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Women’s Soccer in the City of Brotherly Love 9/10/2004 Kim Miller of Vanderbilt’s media relations office accompanied the Commodores on their weekend trip and filed the following diary of the trip. Day Three After facing a tough loss against Penn, the Commodore women’s soccer team had a day off in Philadelphia. We met on the bus at 9:30 a.m. after having breakfast in the hotel. A few more of the women at breakfast this morning were doing schoolwork. At practice the ladies stretched and warmed up a bit. They were pretty loose. On the bus ride there and through much of practice, everyone was fairly lighthearted. On the ride there, the ladies also decided to designate an animal for each player. After warming up, the ladies continued their lighthearted nature and acted out some of their animals. Upon returning to the hotel after practice, the coaches wanted the players to spend the day refocusing and resting; in short, getting ready for tomorrow’s game. The coaches headed downtown to explore Philadelphia and probably pick up a cheesesteak along the way. Tonight the team is having dinner at Brette Healy’s parents’ house in Wilmington, Delaware. Tomorrow’s game versus Princeton kicks off at Noon EST. Check www.vucommodores.com for live game stats and stories. Day Two As day two slowly begins, the women are able to enjoy breakfast at their own pace at the hotel. I arrive to breakfast at about 7:45 a.m. and am greeted by only two players — Jessica Fear and Tyler Griffin. Jessica, working hard as usual, is mixed between eating breakfast and doing work on her laptop. Tyler seems engulfed in a book she is reading. I was surprised any of the players were up this early, but here were two of the ladies up and raring to go. At about 8:30, a few more players started to straggle into breakfast. At 9:30, we were on the bus and ready to go. On the way to Rhodes Field, the bus watched a tape of some great soccer action. This really seemed to liven the team up, especially because the video came with “pump-up” music that woke them up a bit. There were some truly great goals and saves on the tape that the ladies “oohed” and “aahed” to. Once arriving to Rhodes Field, we were able to walk on the game field. The first thing everyone noticed were the “dogs” on the field. For some reason, which I hope we find out eventually, Penn put up silhouettes of black Labrador dogs all around both the practice and game fields. Many of us (most of whom I assume were still not awake) were unsure if they were real dogs or not. Once practice began, it was all business. The ladies warmed up with Lori Alexander, one of the Vanderbilt strength coaches. After completing their plyometric workouts, they stretched with Ann and a few also shot some goals to get things off to a positive start. Then Coach Coveleskie Hill settled them down to have a pre-game chat with them. The team talked about strengths and weaknesses of their opponent as well as themselves. The basic point was to “find a way.” One advantage Vanderbilt may be able to capitalize on is the fact that they have already played five games. Penn has only played two games and just started school last week. Other than that, the secrets to the game will remain just that; for now. After all the coaches had their input on the game, we headed back to the hotel for some rest. Lunch will arrive at 1:30 p.m. and then the team will have pre-game. The ladies seem very intent on winning this game and their attitude was very focused this morning at practice. Check back later with www.vucommodores.com for the post game story and box score. Go Commodores! Day One Today we departed for Philadelphia after leaving Nashville and the McGugin Center. The plane ride was interesting, as there was a dog on board. About halfway through the plane ride, the dog let out a couple barks. The coaches as well as other passengers thought it was the players having a good time. We all found it funny, as it was, in fact, the small dog under one of the seats. After arriving in the Philadelphia airport, which was quite larger than the Nashville Airport, we waited for our bags. We were also joined in the airport by the N.C. State volleyball team on their way to a tournament. After about half an hour, maybe longer, the bags arrived. It was unfortunate that the bags were late because the bus driver had to circle the airport about five times. We then took off for the hotel. After arriving and preparing for dinner, we left for our 7:30 reservations at an Italian restaurant, Marra’s. Marra’s was the choice of Ann Caslin, our Vanderbilt Sports Medicine trainer. It was an excellent choice. The appetizers and salads were ready as soon as we arrived. The waiters and waitresses were so welcoming and ready to help us with whatever we needed. The food arrived and it was excellent! Everything looked homemade and the entrees that were ordered ranged from pasta dishes to chicken marsala to mussels. It was interesting to see the big difference in the players’ personalities. We had a blast at dinner. The girls laughed at past memories, including a particular story about a bat on their Europe trip. Everyone seemed to be pretty focused on the game tomorrow, but not thinking about only it. Some ordered dessert, although I still don’t know how we were able to eat more. From tiramisu to cannolis, we ordered at least one of everything. As desserts were being passed around, everyone was starting to finally fill up. As we rolled, literally, out of the restaurant, we headed back to the hotel. It was a very quiet ride home because I think there were some people falling asleep. The bus leaves tomorrow at 9:30 for practice. We will post another pre-game update tomorrow as the women get ready to face U Penn tomorrow evening. |
