First UAA win of the season!!

by Caroline Garber '10

This past weekend both Men’s and Women’s Soccer teams played in the first conference games of the season against Brandeis University. I know for me, conference games are my favorite portion of the season. It had been 2 years since my last conference game; a lot of nerves and excitement had been building over that time in anticipation for the chance to play these UAA games one more time. Needless to say, I was extremely excited for the game on Saturday.

Saturday morning everyone on the team was up pretty early to get some breakfast and be at the field in time to catch some of the Men’s game. It always pumps me up to see them play, so luckily we are scheduled to play second in every UAA match this year! When it was time, I had to peel myself away from their game. I headed into the locker room to see it was brilliantly decorated by the freshman on the team. Streamers, balloons, signs everywhere; you name it, they had it in there. I was even more excited for the game knowing that my team was just as eager for it to start. Coach Taylor and Coach Tiff then came into the locker room to give the pregame talk. We learned a little something about ants in that time. I’d share more about the story, but I think that it was good luck so I can’t give it away now. Right before we left the locker room, Devyn revealed that under our bench was a hidden quote typed out for each one of us. It was a big surprise and the perfect note to end on before warm-up began.

GAMETIME. If you were able to catch any of the game, you know that it was intense for 90 minutes. We knew it would be a tough battle, and we got just what we had expected. In my past four years playing soccer here, we never were able to pull out with the win against Brandeis. After the first half, the game was scoreless. It was in the second half that we really stepped it up. I am so proud of the team’s performance in that second half of the game. We were able to score 15 minutes into the half!!! Now up by 1, we had to hold off the Judges and maintain our lead for 30 minutes. The team played awesome and we kept our lead for the FIRST UAA WIN IN 2 YEARS!!! I was fortunate enough to finish our one goal against Brandeis. I am pretty sure I tackled Yule as soon as I turned around and was soon surrounded by our entire team. Rewards come few and far between sometimes in soccer, but moments like that remind you that it is TOTALLY worth all of the hard work. I wish I could give my team a million goals every game… they deserve it!!! I can’t express accurately enough just how happy I was to walk away from that game with a win. Being a senior, I can assure that there are few things more rewarding in a season than a win against a UAA team. Winning against Brandeis was a great memory I’ll keep from this season, but I must admit it has made me hungry for more wins in our conference. We head off to New York this weekend to play NYU. Hopefully our team walks away equally as proud from that match. Thank you and Stay Tuned!!