we were definitely prepared to play FSU on Sunday. It was nice only having one game last week, as our bodies felt fresh and we weren’t sore.

Saturday, we flew to Tallahassee. Heather [de la Osa], our academic advisor joined us this time, which was fun. She hasn’t been on an away trip with us in my time at Miami and I was glad she could come.

Sunday finally came and Dani [Savage] had a little pregame presentation that was funny, but got the team pumped up. We stuck to our game plan and played well against FSU, but unfortunately we came up short. The team limited the Seminoles to only one shot on goal and that was how they scored their lone goal.

It was disappointing because we know we could’ve won, but coach [Mary-Frances Monroe] told us not to put our heads down. She was proud of us and said since she’d been at Miami she’s never seen us play like that before, so that was uplifting.

We play Virginia on Thursday, so it’s a quick turnaround and we have to be ready. We’ve watched a lot of film, both of us and them. Coaches have pointed out their strengths and weaknesses that we need to be aware of so we can exploit them as much as possible.

Thanks for reading again this week, come out to Cobb Stadium tomorrow night to support us as we take on Virginia!