One win, two losses and a sub-freezing warm-up

Despite hoping we would win all three games this weekend, or at least two, I have to admit that the weekend went pretty well.

We left Saturday morning for the usually six hour drive to Montreal. Usually our coach likes to take the backroads, but since our assistant coach was driving we went on the highway, and it was much quicker! So, we got to Granby (about 45 minutes outside of Montreal) by 3:30pm.

We were all very amused when we got to the Granby Motel, which was no doubt a few steps down from the Hotel Castel with Spa that we'd stayed in previously. To quote one of my teammates "This is what happens when you lose to Canada in the qualifiers and have to take an extra trip to Mexico." Exactly. But despite appearances (including the trailer turned motel rooms sitting out front), the Granby Motel fulfilled its obligation of giving us a warm place to sleep.

USA vs. Granby
Saturday night we headed to the Granby gym to play against a team that, despite beating them several times, had beaten us in the last game by one point. We were not about to lose this game, so we arrived on the court with some fire to win.

Speaking of courts, the Granby gym is renowned for their very short court, so our fast breaks would be cut and we wouldn't be able to rely on fitness to beat them. Thankfully, everyone stepped up and we had a really great game, winning 27-23. Yay!!


Everyone was really excited because it felt like a true team effort. The attitude on the court was really positive and energetic, and we truly played as a team. It made the win that much more enjoyable.

After the game we grabbed some pizza/pasta and some groceries and had a very satisfying meal in our rooms while watching Forest Gump. We fell asleep pretty early since we'd have to leave for Montreal at 7:30am.

The morning drive went pretty quickly, and after eating a nice breakfast in the car, we arrived at the L'ecole de la Magdaleine earlier than expected. Since there was no one to open the door to the gym, our assistant coach thought it would be nice for us to take a walk outside to "warm-up."

Sadly, it was really REALLY cold outside (or maybe I just wasn't dressed properly for a walk in 5 degree weather) and our warm-up walk just got my nose running and my hands and ears frozen solid. My roommate joked that we looked like a bunch of prisoners out on our 20-minute walk around the yard. At least we all had a good laugh at it, and were very grateful when we saw the person who had come to open the gym!!
A clip from our warm-up walk


USA vs. Champlain 1
We played our first game on Sunday against Champlain 1, the best team in the league and the one with 5 players from the Canadian National Team. Among their best players is the National Team goalie, Audrey, who has a saving percentage of 70-80% against our team. In the past it has been as much of psychological game as it has been a physical one, but after our win against Granby, we definitely felt like we could take-on Champlain with no fear.

After a rough two minutes early on, the game was really really close through most of the first half. We were only down one point until the last four or five minutes when something broke down and they got ahead by six at the half. The second half was pretty good, we got their lead down to four and they never "pulled away" but we couldn't make up for the six point deficit in the first half and ended up losing by five. Despite the loss, we couldn't feel too badly about our performance. Again, I think the energy was really good and the teamwork was strong and we played well together- it just didn't culminate in a win. As always with this team, and against this goalie, it comes down to being really precise with our shots. Still, it was a game we could be proud of, and it gives us something to build on.


USA vs. Montreal
The second game of the morning was against Montreal, a team we are fighting against for a play-off spot. They beat us in the semi-finals of the playoffs last year and we definitely have a history with them as well. Overall they are a pretty good team, with decent players at almost every position, and one really strong player who has just returned from playing several seasons with a team in France.

Had we played Montreal first on Sunday, I think the outcome would have been a little bit different. We got behind early on in the game, and had a lot of difficulty shooting against their goalie, who is also a goalie on the National Team. We had a lot of opportunities to shoot and just didn't finish. I'm sure a lot of this had to do with the fatigue, especially for our four backcourts, who had very little time to rest during all of the games. But again, even though we lost, the atmosphere stayed positive and we pushed as a team until the end.

On the van ride home our team captain made a good point. She said that even though we wanted to win, maybe the results this weekend would give us even more motivation to win our next four games, which we will have to do if we want to get a playoff spot. At least there is something to build on, and I think everyone has a renewed sense of motivation coming from the positive feelings we experienced as a team.

New practice theme

This past weekend we had a couple of practices as well as a "team meeting" before our video session on Sunday. The theme of this meeting (besides dealing with a few random things) was our new approach to practice.

After losing to Canada in January, everyone agreed that we needed to change something if we are going to be a winning team. So, we've been trying different approaches at practice to see what works best for our team. We've spent a lot of time going back to basics and really trying to have accountability for ourselves and our teammates during practice. This means focusing on the details like good passes and precise shots so that practices are just as important as games. It also means running a lot of sprints and doing a lot of push-ups when we make mistakes. The idea is, you have to pay for your mistakes in a game, so you should have to pay for them in practice!

We have now decided to turn-up the intensity in our practices so that we do a lot more running at a lot faster pace. We have also integrated more foot-work and speed training into our practices so that every drill is an opportunity to improve on these. As we saw in Europe, playing at the international level is as much about speed and fitness as it is skill.

We'll see how this goes- so far, so good. Practices certainly aren't easy, but I think there's a greater sense of accomplishment at having worked at a more intense level every day. It has only been a week, but I think we've all seen an improvement in the energy on the court. Hopefully we will be prepared for our three games in Canada this weekend! If we want to secure our spot in the playoffs of the Quebec League, we really need to win at least two of these games!

Snow days!

We got a big blizzard in upstate New York this week, so the fun news is that I got a few days off! My car got stuck in the parking lot of my apartment complex, and with 20+ inches of snow, they closed down my office and the university so there was no work or practice for two days!

Most of the time I'm not a huge fan of the snow, mostly because I hate driving in it and it gets kind of depressing after a while. But- when there's so much snow that everything shuts down, it's kind of fun! I even put on my snowpants, gloves, and a hat and went for a nice walk in the winter wonderland. I also watched a bunch of movies on TV, something I NEVER get to do with my hectic schedule.

Yay snowdays!

I heart 16-hour drives!!!!

This weekend we drove down to Greenville, South Carolina to play three games in the NETHC. Yes, we drove- from upstate New York to South Carolina. And by we I mean my coach, who drove through sun and snow, day and night, and while most of our van was dead asleep.

The way down was a little bit better because we did it in two parts. We left Friday afternoon and drove down to Maryland where we had dinner at our teammate Sara Merkl's house. We crashed there for the night and then woke-up at 5am to begin the second leg of our journey.

Clearly, the highlight of the Saturday morning drive was stopping for lunch at Chick-fil-A! It was divine, especially since I only get to eat it once a year when I make it down south!

We arrived on Saturday afternoon in time to play a 2:30 game against West Point. I was really excited to play because I had fans in the crowd! My aunt and uncle drove all the way up from Charleston to come see me play, and my beloved 6th grade teacher Mrs. Leslie also came to cheer me on. It was also fun for them to see me play, especially since we won by a lot and I got to put in 6 or 7 goals.

We played two games on Saturday (West Point Gold and West Point Black), which we won by at least 20 points. On Sunday we played against Furman and although we won by a lot, it was kind of disappointing not running our fast break! Last time we beat them 57-9, but this time Christian decided it would be better for us to practice running our set-offense.

After the Furman game we showered quickly and began the arduous journey north. We stopped twice for gas/food but otherwise it was a straight shot. We made it home at 4:00am, just in time for me to catch a few hours of sleep before work the next morning!