The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Women's Soccer: Danielle Blair Blog
10/26/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Oct. 26, 2009
Hey Blazer Fans,
It's been a tough 2 weeks for us. Last Friday we played Tulsa and secured a 2-0 win over them. It was also our senior night so it was a very emotional game. Sunday we played SMU and winning this game would have put us in a great position to be in conference tournament. However, in our last few games we have not shown up in the first half and we were tied with SMU at half time 0-0. With the combination of not scoring and a mistake in the back that led to a goal, we lost 1-0 to SMU. It was very sad for us because it was our last home game and in particular the last home game ever for the seniors. We also knew that that win was not only important for Conference Tournament, but for getting an at large bid to the NCAA tournament.
This week we played both ECU and Marshall away. We travelled by bus, spending over 25 hours on the road. It is a long trip and physically drains us, but regardless we still had two crucial games to play. To clinch a spot in conference tournament we just needed to win one of these games. This was not as easy as it seemed because our opponents made that a very difficult task.
Friday we played ECU at 3pm, which is different from our regular Friday night games. Again we started out slow in the first half and ECU was able to get on the board scoring with about 10 minutes left till half time. The second half we were a completely different team and we dominated possession and created a lot of changes. Early in the second half Danya (Barsalona) was able to get us a goal making the score 1-1. The chances continued, like Carolyn Polcari who hit the cross bar twice, but we were just unable to finish. We went into overtime and with both teams unable to score we finished with a 1-1 tie. It was tough because we had really picked up the momentum in the second half and I really believed we were going to score at least 2-3 goals. So we were off to Marshall with hopes of getting a win there.
Sunday's game was very tough. It was very competitive and physical match, and I must say it's the best I've seen Marshall play in the years that I've been here. I feel that we outworked and outplayed Marshall creating lots of opportunities to get on the board. We were just unable to finish. Both teams had very good opportunities to put the game away in regulation, but either good defending or luck just prevented the ball from going into the back of the net. So we went in to overtime, and then into double overtime. Sadly, Marshall ended up scoring the golden goal with about 6 minutes left in double overtime to get the win. It was a very tough loss for us, not only because we played our hearts out and got lots of opportunities to win, but also we knew that getting into conference tournament was going to be that much harder.
I think it is funny how fate works though. In the past 3 years we have played Memphis 5 times with 4 losses and one tie. We have not won once. I think it is time for us to get a big win, and who better than Memphis right? So now we travel Memphis on their senior night and need a win to secure a spot in conference tourney. I think this will make the end of our regular season very exciting and it will be a great way to start our post-season by making it to conference tournament. I love my teammates and really and truly believe we can do it. Hopefully all you Blazer fans are behind us too because we need all the support we can get. Beat Memphis!
