Women's Soccer
Brianna Young Blog - Week 4
 

Turning Point: September 19-21

We left San Antonio to bus all the way to Memphis (first thought: this is a joke, right?). However, the 12 hours went pretty quickly when we slept…but we did notice the absence of two injured players.  Especially for the junior class, my class, I felt like we were incomplete.

Yet we made it to Memphis alive - although tired still - and hung out Thursday eating, studying, having a little practice, and eating some more.

Then Friday dawned and the downpour came. It was a muddy loss (literally the field was a small pond) to Rhodes on Friday when they scored with 10 minutes left in the game off a corner. I think my nemesis was more the field than the other team. My favorite play was when the ball got stuck in standing water and went right between my legs as I ran on by.  Great. Thanks itty bitty swamp that I loathe. The truth is we didn’t play like it was our first conference game, despite the conditions.

But the loss, in the end, has been a catalyst for the attitude adjustment our team needed. It made us come together as a team, talk it out, and move on.

So we moved on to Arkansas. Our sixth game into the season, against Hendrix and we finally begin to get it. Sunday afternoon we found ourselves on a beautiful field with amazing weather…and the chance to beat them into the ground. For the first time all season our freshman got a taste of Trinity Women’s Soccer. Our first goal 10 minutes in came from freshman Abby Loar who headed it right over the keeper on a 1-v-1. Then off a corner by Grace Rizza, Danika Wright drove a header into the net. We left the first half leading 2-0 for the first time all season.

We came out the second half knowing we couldn’t give up. We needed a shutout…we needed to get it to 5 goals. With about 20 minutes left Julia Zangirolami hits one from outside the 18 and scores (she says) her first goal at Trinity. Way to go Jules! Seeing that she later scored AGAIN, I hope she continues this trend!

My favorite goal to watch was when Bekah Gabay played a little ball to first-year Dana Carter who gave it a touch and scored in the last five minutes with her first collegiate goal. She and Alex Leamy must have practiced their celebrations together (I’m a star, I’m a star!) as they had similar jumping patterns.

Overall, this weekend was a turning point. The time for fear and negativity is over. As I stepped on the field at Hendrix, before the whistle blew, I had never been more confidant in the other 21 women on this soccer team. But the greatest part about Sunday’s game…it was fun. We played hard, got stuck in, created some pretty sweet chances…and will be using this week of practice to tweak some things so we can continue this winning trend.