Junior Robin Pecoraro will write in about her experiences with the 2010 High Point University women's soccer team. To send comments or questions, use our Blog Comment Form.
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Friday, Nov. 12, 2010
Back to Back
By Robin Pecoraro
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This feeling never gets old! The feeling of being a champion, the feeling of winning, the feeling of all your hard work paying off, it’s just an awesome feeling. This past week brought reason to the entire season and proved to everyone around, that High Point Women’s Soccer is a force to be reckoned with and that we will continue to work hard to bring championships back to the University.
For the second year in a row we captured the Big South Conference Tournament Championship!
It has been a record setting year and such an unforgettable one for us girls! To begin with, this was the first time in school history that we have ever been the regular season champions. This means that throughout our nine games against the other teams in our conference, we ended the season with the best record. Along with four other teams we ended tied for first as co-champions with a 6-2-1 record. Along with that, we are just the second team in Big South history to win back-to-back conference tournaments. Also, we put up three straight shutouts in the tournament. If you combine that with last year’s conference tourney, it makes six-straight conference tournament games that we have shut out our opponents. We have not allowed a single goal in the last two years of tournament play which is amazing. It has moved us to number one in the records book for consecutive shutouts in the conference tournament!
Conference is always a fun time. It is a do-or-die time where you have to perform and be successful if you want to stay alive. Needless to say we were all pumped up to play well so our season would continue. The tournament was scheduled to be hosted at Radford University, a pretty big school in Virginia. Prior to this season I have terrible memories of Radford. We came up here to play my freshmen year and it was by far the coldest game of my life. All I can remember is that I thought my hands and feet were going to fall off because it was so cold. Somehow I survived the game with all my limbs, but the horrid memories still remain.
The start of the conference brought back all those memories. We were slotted to play the first round at 11:30 a.m., on Thursday so our team loaded the buses to head that way at seven that morning. It was chilly in High Point and the roads were wet from an evening shower. Little did we know that the conditions at Radford would be WAY worse. We got up there Thursday morning and the field was soaked from all the rain. Soaked might even by an understatement. There were large puddles in sporadic places all over the field. The weather was roughly 40 degrees with wind. Absolutely miserable if you ask me. After sitting on the bus for over an hour, we got word from coach that the fields were unplayable and the tournament would be pushed back a day in hopes things would dry up.
We were all quite bummed as we took the trip back to High Point. Although we were a day behind, Friday morning brought the same excitement as Thursday morning. Charleston Southern, the team we were scheduled to play, was one of the two teams to beat us during regular season, and over the last several years has been able to squeak by with overtime victories. Well this was our time to change things and prove we are the best team in the Big South. End the streak we did. We played a near perfect game and came out with the win on a nice finish by Sara Rager. It was one of the best team efforts I have ever seen from our team.
With the postponed schedule Coach decided that it would be beneficial to stay in Radford. So after the game we all went back to the hotel for a little team bonding. Many of the girls and our parents sat in the lobby and chatted. It was a good time for all as Jillie brought down her boom box and all of us were able to show off some of our other talents, harmonious singing and graceful dancing. Even Coach Keith gave a few lessons on how to break it down!
Saturday we had our semifinal game. We would be playing yet another co-champion and the team we tied during the season, Winthrop. We were able to sleep in at the hotel and when we got up we all had the option to have breakfast at the hotel. We gathered for our traditional team pre-meal, Panera. In the words of Sammy Vercellino, “Geeze, We must keep Panera in business with how much we eat there!” Of course we all ate well and with a little bit of rest were ready to head over to take on the Eagles. This was another hard-fought game as Winthrop was out for revenge. We beat them last year in the championship match to win the tournament, so they were going to fight hard to ensure it didn’t happen again. However; we have Kelli Jolline, and they couldn’t figure out out how to stop her. Late in the game my little sister, K-JO, bent a ball into the upper 90 right passed the jumping keeper to put us ahead 1-0. It was a defensive battle from there on out, but our center backs, Brielle Spencer and Janay Whittaker, in conjunction with Andrea Ritchie, our goalkeeper, held us together to propel us into the finals!
After the game it was pretty cool. By this time almost all of parents were in town. It’s incredible all the support they give us. From when we were young kids, carting us all over the state for various soccer games and tournaments, to travelling long distances to cheer us on in our college careers, all of our parents are really terrific! Along with parents, we had many administrators make it up for the game, and more than a handful of our dedicated members of the baseball team even drove the distance and got a hotel room to cheer us on in the semi’s and finals.
After we all said our hellos, we got on the bus and headed to Fazoli as one big High Point family. It was an incredible site. We took up the entire restaurant and we all had a great time. The food was really good, how can pasta ever go wrong? But the company and conversation is what made the night memorable. All the parents intermingled and shared tables with each other and we all had a great time. Andrea’s mom brought out her IPAD so all the girls near were keeping up with the live stats to see who was winning the Gardner Webb and Liberty game and who we would have to face in the finals. Near the back of the restaurant Jillie had her boom box out and the baseball team and the soccer girls were taking turns singing Karaoke. All in all I think it’s safe to say, everyone in attendance had a great time.
When we made it back to the hotel we all crashed and morning came before we could blink our eyes. Again we got up and went to have our team breakfast at Panera. We enjoyed our food and headed on the bus towards Radford to defend our title! It was an awesome bus ride over as we all sang to songs that were sure to pump us up. When we got to the locker room our nerves were setting in. We didn’t make it to the finals to lose, we had come so far and we were going to leave with a victory. Everyone did their normal pregame routines and right before Coach came in to give us his talk a couple girls spoke out. Jillie Johnston reminded us that this year has been a dream come true, she has never played for a team this close, Katie Taber read us her favorite quote about working hard for the reward at the end, Andrea remind us that we can will it if we believe, and Racheal even spoke up as she recalled the feeling of winning from last year. Coach came in and talked shortly after and we were all pumped ready to go!
The game was unreal. Nearly every players’ parents made it in, the baseball team had a great showing, tons of our administrators came up and the school even sponsored a bus full of students to come cheer us on. The first half was among one of the best halves we have ever played. We controlled the game and outshot Gardner Webb by a ton. But things weren’t going our way and we hadn’t been successful in finding the back of the net. The game ended and it was still 0-0 so we prepared ourselves for overtime. With energy and excitement we went back on the field. About halfway through the first overtime period the unbelievable happened. We got fouled about 45 yards out from the goal. Rager went over to take the kick and sent a nice service into the box were little Becca Hemby was able to get a foot on it. She flicked the ball up in the air and it travelled over to the back post. Jillie was back there with her back to the goal and on a whim she threw her leg over her head for a bicycle kick. The ball went sailing into the goal as the team rushed from the bench to hug and dog pile on top of Jillie. This goal was unbelievable. It was like something out of the pros, here check out the
link, it’s crazy !
The feeling of winning never gets old! After our celebration was over we went to the bench and put on our championship t-shirts. The award ceremony was close to follow. First they announced the all-conference tournament team. Our girls did so well as Kelli, Jillie, Andrea and Janay made the all-tournament team. Also, Janay was deservingly named tournament MVP! After the tournament team was announced they presented us with our trophy. The trophy this year was different from the previous year. The Big South had decided to go with a bigger trophy than ever. It was huge and made us all proud!
After the awards ceremony we went and said hello to our family and friends before heading to a big pasta dinner. We went to Sal’s, a delicious pasta place near Radford and Coach said we were free to sit with our family and friends to enjoy dinner. Unfortunately, my pops had to head back to Florida right after the game so he wasn’t able to join us for dinner. But lucky me, my surrogate family made it up for the finals. My boyfriend, who is one of the baseball player’s, and his family joined me for dinner as my family. It’s awesome to have their support. Dinner was great and when everyone finished, we said our goodbyes as we loaded the bus to head back to High Point!
The bus ride back was pretty good. We all joked and laughed and reminisced on the great season we had. We played a movie for the first half of the trip but as we got close to campus we turned off the movie and turned up the music. The whole bus was up and dancing, just celebrating a great win and an unforgettable team.
Coming back to campus after winning is always cool. We are kind of treated like celebrities. Everyone congratulates us and the school does a great job recognizing us. The following day was the selection show to see who we would have to play in the first round of the NCAA’s. The school hosted a little party for us in the Point, our sports bar on campus. They decorated it in Purple and reserved seats for us. Many fans, including our dedicated baseball team and coaches, came to enjoy the free food and see who we would face. We drew the University of Maryland, which was exciting for the entire team because for the first time in our school’s history we were not facing UNC Chapel Hill. In addition, our whole coaching staff is from the Maryland area and both Sara Rager and Becca Hemby would have a chance to play near home!
Post No. 8 by Robin Pecoraro on Friday, Nov. 12, 2010.
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Friday, Nov. 5, 2010
We are the Champions
By Robin Pecoraro
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Winner winner chicken dinner! It’s hard to believe it, but the end of the season is here. For the first time in school history we have clinched the Big South Regular Season title along with 4 other quality Big South Teams. We have set the record for the most season wins in Conference and we have grown closer as a family as we bond together and prepare head to Radford, Va., to defend our Big South Tournament Champions title.
When we all arrived back at the beginning of August it seemed like we had forever ahead of us. Well forever has come to an end. Last week we celebrated senior night and ended our season with two wins at home. It was an exciting time as we had done everything we could for a nice seed in the tournament.
Going into our last two games we were 4-2-1 in conference. There were four other teams in the running too, but it appeared they were all in a better position than us to accomplish the regular season victory. But with a little bit of luck and some hard fought battles on our home field we ended the season 6-2-1 and in a five way tie for the regular season championship.
The Big South Conference never fails to amaze people! Would you ever imagine a conference with just ten teams would see a five way tie for the top ranked team? Last year the conference was just as crazy, as for the first time ever in the Big South Women’s Soccer Championship Tournament the lower seeds won every game during the first two days. That placed the teams with the seventh and eighth seed in the championship game. That was us, the seventh seed, against Winthrop, the eighth seed. Luckily, we ended the trend and squeezed out a win against the team ranked lower than us. Needless to say, you should expect anything in the Big South, even a five way tie for first place!
Now that the regular season is over it’s time to prepare for the tournament. We had just about a week between the end of the regular season and the first round of the conference tournament and in that time we hit the field hard. All week we have been focusing on important tactics and techniques that will propel us into the finals on Sunday. They always say, soccer is a game of inches so Coach Beall has placed special emphasis on doing things precisely and flawlessly.
One of the things we worked on was taking the time to make sure everyone knows all of our set pieces. A set piece is simply a dead ball after a foul or a corner kick. Every dead ball is a great opportunity to score. And since soccer is a game of inches, every opportunity you have to score, you need to take advantage of it. Needless to say, over this last preparation week for conference we did a lot of preparing on dead balls. Coach makes sure every player knows what their responsibility is and the exact location we need to end with our runs. I’m sure come this weekend this will definitely pay off and we can get some extra goalasos!
Aside from dead balls, we have also spent some time working on penalty kicks. During the championships there must be a winner. Unlike the regular season when a game ends in a tie you go into overtime and if the game is still tied, well oh well, it’s still over. That doesn’t work in the championship game. There must be a defined winner so one team can advance to the next round. So if by chance, a game ends in a tie, and two overtimes result in no goals, then the teams will go into penalty kicks. So to ensure that we have the best opportunity to win in worst case scenario we are well prepared after this week to dominate penalty kicks!
It’s hard to believe the season has flown by this quickly, but we are all excited as we strive to win another ring. It’s going to be a great weekend! If you can’t make it to Radford in person, you should definitely log on to the Big South Website and watch the games live so you don’t miss a beat of action. GO PANTHERS!
Post No. 8 by Robin Pecoraro on Friday, Nov. 5, 2010.
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Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010
Give Me a Break
By Robin Pecoraro
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BREAK BREAK BREAK! It’s fall break! That means we are halfway done with the fall semester and have only a few more weeks of our season left.
Fall break comes at an interesting time. It is the middle of our conference season for soccer, but it is also the Furniture Market for the city of High Point. Being the stellar individuals that we are, we all took advantage of the nice week we had off from school.
Being in the middle of the season we couldn’t throw the idea of soccer out the door, but we did get a little break. Our conference schedule is very school friendly so the majority of our games in October are on the weekends. We normally play either a Saturday-Monday schedule or a Friday-Sunday schedule. So this fit right in to having a little break off. To start fall break, we had one game against Liberty on Saturday afternoon. After the game coach gave us a few days off to do whatever we wanted, but we had to be back at HPU for a midday practice on Wednesday. The game went perfect, we travelled up to Lynchburg, Va., and had one of our best performances of the year in an impressive 3-0 over the preseason favorite of the Big South!
After the game we were free to do whatever we wanted. For our “walnuts” it had been a long two and a half months away from home for the first time for many of them. So the idea of going home was exactly what they were looking forward too. For some of the upperclassmen we had another agenda. Furniture Market was in town and that meant money for us!
So after Saturday’s game many kids went home with parents and the ones that couldn’t make it home driving, flew out the following morning for a few days back in their hometowns. For the girls that went home, it sounds like they all had a good time. Jenny Butler loved being reunited with her cute brown miniature laberdoodle and seeing some friends she hasn’t seen since summer, Grandma Hemby was happy to see her little Becca back for few days, Brooke Lisson was able to spend some days with her caring boyfriend Joe, and Jillie Johntson and her mom got to spend some quality time in Hippie Country, Ashville, North Carolina.
The girls that stayed in good ole High Point had a great time too! Many of us were fortunate to get jobs at the Furniture Market. The Furniture Market is tied to High Point’s history. The city of High Point used to be the furniture capital of the United States. There were tons of furniture factories here and twice a year large furniture companies would come to town for a ‘market’ where they could see the products and buy mass purchases at a very wholesale price. Well those days are long gone and many of the factories that once made High Point their home have moved over seas. However, they have stayed true to the semiannual furniture market.
Every October and April one can expect for our city to be alive. The downtown buildings are filled, there are concerts in the city, tons of people are eating at the local restaurants and there is a sense of energy. This is furniture market. Manufacturers from all over come to High Point hoping to attract the many different wholesalers that have come to see what is new for the fall season. With all the people these manufacturers are expecting sometimes they will look for extra help from the University and that’s how we get involved.
A handful of the upperclassmen have been fortunate enough to land some killer jobs with various ‘market’ companies. We do very basic things such as wearing a smile and greeting the customers as they come in, putting orders into the computer that have been written or going around and straightening up the showroom so it always looks neat and put together. It’s a fun few days when we get to get all dressed up as little business women in our professional clothes and high heels and when it ends we get a nice check and some extra spending money for the end of the semester!
When everyone got back to campus on Wednesday all we could talk about was the fun we had! The girls back from home enjoyed their time and the ones on campus had a blast too! But as the break ends and we get back to the fields, it’s time to get serious. We are rounding out the season and preparing for the tournament. We have just three more games left and just over a week to squeeze them all in. It’s going to be a tough few days, but we are ready and motivated to dominate these last three games and get the best seed possible going into the Big South Conference Tournament!
Post No. 7 by Robin Pecoraro on Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010.
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Friday, Oct. 8, 2010
My Little Sis
By Robin Pecoraro
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I love my little sister, Kelli Joline! She’s one dynamite forward and an even better person off the field.
Coach does this amazing thing with our team to acclimate the freshmen into our family but also to make the transition to college a little easier. He pairs each of the freshman (walnuts as we like to call them) and the transfer players with a returning upper classmen. This year, due to the large amount of Walnuts and very small senior class (The terrific trio: Rachael Parker, Sara Rager, and Jillie Johnston) all the freshmen were paired up with our junior class, how lucky we were! And then with our transfers, since they had already experienced the college life, Jillie, a very outgoing senior was assigned as their Big Sister. Coach strategically picks each Big Sis/Lil Sis pair an effort to match freshmen with upperclassmen who have many similarities.
During preseason, the role of the Big Sister was pretty significant. It was our responsibility to make sure that our little sisters were at practice on time, had rides to different events and most importantly we had to be there for them as they tackled their first college preseason. Now as the preseason has come and gone and school and the regular season have started up, our sister relationships are more to be there for each other and encourage each other to continue to work hard and strive to do our best at everything we do.
Over the past two months I have gotten to know my little, K-Jo, pretty well and she is nothing short of awesome! On the field Kelli proudly wears the number 33 following in her old sister’s steps (she played field hockey in college and was #33). She plays up top as one of our forwards along with her counterpart, Katie Taber, and the two wreak havoc. There is never a moment when Kelli isn’t giving it her all, she sprints after every ball, attacks with speed and shoots with confidence as she uses her gift’s from God to be a witness to all who watch.
Off the field Kel is incredible too. Talk about a person that never stops smiling, that’s Kelli to a tee. Kels is the baby in a family of four and she cherishes the times her family gets to come down and watch her play. Music is her thing as Kellie and her best friend from back home, Gretchan, both came to High Point to major in music. As a team we love it! K-Jo will entertain us all on the bus with her beautiful voice. At the hotel last weekend, she also took some time to play the piano and sing right before dinner. We were all amazed at how great it was! Our team all jokes that American Idol needs to watch out because Kel’s has some serious skill!
Kelli is also a proud Christian. I think that’s why coach might have placed us together. She’ll often come to the Athletes in Action meetings and she never fails to write 4:13 on her arm before every game as a focal point to keep her going. It refers to the Bible verse, Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Needless to say, Kellie is great. I’m so happy that coach paired us together and I can speak on behalf of all the juniors, we all love our little sisters. As we continue on our trek to the conference tournament, our walnuts are going to play a big part in our team’s success and I think the relationship that have formed between the big sisters and little sisters will make our freshmen confident to bring the energy we need. This is a great thing that Coach Beall does and I couldn’t be more proud to call Kelli Joline my little sister!
Post No. 6 by Robin Pecoraro on Friday, Oct. 8, 2010.
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Friday, Oct. 1, 2010
Fun Times Around Campus
By Robin Pecoraro
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Wow how season flies! I feel like just a week ago we were moving in and starting preseason. Now we’ve hit the halfway point of our season, the start of conference, and what we have been preparing for over the last two months. This is where the going gets tough, and the outcomes really matter. It is where we prove that High Point University women’s soccer is ready to run away with the Big South Conference. It’s where the stakes are large and the only choice is to win. As a team, we are ready! We’ve been getting after it at each practice and we are ready to take on whoever is up for the challenge.
This time of the season also has another bonus. As we prepare for the upcoming battles in conference play we get a little more time off to let us recover. Time off is awesome, because it is time for us to experience college life and have a little fun. And over this past week that’s exactly what we have done.
Coach was great and after a rough performance against Charlotte he gracious gave us the next three days off. Well little did he know that Mother Nature had another plan. Our three days off quickly turned into four and no fitness test as bucket and after bucket of rain fell here in High Point, N.C.
You can only imagine what kind of mischief this team got into on our days off. We relaxed and definitely found some time to have some fun. We are so fortunate to go to such an amazing school. For those of you that don’t know about High Point let me tell you a little bit about it. HPU is all about a holistic education, learning outside the classroom. So on campus we have a lot of amenities that most college kids would dream of, but with each special feature there is a thought process behind it and some meaning that hopefully we will grasp and be able to apply in our everyday life. Needless to say, we didn’t have to go far to find some fun!
First we have this place call 1924 Prime. It’s a five-star steakhouse that is supposed to educate students about the manners that should be displayed in a fine dining restaurant. For us, 1924 Prime means phenomenal soups and salads, amazing steaks, and unbelievable desserts in a fancy environment. In order to eat at the steakhouse you need to set aside about a two-hour window and book a reservation a week in advance. Normally this is a challenge, seeing how most of our evenings are consumed with soccer, weights, or individuals. With these extra days off over this past weekend you can bet that’s one place a lot of girls hit up. It was amazing! We all dressed up in business casual clothes, threw on some make up, and believe it or not we even spent some time making our hair look nice! This was a nice meal change and a great time most of the girls experienced!
Aside from the steakhouse we also have a group called CAT, the campus activities team. CAT was an organization created in an effort to get students out of our luxurious dorm rooms and interacting with the many other students. They are in charge of putting on different activities for the students that are an option outside the traditional college party. We lucked out and there were some fun events hosted this last week that many of us tried out. One of the big hits was glow in the dark putt putt. What an experience! A lot of us went out and showed off why we are soccer players and not golfers. This was a little 18-hole course that challenged all of us with water traps, bumps, and difficult hole placement. Despite the scores, I think it’s safe to say we all had a good time.
One of the nicer days we experienced was Sunday. The sun was out and we thought it would be a great idea to take advantage and spend some time outdoors working on our tans. We have these gorgeous pool s on campus that make you feel like you are relaxing at some extravagant hotel with wicker pool furniture, fun games and a huge hot tub. The soccer team made an appearance ready to tear it up with corn hole, horse shoes, and water volleyball. The pool was fun, but as the afternoon approached it was getting very crowded so a handful of us headed over to some of our baseball friends’ dorm where they have a little backyard. We brought out the blow up mini pool, put it in the back and had some fun. It was just a nice day where all of us were able to hang out with not only each other, but other student at the school.
We capped off the fun ‘break’ with an HPU women’s soccer tradition, SKIT NIGHT. Skit night is a hilarious night where each class gets together and gets to make fun of anything that has happened thus far in the season. Nothing is off limits; you can call out the coaches, your other teammates, or even trainers. You can bet that each class took advantage of this one. We made some jokes about our newly engaged Coach Beall and his fiancée, Paige, our mom. We threw in our assistant coaches, Brandi and Keith, as we joked about being more like the men’s soccer team (Keith always talks to us about how our men are so technically clean and superb jugglers and we need to take note to improve our game). We threw our strength and conditioning coach, Coach Rhoades (also known as RODEO), under the bus as the sophomores impersonated the idea of getting big with Body by Rhoades and making sure you properly spot a back squat. Along with the skits, we also had a dessert night. Many of the girls on the team baked their favorite treats to share with the team. We had puppy chow, cupcakes, assortment of pumpkin stuff, and much more. The night could definitely be summed up as a night full of laughs and delicious food.
We have definitely found some time to have a little fun, but we haven’t lost focus on our goal for the season. We came in wanting to repeat as conference champs and win the regular season and that is what we plan to do. Now that our bodies have had some time to recover we are back and ready to roll. We start our conference trek this weekend with an away series against Coastal Carolina on Saturday and Charleston Southern on Monday. These two teams are both very talented and two of our bigger rivals within the conference. We are pumped and ready to go so if you are looking for something fun to do on Saturday night or Monday afternoon you can tune into highpointpanthers.com and watch the game live. It is going to be two tough soccer matches but I have faith we will come out with the outcomes we want, 2 wins!
Post No. 5 by Robin Pecoraro on Friday, Oct. 1, 2010.
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Friday, Sept.17, 2010
Eureka!
By Robin Pecoraro
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Things are changing! We are really clicking and making big improvements as a team. Have you checked out our recent games? The scores, (yes we did win against an ACC school) the shot count, or were you at the game in person? Coach has tried to challenge us with a very difficult out-of-conference schedule. A schedule against teams that analyst would say we have no shot against. Kind of like a David and Goliath story. Where HPU is David and these other teams we are playing are Goliath.
We’ve suffered some tough loses. Some loses a lot of teams would buckle at and fold. Upset about continually losing and down about not getting the results they have been training so hard to obtain, most teams in our position would just surrender and lose hope. But we have fought through, continue to grow as a team, and our resilience has paid off.
Last weekend, we got our first win ever as a program over an ACC school at the Carolina Cup in Columbia, S.C. The tournament was hosted by University of South Carolina and we faced Furman University and Clemson.
Friday night was our first match against Furman. Furman is a quality team that has a reputation for success. It was a tough game that was back and forth. Furman was able to beat us, but what we as a team took for the night was change and continual improvement as a program. We were able to connect multiple passes and find chances in front of the goal against Furman. In fact, we were able to out shoot Furman which goes to show how well we are playing as a team.
The big change came on Sunday, when we faced the Tigers of Clemson. Clemson is an ACC school that is highly competitive within their difficult conference. We came out ready to roar in this game. In no time at all Kelli Joline was able to find the back of the net. However, Clemson bounced back and by halftime the Tigers had made a comeback and were up 2-1. After a stern halftime talk by coach, reminding us to believe in ourselves and continue to push, we came out pumped. In just a 13-minute span we scored three goals and were up 4-2 against a very good team. The game continued on and Clemson was pushing hard in the final 10 minutes. But our resilience and determination to win held them to just one more goal for a final score of 4-3! We had a complete team effort in this game. We had amazing goals from Katie Taber, Kelli, and Brooke Lisson, with assists from Sara Rager and Kelli, and amazing work in goal by Andra Ritchie who had four outstanding saves!
This was a great win for us as a team. It picked up our morale and let us know that what coach is saying is true. We can truly and honestly compete with top level teams, and give them a run for their money. This weekend we head into yet another tough set of games. We play Wake Forest, who is currently ranked No. 22 in the country, on Friday and Western Carolina on Sunday. We’ve only got two more weekends and three more games until conference play begins. As a team we’ve set the goal to win not only the conference championship but also to win the conference regular season. We’ve got just a little more than two weeks to prepare and I have no doubt in my mind that we can accomplish these lofty goals we’ve set for ourselves.
Post No. 4 by Robin Pecoraro on Friday, Sept. 17, 2010.
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Friday, Sept.3, 2010
Balancing Act
By Robin Pecoraro
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With the first week of school come and gone it seems like things are starting to flow. We are finally getting into a routine of practice and the realization that summer is over is sinking in. For us it’s been even more of a challenge. We are working on solving that impossible equation, the one not even Einstein has a solution for, you know… how to balance our academic demands with our soccer requirements and a little bit of social life so we can feel like normal college students every once in awhile. There’s one thing for sure, if you didn’t know how to manage your time before coming here, you will leave as a master in time management!
All jokes aside, a lot of things are going on around here. As a team our away series has begun. We will play 5 straight away games against highly recognizable teams such as Duke, NC State, and Clemson. This brings a whole new element into the game. The realization that you must prove yourself each and every second you step foot on the field and because of this a new sense of competition has been created. Every player is vying for a spot on the travel roster and we are continuing to improve drastically at each practice. This past weekend (as well as some weekends to come) we’ll be facing some very challenging big D1 schools. Although we may not get the W in the game, there is so much more than the score. For the returners, to see shots on the board at the end of the game is an improvement from last year.
With that being said, this past weekend we suffered some losses on paper but made some big strides as a team. Our first challenge was NC State, a power school in the ACC. They came at us hard netting 3 goals in the first half. But we showed resilience and fought back. In fact in the second half we held them to 0-0 and had multiple quality shots that we just couldn’t place behind the keeper. A major turnaround from the first half and reassurance that when we believe in ourselves and play to abilities we can do great things! What was even more encouraging was that after the game we found out Coastal Carolina, one of our biggest rivals in the Big South, had played NC State earlier in the week and was defeated 7-0! And on top of that, they were picked 3rd in the Big South Preseason poll, one place ahead of us. News like that is so encouraging and gives us motivation as we know we have a very realistic chance or repeating as the Big South Champs. We just need to continue to stay focus and train hard.
We finished the weekend series with a game against Davidson. This was a tough loss, 1-0. The game was back and forth and we had some fantastic work in front of the goal but we just couldn’t find the connecting factor to put a point on the scoreboard.
As we came back to campus for this week of practices we were as positive and eager to train as ever. In fact we took our team fitness test, the Manchester United, and surprised everyone. As a team we set a goal that we could accomplish a team fitness level of 17. That means by the end of the year our team would average a level 17 on the challenging test. When we ran this we surpassed that goal as each and every player passed (this is the first time we have ever had every girl pass on their first try) and we didn’t just pass we had 10 girls set personal best in the levels they achieved.
We are continuing to work and improve for our upcoming matches. We have another established program we are taking on this weekend as we head to Duke to face the blue devils.
This week has been a little different. Our only game this weekend is on Sunday so we have had more time to train hard. Needless to say that’s just what we’ve done. We have continued with our regularly scheduled practices but have added in some extra individual work so we can focus on whatever we need to get better at individually. Add this on top of the homework and papers we have started to get assigned, as well as mandatory study hall, and different community service events you can see just how important time management is!
Here, at High Point, Coach has made our priorities very clear. First we are students preparing ourselves for a prosperous future and then we are athletes representing the university. So although we’ve been getting after it at soccer we are also getting after it in the classroom. We’ve all been giving out student athlete agendas and coach has let us know exactly what he expects from us inside the classroom. Last year our team boasted the highest GPA for all the athletic teams on campus and we were ranked nationally in the NCAA for how well we did in the classroom. We want to keep that recognition as a program so as we keep training hard on the field; we are also putting a lot of attention in our studies to be the best all around student athletes!
Post No. 3 by Robin Pecoraro on Friday, Sept. 3, 2010.
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Friday, Aug. 27, 2010
And Away We Go
By Robin Pecoraro
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The time between our exhibition match and the start of the actual season flew by. In just a blink of our eyes campus has begun to evolve. The most obvious sign, the café has opened, which brought a smile to all of our faces as the omelet bar was back and we finally had some food choices, it also has gotten a little harder to find parking as more and more students are popping up, and finally the construction around campus has come to an end and the detour signs were removed. Most people would dread this thought, knowing that the start of another school year was fastly approaching; however, for us, the women’s soccer team, the days couldn’t pass fast enough. Our dreaded three-weeks of misery, preseason, came to an end and our home opener was right around the corner!
Home openers never get old. It doesn’t matter if you are a returner or new to the team, healthy or injured, or even a coach versus a player. Each and every one of us had those home opener jitters, you know those nerves that make you feel sick to your stomach until the whistle blows to start the game. To add to the anxiety and excitement, this wasn’t just any home opener, this was our Coach’s old school, his pride and joy at one time, and Margret Fanning, one of our transfer’s, old team. We had something to prove! We needed to set the tone for the season, show the community that we are here ready to compete for another successful year, and of course to send a message to Francis Marion that High Point is a force you don’t want to encounter.
It was amazing to look up into the stands and see a pretty large crowd. School wasn’t even back in session yet and I feel like we had more fans than we had at most of our matches last year. Our fans help bring the game alive and their encouragement and faith really motivate us on the field. When everyone is settled in and the students are back in the routine of going to games, I can only imagine the home field advantage that Vert Soccer Stadium is going to be! The game was back and forth at the beginning, but as we calmed down and found our rhythm, we definitely had control. At the end of the night I think you can say it was successful. We came out with a win! Becca Hemby, one of our little freshmen had a great diving header that was created by a free kick from Danniel Rosado. She was able to place the ball perfectly on the six-yard box near the back post. Jillie Johnston, one of the captains and seniors on the team, read the flight of the ball flawlessly and made a hard but unselfish decision to redirect the ball with a header back across the middle. It was picture perfect as Becca came flying in and with a leap of faith and connected with the ball!
That’s a great way to start the season off! And not to relive the past, but to start things with a win was a great feeling and had the morale of the team on high. Coach was very encouraging after the game. He was happy for us and pleased to get the win but he made it clear, it was nothing to settle for. The potential we have, the talent, and the desire to win is incredible and Coach knows our performance in that game was nothing compared to what it can be with a little more time training and getting to know our style of play and the girls we have.
Most days following night games we will have off or a very light recovery practice. Coach often does this to keep our bodies healthy and to help recover from our intense work out the night before. Saturday followed suit, we had the day off from practice, but gathered as a team to volunteer with freshmen move in. At High Point every detail is important and they take pride in making the little moments special. Transitioning to college from high school is a big deal for students and a scary moment for parents so here at Point we try to make the move in process for freshmen extra easy. Tons of students will join the Orientation Crew. A trade off for getting to move back a few days early, on freshmen move in day, the kids on orientation crew must assist with getting all the freshmen’s car unpacked and moved up into their new rooms. Due to the large growth we had with our freshmen class (just over 1,200 new students) move-in day was going to be hectic and Coach thought it would be a nice gesture to help the Orientation Crew and give back a little service for all the school does for us.
The next morning we were up bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to work at 8 a.m. We were looking really sharp in our all black practice gear and brand new white Nikes. We jumped right in talking to families, unpacking their cars, and carrying everything up to their specified rooms. Being an upper classmen, it’s funny to joke about all the ‘goodies’ the freshmen brought in. Some kids came three cars deep with everything from teddy bears, flat screen tv’s, and food for a full semester. The freshmen must be great organizers, with all their goods, evey open space of their rooms are sure to be filled!
After we put in a quality bunch of hours we were thanked and released to go. Most of us went our own ways to get caught up on things we needed to do. For me, it was that long nap I’d been dreaming about since preseason started; just a chunk of time that I had no commitments or obligations and could go lay down peacefully with no alarm clock set. The rest of the day was mine and boy was it refreshing to get that extra rest and quiet time.
Sunday was a pretty light day. We had a quick practice to loosen our bodies up and go over some formation things. With all the freshmen back on campus there were a lot of mandatory meetings Coach had to work around. Our newbies got all dolled up for the opening convocation ceremony and then for the Honor Code signing that evening. They had their hair straightened, make-up on, and were in real clothes. They were all joking saying how nice it was to ‘dress like a girl again!’
Monday was the second game in our opening weekend. We played Campbell, a team we have never beaten and, to add to the mix, a team that is in the transition phase to join the Big South Conference next year. It was a great game. We showed significant improvement from Friday night’s match. We were so much calmer and more confident on the ball. We were connecting passes, moving the ball with pace, and most importantly creating chances in front of goal. But the intriguing thing about soccer is, you can clearly be the better team (as I think we were Monday night) and still not come out with the victory. Soccer is all about capitalizing on the other team’s mistakes. And Campbell just happened to be in the right spot at the right time to net a goal off of a little miscommunication we had. The final score was Campbell 1, HPU 0. Although the record books will show a loss, we did a lot of great things and took a nice step forward in our continual growth and development as a team.
As classes begin and we get in to our regular soccer routine it’s only going to continue to be more exciting. Our team has great things ahead of us and with our determination and desire the possibilities are endless.
Post No. 2 by Robin Pecoraro on Friday, Aug. 27, 2010.
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Friday, Aug. 20, 2010
Back to Business
By Robin Pecoraro
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The wait is over, the time is here, preseason has finally arrived. The High Point University women’s soccer team is back on campus and ready to get started on yet another memorable year. Hi, I’m Robin Pecoraro a returning midfielder and a junior from Daytona Beach, Fla. I’ll be one of the player’s blogging about our team and keeping you all up to date on the exciting things we are doing.
We came rolling into campus about a month ago ready to get things started. In a mixture of emotions from excitement to nerves we gathered outside Millis to meet the newbies and get the basics out of the way. It’s hard to describe that first meeting, it’s almost like you are getting reunited with your best friend or a very close family member after being away from each other for months. There are hugs, laughs, stories and just an awesome realization that your family is back and another great season is about to get underway.
That first day flew by and the next week or so we really got after it with the dreaded three-a-days better known as PRESEASON. It all starts with fitness test. For our team, we have three different running test from a series of sprints, to suicides, and even a two-mile test to make sure our endurance is up to par. However, the main test is called the Manchester United aka the Man U. This consist of 100 yard sprints that you must make in a specified time and then make it back to the starting line before the next minute begins. Our team fitness level is 15 so in order to touch a ball, or practice in general, each player individually must make at least 15 sprints in the designated time. Amidst the nerves and anxiety to meet Coaches expectations the team did great and in no time we had all the healthy field players training!
I have had a little different experience then the rest of the team this season because I have been recovering from a summer injury so I haven’t been released to train fully. Instead of being out on the field working my tail off I’ve had to accept my temporary new role of being a team player from the side line, encouraging the girls, giving them a shoulder to catch their breath on, and continually having a positive attitude to keep the moral high. Although not being able to play with the girls is killing me, I have to say this new role is very rewarding!
Although I’m not out on the field “getting after it” (our theme for the season) with the rest of the girls I feel every bit a part of their success. Each and every practice brings a new intensity and high level of competition. Over these past couple weeks it’s been incredible to watch what the team has done. One of the ways that Coach has tried to instill a mentality of competition within our team this season is the MATRIX competition. The MATRIX is a series of different soccer skills, fitness, and small side games that we acquire points for top performances and the Coach posts the top 10 players in the locker room. It rewards the hard work of those girls but also to motivate the rest of the team to continue to work hard in an effort to make the list next time its updated.
The first week of preseason culminated in our exhibition match against the UNC Greensboro. And wow, how amazing was it to see how quickly we came together like a team and made some things work. Last year we played UNCG during the regular season and we got our butts handed to us. This year it was totally different. We played them straight out in the system we are going to play throughout the year and we gave them a run for their money. The game of soccer, in my mind, is won by capitalizing on the other team’s mistakes. Although the game was back and forth and no team really had dominate control UNCG was able to get a few good breaks and punish us for the couple mistakes that we made. The final score was 4-1, not the ending we we’re hoping to come out with but we found a lot of positive things to take from the game. Coach was really encouraging and the girls also were in good spirits. In fact on the way to the bus one of the returners on the team, Brielle Spencer, made a remark that had the whole team giggling: “Hey guys it’s the first game of the season and we’ve already scored, last year we didn’t have this feeling until we were 11 games deep”
After the game we had the following morning off to recover and then an evening session that truly tested the mental toughness of the team. After an exhilarating game against UNCG, Coach had us scheduled for fitness and technical work for the evening. Instead of getting all frustrated and upset about more fitness, something we all dread, the girls were excited to get after it. The atmosphere out there was amazing. While the team was working on foot skills, finishing, and some speed and agility, the injured (including me) were going through an ab course with the strength and conditioning coach. Everyone was tired but that didn’t stop a single person from cheering for the rest of the team to make sure each and every girl got through the workout. Coach had been harping all preseason that if we want to be successful we’re going to have to do it TOGETHER as a team and not individuals and that practice was a testament to how serious we are about making a positive name for our program and how we are all in this journey together. After practice we were all in the locker room and one of our freshmen, Becca Hemby, turned to the team and was like, “Wow, that felt really good. I feel like we accomplished something tonight!”
As a way to recover physically but continue to grow as a team Coach scheduled a day of fun working together to master various challenges on a low ropes course. We were privileged to join the volleyball team and head down to Charlotte to experience a real ropes course. When we arrived the volleyball team went their own way while we split up into two different groups to accommodate our large team on the different challenges. Each group went to different stations that required us to work together as a team and help each other in order to get from point A to point B. We did all sorts of low rope challenges like crossing a tight rope, log jumping, and connecting swings.
After a few hours apart we came together for the final challenge. It was the wall climb, a twelve foot high wall that each play had to be hoisted over by their teammates. The challenge was, once you had made it over the wall, when you came back down you could no longer be a lifter but rather just a supporter. Once we were given all the rules and guidelines we talked about a plan on how we thought we could attack the wall. We lined up with a ‘tall’ girl every four people so we would always have a tall person at the top of the wall. We also kept some girls that we know are relatively strong near the end so they could help longer with the hoisting. We also strategically picked Sammi Vercellino to be our last person over since she is the lightest on the team. Once we had everyone lined up we were ready to get things started. We started off great, we were tossing girls up and having a great time. However, as the number of girls left to go up the wall dwindled things got a little tougher. We finally had it down to the very last person Sammi. Sammi was going to have to run and jump as high as she could and hope that one of the girls at the top of the wall would be able to grab her hand and pull her up. There was a sense of fear in Sammi’s eyes as the whole team tried to calm her and encourage her. Danniel Rosado called out at one point, “Sammi trust your teammates.” It was so cool to see the calmness that came over Sammi when Rosado made that comment. It was almost like she was carefree now because she knew we were going to do everything we could to help her. After a few trial runs Sammi took off and leaped into the air as Becca was able to grab hold of her hand just long enough for Rosado, Lexie, and me to pull her the rest of the way up. There were cheers and hugs as we had accomplished a very challenging task and while doing so grew as a team.
When everyone has settled down we gathered in a circle and talked about what we had learned from each other and how we could apply the different things from the ropes course such as communication, encouragement, and trust into our games. The ropes course was incredible as we took a huge step forward as a team but also each girl was able to break out of their shell and open up to the team helping us with our goal of togetherness. After the ropes course we joined the volleyball team again for lunch and games at Dave and Busters before heading back to High Point for the day. We ended our day off at Barberitos, a local Mexican style restaurant that is a High Point University Women’s Soccer sponsor. At Barbs we handed our schedules, signed autographs, and talked to the people from the community about our upcoming season.
As preseason is finishing up and our home and season opener game is this Friday, we are all happy about how far we have come already and have faith in how far we can go. We are all excited for this season and can’t wait to see all the great things we are able to accomplish as a team and a program.
Post No. 1 by Robin Pecoraro on Friday, Aug. 20, 2010.
