Women's Soccer Blog: Anna Lund Recaps Last Week
10/11/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Each week a different Gonzaga University women's soccer player will recap the week prior. This week Anna Lund, a junior midfielder/defender, shares the highlights from the past week.
Monday - Today everyone came to the locker room in great spirits from our winning weekend, granted we were all tired from the past two games, but everyone was excited to start preparing for our opening conference games this weekend! We started off in the weight room with some great tunes and got in a solid lift before we headed out to the field. Today was a no-contact session, but intense nonetheless. First we worked on some technical skills before we broke into groups to work on our set plays, specifically our corners and long throws. These are going to be critical for us in getting two W's this weekend. Lastly we broke into groups to work on specific skills, the forwards got off tons of shots and scored some awesome goals while the backs hit some long balls, the mid's [midfielders] perfected their free kicks, and the keepers worked on their punts and goal kicks. We ended with a dynamic pool session before we headed in for the night.
Tuesday - As usual this is our day off to rest our bodies, catch up on homework, and mentally prepare for the rest of the week. With our big trip to California this weekend, the team makes a great effort to stay on top of schoolwork and really buckle down for the rest of the week.
Wednesday - Humpday, and the team is ready for another great session. We started off in the weight room with a lighter lift to get the blood flowing before we headed out to the practice field. First we worked on some technical skills before we broke into separate functional training for the defenders and attackers. We ended the session with some 3-v-2 work to the goals and the red team came up as the winners! We all went home to get a good sleep before our travels the next day.
Thursday - Waking up this morning the players were all oblivious to what was going to prove to be a very interesting day. We packed up and headed out to the bus at 9:15 a.m. to make our 10:45 a.m. flight. But as we waited at our gate the fog out on the runways just wouldn't lift and no flights were taking off. So we changed plans and headed back to campus to get a good lunch and a training session in. After re-loading the bus we stopped off at Olive Garden for an early dinner before we took off back to the airport. Arriving at the airport we were greeted with quite a chaotic scene, but thankfully we made our way through security and to our gate to wait for our 6:15 p.m. flight. Once safely in Oakland we headed to our hotel for a good night's sleep before our first conference game!
Friday - GAME DAY!!! All of the players woke up today very excited to get our first conference game underway. After getting in a good breakfast and a quick video session we headed over to Saint Mary's for the game. Arriving at the field we immediately noticed the muddy field from the rainy weather this week and knew it was going to be a very interesting game. The game started off quickly and the tempo was set high. We were the first to score, with a great shot from midfielder Sarah Rhodes midway thru the second half. After 20 more muddy minutes of play we gave up a goal, and so continued on to overtime. We kept up great energy through not one, but two overtimes, and held on to our tie. Obviously the team was upset we didn't get the win, but a tie on the road is a good thing for our team, and we left in good spirits!
Saturday - Today we woke up to a beautiful sunny day in Los Angeles. After breakfast we got in a good recovery pool work out before we had some free time to catch up on homework and check out the local shops. Next we went through some video and a walk through at LMU to prepare for our game tomorrow. Then back on the bus for some sight-seeing at Venice Beach before heading to dinner. We all got back to the hotel excited for a good night's rest and tomorrow's game!
Sunday - Today is our second conference game of the season against the LMU lions, and everyone is definitely excited to get out on the field. We kicked off in the heat at one o'clock. The tempo was high and we came out hard. After a long first 45 minutes, there was still no score but we came out hard in the second. We battled through the next half, and though each team got their opportunities, we finished the match still tied 0-0. Going into overtime the team worked hard to get a goal, but we just couldn't quite snag one. In the second overtime neither team was able to notch a goal and we ended the game in a 0-0 tie after another grueling 110-minute game. Though we were upset we couldn't get a win this weekend, the team fought hard and played two great games. The next step is just getting a win in our third conference game coming up this week against San Francisco!
Hope to see everyone at the game this week!
Previous Blogs
Blog 1 - Aug. 30
Blog 2 - Sept. 6
Blog 3 - Sept. 13
Blog 4 - Sept. 19
Blog 5 - Sept. 26
Blog 6 - Oct. 4
