Women's Soccer Blog: Tori Lee Recaps Last Week
9/26/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Each week a different Gonzaga University women's soccer player will recap the week prior. This week Tori Lee , a freshman midfielder, shares the highlights from the past week.
Blog September 26, 2011
After two tough games last weekend, we wasted no time in preparing for our next opponent, the Idaho Vandals. We first broke a sweat in the weight room with good ole' Mike Nilson, our strength and conditioning coach, and then broke up into two groups. Half of us made our way to the training field for a fun, yet challenging practice which included; technical footwork, 4-v-4 to goal, and an exciting penalty kick shootout to finish. The other group utilized the pool for sprints, stretching, and rejuvenation.
We had the day off on Tuesday which we used to catch up on reading, study for exams, write papers, relax our bodies, and catch the first elimination of Dancing With the Stars season 13!
After our fun and relaxing day off, we were all excited to get back to work. Like Monday, we started with another challenging lift - focusing on maintaining our strength with core and body weight exercises. The focus of practice that afternoon was a continuation of our theme this season - perfecting the little things! This meant challenging each other to take our first touch away from pressure, getting low to protect the ball, and putting the right texture and weight on our longer services. Not to be outdone by Tuesday, this evening held the highly anticipated premiere of Modern Family!
Thursday, game-day eve! We all began preparing for the battle the following day. This included hydrating - Friday's forecast held a high of 92 degrees - getting plenty of nutritious meals in, and having complete focus during our afternoon practice and video. Although our bodies and minds were ready to go for Friday, the Thursday night P.R.I.D.E volleyball game pumped us up even more. We refueled our Gonzaga spirit and all went to bed visualizing our success to come.
It was finally Friday! The day we all look forward to, not because the weekend was here, but instead because it was game day; the time to show where all our hard work has led us! The whistle blew at 4 p.m. and just 12 minutes in we were on the scoreboard! Freshman Cricket Harber, coming up on a corner from center-back, notched our first goal with a convincing shot from inside the box. She struck again just about five minutes later with a perfectly placed free-kick to sophomore Ali Ohashi who had a skilled first-time finish. Going into halftime with the lead 2-0 we knew that Idaho was not the team that would lie down and give up; we had to come back out with even more intensity and dictate the possession to keep them out of the game. Our third goal was started with Jordan Travis playing the ball out wide to Kasey Rubosky, she then slipped me, Tori Lee, a perfect pass into the 18-yard box where I got away from the pressure and scored. Coming into the game, we knew Idaho was going to give us a physical battle for the entire game and they did not disappoint. It wasn't always the prettiest match, but the Zags stepped up to finish with a very mature and solid 3-0 victory.
Saturday training began with a lifting session in the morning and finished with a very fun training. We began with some technical drills which led into small sided possession and concluded with a very entertaining 2-v-2 with bumpers game. The winning team was offered cupcakes (baked by Coach Billy), so you know it got pretty heated! The red team had an amazing comeback to win...hopefully they will share their treats.
With Sunday off, we got ahead on schoolwork knowing that two tough games this next weekend against Seattle University and the University of Montana will necessitate much of our time and energy.
Go Zags!
Tori Lee
Blog 1 - Aug. 30
Blog 2 - Sept. 6
Blog 3 - Sept. 13
Blog 4 - Sept. 19
