The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Men's Soccer: Carl Woszczynski Blog
10/5/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Oct. 5, 2009
Hey Blazer Fans!
It was a great weekend of soccer for us this past weekend! Having only one game on the weekend, we were able to get an extra day's rest, as well an extra day of good hard training to prepare for Nationally Ranked #13 Kentucky at Kentucky on Sunday.
After the long SMU trip, we got Monday off of training for our bodies to recover. Tuesday was also a bit lighter training session, but then it was back to business on Wednesday. Wednesday we discussed UK and their style of play. We all knew we were in for a very physical battle. Wednesday and Thursday were good intense practices to help us prepare for that and make sure everyone was in their best form going into a very important C-USA road game. After a more tactical session on Friday, we were ready to make the trip to Lexington the next morning.
Our bus departed Bartow Saturday morning. We were all very happy to see that we would be traveling in a sleeper bus (a bus that has beds, couches, tables, Satellite TV's, the works), instead of a normal travel bus. After a quick nap on the bus, the FIFA Soccer video game competitions began and kept everyone very entertained for mostly the whole trip. Once we arrived in Lexington, we checked into the hotel, changed into practice gear, and headed to the field for a light training session to loosen our legs up after the long drive. After practice, we headed out for a good dinner, and got a good night sleep to be fully energized for our game.
Luckily, due to the 4:30PM kickoff time, we were able to sleep in later than usual on Sunday! We had our pre-game meal about 4 hours before the game as usual, and got prepared to play. No one needed any extra motivation for the game, as the whole team knew how important it was to get us closer to our goal of a Conference USA Championship!
The game started off exactly how we wanted it to. We held position, knocked the ball around, and made them chase. Once we started to go forward a bit more, a goal came quickly. After some nice passing in the 14th minute between Kevin Sawchak and Alandus Brooks, Michal Mravec played a great diagonal ball to Two-Boys Gumede. "Two" took an excellent touch, cut inside, and place an amazing right-footed shot into the far top corner of the goal! We were able to control most of the rest of the half and go into halftime still up 1 nil. The second half was a bit more wild. Kentucky relied on kicking long ball, after long ball, after long ball into and around our penalty area. They also pushed about 3 or 4 more men forward to play a much more offensive style. We were able to stand firm in the back though and keep the shutout! It was a great win for us on the road, and pushed us up to 2nd in the C-USA standings!
Due to the great performance, the C-USA Offensive Player of the Week Award and the C-USA Defensive Player of the Week Award both came to our team! It was the first time we swept the awards since 2003!
This upcoming Saturday we have a HUGE C-USA game against FIU at 7PM. Please, please, please come out and support us! A huge home crowd always gets us fired up and ready to play our best! Admission is free for all students, and as usual, there is a tailgate at 6PM with FREE FOOD FOR ALL STUDENTS!!! Again, please come out and bring your friends for a night of fun and great soccer!
GO BLAZERS!!!
