The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Kickin It With Ally B.
10/1/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Oct. 1, 2010
Hello again!
What a long weekend! We played this past weekend in El Paso, Texas, then flew out to Colorado Springs. Lots of traveling. We left Thursday morning and reached our destination in El Paso Thursday evening. Friday during the day we got to do some sightseeing which was awesome. El Paso is right on the border of Mexico, literally walking distance. We drove around some and looked into Mexico. We stopped at one point and coach talked with a border patrol officer who led us to a place where we were just steps away from Mexico and the Rio Grande. We walked around and took pictures and just enjoyed the opportunity we had. We later drove up to an over look where we could see as far into Mexico as our eyes would let us. It was an awesome view and cool for those people on our team who haven't been to El Paso to see what it's like and see a little bit how people in Mexico live.
We played our game that night against UTEP. It was a tough game. We were tied at halftime 1-1 with the goal by Laura McCalla, but they were able to squeeze by us in the second half. Toward the end of the game we were down 2-1, and we had our team pushed high, giving them hard pressure hoping to get one in to tie it up. While still in our full force attacking mindset, they got free and scored another to put them up 3-1. Tough game.
Saturday after the UTEP game we left for Colorado Springs where we were to play Colorado College. We flew into Denver and had to drive an hour or two to Colorado Springs. We made it there and had our typical Saturday practice where we try and stay loose and work the kinks out from the night before. There was a sign on Colorado College's campus that said the altitude was over 6,000 feet! Way different air than in Birmingham.
Sunday afternoon was our game. Another intense game. We started off strong despite the thin air. We were playing pretty well and Carolyn Polcari was able to get a goal on an assist from Morgan Haney. We were leading 1-0 at half time. We came back in the 2nd half and worked and worked, but Colorado College was able to get a goal off a corner kick to tie the game 1-1 with four minutes left in the game. We ended up going into double overtime and neither team was able to get another goal in.
After the game we had to drive back to Denver for an early morning flight the next day, but before leaving Colorado Springs we got to see a little of what Colorado Springs was all about. We went to a place called The Garden of the Gods. It was amazing. It's an area of Colorado that has giant red rocks and great scenery. We walked around there for a while just admiring what was in front of us. We had a great time walking around seeing everything and taking some pictures. There were areas where we could climb on some of the rocks and go back into little crevices. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad coach allows us to see things like this on away trips to let us see what else is out in the world. Also, when we were leaving The Garden of the Gods, there were some deer that just walked right in front of one of the vans. We had to stop and wait for them to stroll across the road. Then a couple seconds later we saw another one just feeding in the front yard of a house. They were just everywhere! Good thing we didn't hit one.
Also, our assistant coach Rebecca Whittle had a birthday this week! We haven't had time to do butts-up yet, but we will. Coaches don't get exemptions from that game! Our team got her an ice cream cake, her favorite. We had to keep it in a cooler with ice all throughout practice, hoping it wouldn't melt. Thankfully it hadn't melted too much and we sang happy birthday and cut it after practice.
This weekend is our home opening weekend for conference games. We play Southern Miss on Friday at 7 p.m. and UCF on Sunday at 2 p.m. Our Friday game is also our breast cancer awareness game that we have every year. We will be wearing pink jerseys and there will be a silent auction for the game-worn jerseys and proceeds will be given to the Coach Bartow Fund. Also the first 50 fans wearing pink will receive a free pink UAB cup and shaker. So everyone come out, wear pink, and help support your UAB blazers!
#15 AllyB.
