The 2010 fall semester has officially come to an end, and the players will be heading out of Billings to enjoy a month long holiday break and get some much needed/deserved rest. They will also get to spend time with their families and friends who they do not get to see that often, and in spending that time will get to share the memories of what was a MAGICAL season for our soccer program!!!The 2010 season started out just like the others….with a team meeting at 4 pm on Sunday, August 15th. While we all knew we had a good team, I do not think anyone could imagine what would happen over the next three months…the ups, the downs and the everything else in between that would ultimately make up the greatest season in the 15 year history of the MSUB women’s soccer program. Here is how I saw the MAGICAL season unfold:
• Our leading scorer from the 2009 season gets hurt the first day of preseason….great start!
• Last minute goal by Jen Larsen to beat University of Great Falls in our first exhibition…a win is a win, but didn’t look great. We did do the beep test in the morning, so maybe we were just tired.
• Two days later, 3 – 0 loss to Rocky Mountain College in our second exhibition. Did we seriously get our butts kicked by Rocky!!! Okay, we’ve got problems.
• Day after Rocky game is spent at Wojteks' house reexamining everything. Decision is made to change from the 4-3-3 we played all of 2009 (fall and spring) to a 4-4-2. In addition, Jen Larsen is moved from forward to center back.
• Week 2 of preseason we work extensively on the 4-4-2 to prepare ourselves for our third and final scrimmage --- there also begins to be a massive sickness spreading throughout our team --- Bigzee and especially Janae seem to get the worst of it.
• GNAC Preseason Rankings come out – we are picked to finish 6 out of 8 teams….at least we didn’t get picked to finish last!
• Middle of the second week of preseason our opponent for that scrimmage cancels….great we are going to go into the regular season opener against Dixie State (2009 NCAA Tournament Team) coming off a 3-0 loss to Rocky and playing a new formation. Things are going really well --- NOT!!!
• Sunday, August 29 we play an intra-squad scrimmage…MSUB wins :)
• Season opener against Dixie State…win 1-0 from a late goal by freshman Heidi Greenback.
• 2nd game of season against U of Mary….give up goal five minutes in and didn’t play well in the first half, until Brooks scores off a diving header in the last minute of the half. We go on to win 4-1. Win MSUB Cup and Sami Sandau named tournament MVP.
• Next up Colorado trip and for the second game in a row we find ourselves down 1-0 in the first five minutes against Colorado Christian. We come back and score four unanswered goals to win 4-1.
• Our final game before the start of conference play is against Colorado School of Mines at their place, another 2009 NCAA tournament team. We again find ourselves down 1-0 against a very good defensive team on the road. Even though we held them without a shot in the second half, things aren’t looking good until we get a corner kick and Jen Larsen scores on a header with 5 minutes left in the game. We go to overtime and CO School of Mines is all over us…to be fair they probably should have scored on us, but we hold on for a 1-1 tie. Race to the airport and back to Billings with a 3-0-1 non-conference record…next up conference opener against Seattle Pacific.
• Even though we play them fairly even, Seattle Pacific humbles us and beats us 3-0. Even with a 3-0 loss, I know we have a good team at this point. However, not sure if the team believes in themselves yet…we talk about it the next day at our training session at Central Washington.
• Against Central Washington we again find ourselves down 1-0…why do we keep putting ourselves in this position? Move Jen Larsen up to forward at halftime, she scores 10 minutes into the half off an assist from Sabrina (her first of three assists on the year). With less than 20 minutes left, Jaucey plays a great ball to Carly…Carly hits the post, but Kari is there to clean it up and score the game winner. Start the conference season off with a split on the road…not bad!
• Up next is a huge road trip to Simon Fraser and Western Washington. Get across the border with no problems :) and prepare to play conference newcomer Simon Fraser. Jaucey scores a goal in the first half and we hold on for a 1-0 win in the rain/fog. Great victory, always good to win the first game of a road trip!
• Western Washington is our opponent on Saturday. We have never beaten them, they are ranked #20 in the country (our program had never beaten a nationally ranked opponent) and we are coming off a big win on Thursday….going to be tough. WE WIN 1-0 on a goal by Kari Foreman, cleans up a rebound off a shot from Andrea. Great road trip…we are starting to believe!
• Finally back at home after a six game road swing…up against Western Oregon. Score two goals in the first half both off corners, own goal and Jackie Hill’s first collegiate goal. Go on to win 2-0 – haven’t given up a goal in three straight games, we are on a roll!!!
• Celebrated the return of some great players who have played here over the past 15 years….Ally Stroup, Vicky McCarthy, Sara Gress, Melissa Carlson, Brittney Sandau, Abby Farmer were all in attendance for Futbol Frenzy and 15th Anniversary Weekend. Great to see all of them at the game, unfortunately St. Martin’s beats us 3-2. A lot of people were surprised we lost because of St. Martin’s record compared to us, but I wasn’t. St. Martin’s has always been a tough game for us, and they have a very good team…they had just had some bad luck early in the season. Tough loss!!
• Bus trip to Nampa, Idaho to play Northwest Nazarene --- all the players go on the trip. Only one game on the week, so we get a little extra rest. However, long bus ride and we look tired against Northwest Nazarene. Game is pretty even and in the second half they get a corner kick. Ball is played in and Sabrina is interfered with, but they score. Referee blew whistle before the goal, but has allowed the goal…I’m not happy! He confers with both of his assistant’s and overturns the goal…we catch a break. A few minutes later their goalkeeper handles the ball outside the box and is red-carded. Game goes to overtime and Jaucelyn scores the GOLDEN GOAL….won’t be a long bus trip back to Billings and we escape what would have been a devastating loss.
• Back at home…beat Central Washington 4-2. Go into halftime up 2-0 after Bigzee probably scores one of our best goals of the season right before half. Then in the first 10 minutes of the second half the score goes 2-1, 3-1, 3-2 before we score the fourth goal in the 75th minute and put the game away. Next up Seattle Pacific!!
• The SPU game is our Make-A-Wish-Day which was organized by our senior captain Sam Boehm…she ended up raising over $1,000 for the Make-A-Wish organization. In terms of the game…great game, great atmosphere (best I’ve been around – “Walking in a Jacket Wonderland”). SPU scores first, but we come right back and score to tie it up. Game stays tied through the second half and goes into overtime. SPU hadn’t had a shot on goal in over 55 minutes, when their forward gets the ball and shoots. Ball takes a deflection and finds a way into our net. We lose…..it hurts real bad for all of us!
• We have to find a way to get over the loss quickly, as we have St. Martin’s on the road the following Thursday. We give up two early goals and find ourselves down 2-0 at half. Come out in the second half and play really well, score a goal right after the half and create a lot of other chances. Come up short in the end --- lose 2-1 (swept by St. Martin’s). Winning the GNAC and our playoff hopes are in trouble…have to win at Western Oregon and the seniors ride with me from Lacey, WA to Salem, OR, with a stop at Sam Boehm’s house for some fajita’s…..watch live stats that night at her house and WWU ties CWU. Good result for us.
• Playing at Western Oregon, like all GNAC away games, is always tough. What makes Western Oregon even tougher is the weather in October….usually raining and pitch becomes hard to play on. Fortunately the weather holds up and we find a way to score 2 late goals (Heidi scores both off of assists from Jaucey). Split on the road, we will take it. Huge game coming up against Western Washington on Thursday.
• Team has gained some confidence after their victory against Western Oregon, but we know it will be hard to beat Western Washington two times in the same season. Come game day we look ready and determined to win, and it shows. We create several great chances, but don’t score. Heidi Greenback scores two minutes into the second half to give us a 1-0 lead and we play some of the greatest team defense I have ever witnessed…we win 1-0. Great result!!!
• With our win Thursday, the NCAA tournament is still a possibility. Two games to go and we need two wins. If we can get that done, at this point I think we will be in.
• Play well against Simon Fraser, but it is a pretty even game. With five minutes to go it is 0-0, when we pull an offside trap on a free kick. Somehow they stay onside???? They score??? Unbelievable we are down 1-0 on what looks to be a bad call. We throw everything forward to try and get an equalizer, and are almost rewarded but Sami’s shot glances off the post…my reaction on the sideline brings some humor to Lo :) We lose 1-0…this one hurts worse than any game I’ve ever coached. I feel my team played well and I made a decision that might cost us the tournament. Our playoff hopes now ride on some results from other teams going our way, and a need for a definite win against Northwest Nazarene the following Saturday.
• A lot of people now think we are on the outside looking in and don’t have a chance of making it. We are definitely going to need some results to go our way, but looking at the upcoming games I feel we are going to get those results and we will win against NNU. One of the results we need happens on Saturday night…Grand Canyon who is right behind us in the rankings gets upset. This is a good result for us, I KNOW WE ARE GOING TO GET IN.
• I bring the seniors in the office the day after the loss to Simon Fraser and tell them I am confident if we win we will get in. The two teams that worry me a little bit are CSU Stanislaus and San Francisco St. That is when Lauren tells me that she was watching live stats and SFSU is tied with Humboldt State. I say that SFSU is not going to lose that game at home on Senior Day. We all chat a little longer and everyone seems to be focused on getting the win against NNU. Right before they leave, Lauren asks me to check the score of the SFSU game….they are losing 1-0 with 15 minutes to play. No way!!! SFSU gets a penalty with 10 minutes left…they miss. They end up losing 1-0. Even with our loss, the other two teams around us in the rankings lose as well. WE HAVE TO BEAT NNU!!!
• Regional ranking comes out that week and we jump from #7 to #5. If we beat NNU there is no question we are in. Game day comes and we get a good crowd showing up for the game. We seem to be lacking urgency in the first half and are not playing that great. Win and we are in…we have to step up. I get on the team a little bit at halftime; we come out with more passion in the second half, but still can’t score. Then with about 15 minutes left, NNU fouls us at half field and the ref calls it although we clearly had advantage. I’m not happy that he took advantage away from us. Sabrina comes up to take the free kick and dumps it in the box. Whitney Siler makes a run across the box and in the air spins to head the ball far post…..it goes in. GREAT GOAL!!!! Seniors Carly, Sami, Jordan, Kari, Lo, Sam go out winners at home and are most likely going to go to the NCAA tournament.
• Monday, November 8….NCAA Selection Day. We go out and train that afternoon….training is great, the players are energized and excited. Head over to the athletics conference room after training for the selection show. I actually find out 2 minutes before the selection show that we are in…I don’t tell the team. When they finally hear MSU Billings announced…the room erupts!!!! WE ARE IN!!!! Cal State LA in Seattle, WA. Basically a home game for us…..I am confident we can go there and beat CSULA and the SPU.
• Team takes off the next day on two separate flights to Seattle. That night off to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. Next day training session at SPU, dinner at Anthony’s down on the Pier. Thursday…GAMEDAY.
• The day of the game the weather definitely looks to be an advantage for us. Cooler and chance of rain showers. In the first half, both teams look tight….not a lot of action. We go into halftime 0-0, but with a belief that we can win the game….we just need some magic. Second half starts out much of the same, but the sun goes down and it definitely cools off. It also begins to rain. Carly breaks her nose!!! NCAA Playoffs…love it!!! We score…awesome goal by Amanda Brusic. Up 1-0 with about 25 minutes to go. With about 15 minutes to go I sub in Carly….Lauren is pumped and so is the team (VERY INSPIRATIONAL). We switch into a 4-5-1…absorb the pressure. They start throwing everything at us. Sabrina save. Sabrina Save. Shot wide. Clock continues to tick. With about a minute and a half left I realize we are going to win…what a feeling for the current players, alumni, future players. It took us 15 years to get to the tournament….it took us one game to win at the tournament. TOP OF THE WORLD!!!!! Next up Seattle Pacific.
• Off day on the Friday and the team relaxes at the hotel until training. We head over to SPU for a jog/stretch…game definitely took a lot out of us. After training we take the team up in the Space Needle…great view. We then head back to the hotel where Julie Seedhouse (alumni director) has organized a get together for alumni, friends and family of the program. After the get together we head to Buca di Beppo for a great Italian meal with an awesome atmosphere. Great day --- tomorrow SPU.
• The game starts out with SPU controlling the ball, but not creating too many dangerous chances. Jaucey gets in behind them for a 1v1 with their keeper, but their keeper makes a good save. Then with about 10 minutes to go in the half they get a free kick right outside the box…the girl bends it up and over our wall into the upper 90. Nice goal…down 1-0 at half. We make a few adjustments at halftime, but we just don’t have the legs to chase the game. We are tired from Thursday and SPU had a bye. We do create a chance from Carly, but their keeper makes the save. Then with about 10 minutes left they get a penalty…2-0, game over --- magical season over!
There are obviously so many more memories from the season, but this is how I saw it unflod. In the end, I feel privileged to have been able to share this experience with 24great student-athletes, and yes you too Wojtek!!!!
Already looking forward to 2011 --- Return to the NCAA’s, Win the GNAC and one other goal I won’t mention on here…..but I’m sure if you think about it you can figure it out!
Happy holidays to everyone…blog will return for the spring 2011 season as we look to create more great memories for the MSUB Women's Soccer program!!!
