100-Percent Cotton
9/3/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Sept. 3, 2008
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - "100-Percent Cotton" is the weekly blog of senior defender Jessica Cotton. The blog will give fans a look at the inner workings of the SFA soccer program and will be updated weekly on Tuesdays. (Except this week. Our narrator took a day off for the Labor Day holiday.)
Friday, Aug. 29, was our first home game! We had been looking forward to it since the day we started pre-season. The weeks leading up to it had not been as promising as we would have hoped, but we were eager to bounce back and show what we were able to do. School started Monday, so it would be quite the stressful week filled with new schedules and tough practices. We were given Monday off, in order to get a feel of what a new semester would bring.
Tuesday rolled around, and we knew it was going to be a hard practice. We have given those practices the name of "Terrible Tuesday" for the simple fact that it is the most competitive and exhausting practice of the week. It usually consists of high-intensity training followed by team fitness. However, no matter how hard Terrible Tuesdays seem to become, we have always made it out feeling a sense of accomplishment knowing that we are training harder than our next opponent.
Wednesday and Thursday practices are light training days, usually including tweaks in team dynamics, set plays, and scouting reports. Practice was now done for the week and it was time for team dinner.
This week, Summer (Bradfield) and (Amanda) Alders opened their house, while (Amanda) Lackey prepared the GREAT lasagna. It is always very laid back and comfortable. We watched some NFL football, joked about everything we could have thought of, while taking in all the carbs we could. Some would say that girls don't eat much, but when you get our group of girls together, we devour everything in sight. By the time the dinner ended, the only thing left was a little bit of salad. We left that night full of great food and prepared for the following day.
Friday had finally come, and the first thing for us to do together was pre-game meal. We went to the ever-so-classy Schlotzsky's. Afterward, we had a short break before having to report for treatment. Treatment is always interesting, as the trainers are trying to get their equipment ready, as well as trying to deal with us the best they can.
By this time I had emotions running wild. There was excitement because I was finally able to dress and actually play. My doctor had released me, and the note read, "soccer with no restriction." I left the office with a smile that I just couldn't get off my face. There were nerves and anxiety. I had not played in an actual game since January, but practices had been going well, so I didn't feel completely lost.
The game was slightly delayed due to lightening in the area, but, just thirty minutes later, we were underway. The first half ended in a zero-zero tie. However, we came out in the second half firing, and, with a little help and a goal from Kim Kimmel, we won the game 1-0! It was a great start to the weekend. Now we were looking toward University of Houston on Sunday.
We traveled Saturday to Houston and stayed at the quite luxurious DoubleTree Hotel downtown. It was quite the step up from what we are used to. We ate dinner and shopped around for a bit in Rice Village, and then it was time to head back to the hotel to rest up. The next morning we had breakfast at Houston's Best Breakfast award winner, The Breakfast Klub. Soon after, it was game time.
Houston got out to an early 1-0 lead, but we were not giving up that easy. Although it was not a large lead, it happened to be large enough for Houston to win. We were disappointed with the loss and even more disappointed that we didn't play as well as we could have.
Putting that game behind us, we are taking this week day by day because of Hurricane Gustav and the potential for bad weather. We are scheduled to play Louisiana Tech on Friday in Ruston, La., then head back home for Arkansas State on Sunday, hoping the rain doesn't ruin our plans. But whatever the case may be, we are more than ready for an entire weekend of wins!
-- SFA --
