Lipscomb

November 2, 2007

It was a fairly uneventful first half. I thought both teams were playing well. At halftime I thought we were right about where we wanted to be. We definitely were not playing like it was a rivalry, but I thought it was OK to be relaxed. What I was worried about was our lack of urgency in front of the goal. It looked like our players did not get concerned if they missed a shot or didn’t take a shot. Everyone just assumed we would eventually score. I didn’t want to criticize my players or make any of them anxious, so I decided to yell at the referee.

Anyone who has heard me at practice or games knows that my voice goes up about 2 octaves when I yell. I can’t help it. I’m sure referees hate it. Some of my friends call it squawking. Several players on my teams have imitated me or called me Minnie Mouse. I also stomp. I don’t stomp my feet quite as bad as I used to, but I am still a little bit of a stomper. Unfortunately, I have developed another attractive habit. I am actually punching downward with my hands, but I think it looks like I am flapping my arms. My arms are bent at the elbow, so they are not in full wingspan, but they probably are flapping a little bit. Again, I don’t intentionally do all of this. It just happens when I get excited.

About 15 minutes into the 2nd half, I started squawking, stomping, and flapping at the referee. I thought that would be more effective than yelling at the girls. We made our usual substitutions about the same time, and Jamie Bullock and Jenn Rix scored goals within a few minutes of each other. In the last 5 minutes of the game, Marcela Sanchez headed in Sarah Brandt’s corner kick. We took the seniors off the field, so that they could be appropriately recognized by the crowd and their teammates in their final home game.

For all three goal scorers – Jamie, Jenn, and Marcela – it was her first goal of the season. We have had 13 different players score goals this year, and 12 different players have registered assists. That is 19 players with some sort of statistical offensive contribution. I think that is pretty impressive. I am thrilled with that statistic!

I wish I had more time to write before the conference tournament. Today is our final practice before the tournament. We will be working on different scenarios at the end of a game. If we are down by one goal at the end of the game, we will change to a 3-3-4 and eventually bring the goalkeeper up into a 3-4-4. If we are ahead by one goal at the end of a game, we will go into a 4-5-1. The players will practice in their positions in these scenarios, so we are prepared for any situation that arises in the tournament. We will also practice penalty kicks. We have practiced PK’s every practice since qualifying for the tournament.

Tomorrow night, we will attend the conference banquet, where the All-Conference teams will be named and the regular season champions will receive their award. We play on Wednesday at 4:00EST. It is listed as 7:30 in some articles and on some websites, but our game is at 4:00. We play Jacksonville University at Kennesaw State. JU is the defending conference tournament champions! Will they be under pressure to defend their title? Will we be loose, or will we be nervous playing in our first post-season game? I will do my best to prepare our team to perform without anxiety. I will let you know how it goes. Wish us luck!