End of Season, Part 1

Spring Season 2010 – Week 4

The last day of practice was relaxed but productive as we prepared for the spring tournament at Western Connecticut. We had split into our two teams for a scrimmage the night before, and did so again on Friday to practice offensive and defensive corners. We also did my favorite thing, take strokes on the goalies! There’s something about being able to fake out a goalie and get the ball in the cage that makes it so much fun. The smack talk between us field players and the goalies probably has something to do with it too - no wagers this time. We then had a quick meeting after practice to wrap things up. I can't believe how quickly spring season went by - definitely bittersweet, but we were all pretty excited, or as we like to put it, “ready to rage” for Sunday!

Sunday morning we all woke up early to get breakfast and were ready to leave by 7:30 am. It was raining and cold but as Ducks do, we adjusted to the weather, because after all, Ducks love when it's wet! Following a quiet bus ride, we arrived at Western Connecticut, gathered our things and got ready to play. Midgey’s team (Stevens 1) played first, while my team (Stevens 2) rooted them on. They played well, but unfortunately lost that game on account of undeclared field markings. Whatever. That would be their only loss in pool play on the day. Stevens 1 went on to defeat an alumni team and Ramapo to win their pool and earn the #2 seed in the tournament. In the last game, the girls rallied for the win in a last minute scoring rampage, including an awesome reverse chip shot from Jill! It was pretty sweet!

Jess’s team, Stevens 2, went into the first game against the West Conn Alumni and won the game by a large margin - Lauren had 3 goals! We went undefeated in pool play, earning the #1 seed of the tournament. A quick intermission happened between games and my team played first in the 1v4 game against Southern Connecticut, who we had previously beaten in pool play. Despite being tired, we played well, but lost 3-1. Midgey’s team played next in the 2v3 game and played a great game but also unfortunately came out on the losing side too. Kudos to the other team's goalie for saving some sick shot. This meant that both teams were done (single game elimination crossover) but everyone had fun and got a ton of playing time. We improved throughout the day and you could see the work we've done over the past month has really been paying off!

The bus ride home for me was the realization that season was over until August. We all had improved so much and played so well, it made going to practice each day fun and interesting to see everyone's growth. All the fitness sessions with Meris suddenly didn’t seem so bad. As I’m sitting here writing this, it’s weird to think I don’t have to prepare for practice soon. I got back into the groove of season so much that I woke up on Monday morning at 6:15am, got dressed for practice... then realized I didn’t have practice. Weird. I wonder how many other teammates did the same thing. I'm excited for next season, so I say, bring it on!

<3 Meghan Broderick (Sophomore)