BU Women's Soccer 2012 Season Blog
August 3, 2012 | Women's Soccer
Aug. 3, 2012
Welcome to the Boston University Women's Soccer 2012 Season Blog! Junior Amanda Rumsey will oversee the selection of guest bloggers so that the blog will be updated throughout the year. Entries will cover preseason training, practices, games, travel and give an inside view into the culture and tradition of the BU women's soccer team.
MARCH 5 - ENTRY #10
Hello Readers,
Well, it's official - spring is here. You wouldn't know from all the snow on the ground leftover from Nemo, and you definitely wouldn't know it from the temperature. But BUWOSOC is back outside doing what we love best: actually playing soccer.
Our first week of playing outside was successful and exciting. On Monday, we began practice by digging two goals out of the snow. Needless to say, nobody was complaining. Even though it did waste a few minutes of our valuable time on Nick, everyone was more than happy to get knee-deep in ice to get those goals out. I'm guessing this was because everyone was pretty tired of the small futsal goals we had been using up in the Case basketball court.
I can't lie, it felt pretty weird to have a ball at my foot again during our dribbling warm-up. But, that's probably just because I'm a keeper and I always feel awkward with a ball at my foot. Everyone else looked just fine and kept up an extremely high energy throughout practice.
The next day, we had practice and "bump day" lift. "Bump day" is a lifting day designed by our strength and conditioning coach Victor Brown. On bump days, we bench press four sets, and on the last set we try to do as many repetitions as possible. Depending on how many reps we can do, our maximum weight goes up accordingly. Who knows what the Patriot League holds, but we are definitely going to have the biggest biceps in the league thanks to Vic!
It's definitely not easy having four regular outdoor practices a week, three of which are followed by lift. But BUWOSOC is ready to go, always training and preparing for what's next. As coach says, we're already in "pre-preseason," and every practice in the freezing rain, bump day at lift, and extra working is bringing us one step closer to making an impact in the Patriot League.
Ali Parisi
OCT. 25 - ENTRY #9
It's that time of year again, the leaves have been changing on the sparing trees that line Commonwealth Avenue, Halloween paraphernalia embellish corners and the crisp cool air is here to stay. Fall is here, and so is the most exciting part of our season.
This weekend was a whirlwind of emotions as our Sunday game versus UNH was our last America East conference game ever, as well as Senior Day for both Jessica Morrow and Brea Hewitt. The preparation began early in the week where, by tradition, the freshman secretively schemed an idea for the locker room transformation.
A tradition that began well before any of our time here on BUWOSOC, for every senior day the first years elaborately and excessively decorates every inch of the locker room for the graduating upperclassmen. Previously, the locker room has been transformed into a Winter Wonderland for the class of '10, Candy Land for the class of '11 and the fist-pumpin' Club Karma of the Jersey Shore for last year's seniors. The theme this year, timely enough, was a Halloween Haunted House. The six freshmen began decorating early Saturday morning, banishing the seniors from entering, and worked well into the night. The final product, however, was not to be revealed until before the game on Sunday.
Saturday's preparations concluded that night for the fourth straight year with a trip just outside of the city to the McGoldrick's house in Reading, Mass., for a team dinner. With all the celebrations of the weekend, several parents and families flew in for the festivities. Surrounded by family and friends, and full from steak tips, scalloped potatoes, pasta, roasted vegetables and make your own sundaes we all enjoyed one of our last team outings of the year.
On Sunday, we were finally allowed to enter the locker room. We were led into a completely dark and unrecognizable locker room. There were cobwebs covering every locker and carpeting the floors, scattered figures ghosts and spiders and teammates hiding in every corner waiting to jump out at us as we walked by.
On the field before the game, the team created a tunnel to guide Jess, Brea and their families out into the center of the field for their final walk on Nickerson field. Applause and whistles filled the stadium as the announcer announced them with their families followed with their various accomplishments they earned over the past four years.
After beating UNH 1-0, there was a ceremony on the field where a representative of the America East presented our team with the regular season trophy. Posing for pictures and celebrating a sixth straight America East regular season championship we were ecstatic to end such an emotional weekend with such success.
The wining of the championship also meant that we got to dump a full Gatorade jug of water on Coach to congratulate her for leading us again to another successful season. However, this was easier said than done. The jug of water was dropped just seconds before it splashed all over coach.
Senior Day, the weekend and our season were a success. Despite being handed countless disappointments from the America East, injuries and our non-conference schedule, we still managed to have an amazing and memorable season. We are all tirelessly hoping for that at large bid on November 5th so we don't have to end this just yet; we all firmly believe there is still work to be done and things to accomplish.
OCT. 11 - ENTRY #8
Check out this video of the team's trip to California for the Stanford Nike Invitational in September. BU played two tough games against good competition and held No. 5 Stanford (the defending national Champion) to one goal before visiting Santa Clara and falling to the Broncos, 1-0.
SEPT. 4 - ENTRY #7
Happy September Everyone!
Now that we are moving into September, BUWOSOC has just finished up a busy week and has some new updates to share. Last Monday was MOVE IN DAY. We all left the lovely accommodations of the BU housing dorm called "1019" and moved into our homes for the school year. The freshmen class moved into Sleeper Hall, where every player on the team lives during their first year on campus. Sleeper is a great place for freshman because it is right above the West Campus Dining Hall and in the center of all athletic activity on campus. The training room, study hall and locker room are all nearby...plus the other sports teams. The sophomores moved to the popular South Campus, where they each have a roommate, bathroom and kitchen. The junior and senior classes are divided between Student Village (Stuvi for short) 1 and Stuvi 2. They also have a roommate, bathroom and kitchen. Both Stuvi's have awesome views of the Boston Skyline, nice places to study and are very close to the soccer field and dining hall.
Once we settled in, we turned our focus back to soccer and training. On Friday, our team hosted the annual Terrier Tailgate, an event across campus that kicks off the academic year in athletics. The event brings students from all over campus to pack the stands of Nickerson and even awards the first fans to arrive with BU gear. This year it was BU towels for the first 500 fans.
We played Monmouth University from New Jersey and we had a great game and won 2-0 off of goals by Emma Clark and Ana Cuffia. It was a good solid win for us and helped us bounce back from our two previous losses. The BU band and stands full of fans created an exciting environment and we all had a lot of fun representing BUWOSOC in front of the University.
On Saturday we had a day off to rest and recover from Friday's game and to prepare for Monday's game against Harvard. Some of us spent the day shopping for last minute things for our apartments/dorms and others attended the Carnival on Nickerson field. Carnival is fun because there are bumper cars, carnival games, elephant ears and cotton candy, but the weekend activities didn't stop there. On Sunday, we practiced on Harvard's field in the morning and in the afternoon the team attended Splash, one of our favorite events where all of BU's 500+ student organizations set up tables on Nickerson Field and pass out information about their organizations along with tons of free stuff like water bottles, t-shirts and sunglasses. There were also games like mechanical bull riding, obstacle courses, basketball and more. A few of us played laser tag although we made sure to not exert too much energy running around at Splash because of the next day's game.
We tied Harvard on Monday night, 2-2 with goals from the freshmen duo of Jenna Fisher and Clare Pleuler. The game was a hard-fought battle and our team showed heart through the full 90 minutes plus two additional ten minute overtimes. The atmosphere was loud and intense because it was Harvard's home opener and all of the athletic teams at BU came over to Harvard to support us for the game. Their cheering, painted bodies and signs made it feel like it was a home game on Nickerson Field thanks to the athletic department for arranging the great crowd.
BUWOSOC is now off to the first day of classes for the 2012-2013 school year. We have a day of training on Tuesday before we head off to California Wednesday to play the defending National Champions, Stanford, on their home field and then head slightly south to play Santa Clara. We will be sure to bring along the video camera on the trip so that you all can see what we saw!
Wish us luck in CA!
AUG. 31 - ENTRY #6
BU Women's Soccer Travels to Dayton (Video)
Here is a small video that we created that documents our trip to Dayton Ohio. While there, we played the University of Dayton on Baujan Field. The game was televised on Fox Soccer Channel and there were over 2,500 people at the game. Although a little stressful, it was a fun atmosphere to play in.
I hope you guys enjoy the video! Stay tuned for the next entry!
AUG. 22 - ENTRY #5
Hello There Followers,
We hope that you have enjoyed the video recap of our time at Camp Merriwood and were able to get an understanding of why it is always one of our favorite times of the year. We have a lot to update you on from the last time we have written. Since leaving Merriwood, we have had a scrimmage and two games.
The scrimmage against Fairfield at Plymouth State University was the first time our team had the opportunity to test ourselves against an opponent. The scrimmage is a chance for Coach to test out players in various positions, to see who works well in different parts of the field. Although we lost 1-0, we played very well together.
Once we arrived back in Boston, we changed from having two practices a day to just one. This change in schedule is necessary to taper our bodies to prepare them for our games. On Friday night we played Central Connecticut State University. The energy throughout the team was contagious and we were all extremely anxious and excited to have our season opener on our Nickerson Field. Before the game, we went to T. Anthony's Restaurant across the street from where we are staying. It is a team ritual to eat there together before every game that is either home, or close by. Common choices for meals are either ommlettes, chicken and rice, or breakfast sandwiches.
Before kickoff, we have a meeting in our team room, and then warm up on the field to our new warm up tape, created by the seniors. The tape is awesome this year, and it helped pump everyone up for the big game. We won the game against CCSU 3-0 behind a pair of goals by senior Brea Hewitt and one from sophomore Jamie Turchi. We were very happy to get the win under our belts and defend Nickerson field in front of our large crowd of friends and family.
On Sunday, we played our first away game at Northeastern University down the street from us. For a lot of the team, this was the first time they had played Northeastern at their home field. Northeastern was very excited to kick off their home opener and season opener against us, and the intensity before the game was very strong. It was a very physical game between our team and theirs, but we came away with the 3-0 victory. Our team succeeded in getting many chances on goal, and freshman Jenna Fisher, junior Madison Clemens and sophomore Jamie Turchi put away one goal each. We maintained the majority of the possession throughout the game and we were very solid on defending in all parts of the field. It was a great team win for us, and a great way to finish off a successful weekend.
Earlier this week we learned that we moved up in the national rankings to #19, and we also heard that Brea Hewitt was awarded the America East Player of the Week for her performance this past weekend!
This Wednesday our team travels to Dayton, Ohio to play the University of Dayton Flyers on Thursday night at 7 pm. If you are unable to see the game in person, you can catch it on the Fox Soccer Channel! Playing Dayton will give us the opportunity to test ourselves against a strong opponent that is outside of our region. We will be taking the video camera with us to Dayton, so stay tuned for a video documenting our time there.
Thanks for reading, and we hope you enjoy the game!
AUG. 17 - ENTRY #4
Check out this video from the Terriers' trip to Camp Merriwood in Merriwood, N.H. BU spent several days on the camp grounds enjoying all that Merriwood has to offer. The Terriers spent their days swimming, kayaking, practicing and engaging in team bonding activies.
AUG. 11 - ENTRY #3
Check out this video of the BU women's soccer team and the BU field hockey team doing a team bonding activity while eating dinner in the dining hall.
Hello Readers!
Our team has been at BU for a little over a week now and we are on our way to camp Merriwood in New Hampshire! The men's soccer team has recently arrived on campus and have been training twice a day as well. Sharing the field means adapting to different practice times. This week's practices have included early practices starting either at 6:30 a.m. or 7 a.m. and early afternoon training starting at 1 p.m. or 1:30 p.m. In order to keep us fresh and prevent injuries, Coach has given us a couple of morning sessions off that the team uses to take ice baths or see the athletic training staff for rehab.
Knowing that our Merriwood departure was on Saturday motivated the team to push through the last few double days of preseason. Along with training, we had some fun activities such as bonding with the field hockey team during Friday's dinner. Once we got to dinner, we were instructed to divide ourselves every-other with the field hockey team. For some of us, we were sitting next to old friends, and for others, we were meeting transfers and freshmen for the first time. The bonding did not stop there, we were told to eat our entire dinner tied to the person's hand next to us. This task was a lot harder than it sounded. We had to balance using our own hand to feed ourselves, and then moving our hand towards our neighbor's mouth to feed them. Everyone laughed, ate and spilled food until we were told we could untie ourselves.
This year we are closing out a phase of life for BU Women's Soccer. This will be our last year in the America East Conference, where we have been a founding member since 1979. We are thrilled to be moving into the Patriot League next year but have every intention of leaving our mark here, where we have won the America East title nine times and for the last five consecutive years.
And given we recently got word that we will enter the season ranked No. 23 in the NSCAA and Continental tire preseason poll - our best preseason ranking in program history - we seem to be off to a great start.
We will be out of touch from the world as we travel to Merriwood, AKA "the most magical place on earth," but guarantee that we will be writing about our ice-cream eating, lake playing, team bonding and, of course, soccer training and scrimmage against Fairfield upon our return. Until then!
AUG. 6 - ENTRY #2
Hello Terrier Nation,
Hope everyone had a relaxing weekend. We have been extremely busy here on the BU campus. Right now, we are five days into our preseason. As Kelly stated in the last blog, the first day consisted of fitness testing, but now IT IS SOCCER TIME. We are all so excited to be playing.
Our schedule is pretty much the same everyday. We start our day by eating breakfast in the dining hall at 7 a.m. (the best meal of the day if I do say so myself). We then go to practice at 8:30 a.m., where Coach Feldman formulates various practice plans that focus on numerous technical and tactical elements of the game. We have recently been concentrating on defending. After practice ends at 11 a.m., we quickly shower and jump into the ice bath to help keep our legs healthy and fresh. From there, we have lunch and some free time. We use this time to recover and get ready for the afternoon session (usually people nap or catch up on their favorite TV shows). Around mid-afternoon, we head down to the locker room and get ready for practice number two.
After practice ends at 6 p.m., we take another ice bath and then we eat dinner in the dining hall and a team meeting follows. The team meetings vary each night but usually consist of team building activities and goal setting. Tonight we started to make a team shield. When the shield is complete, it will symbolize everything that BUWOSOC and the BU Athletic Department as a whole stands for "excellence in athletics, academics, and community". Ali Parisi and some other girls on our team are very artistic, so the shield should turn out awesome!
Coach gave us a well-deserved session off on Monday morning. In this time, we will take ice baths and do some extra stretching. Limber up for the afternoon session of course! We will continue to have double days for the next week or so until we go to Merriwood next Saturday. For those who do not know, Merriwood is a summer camp based out of New Hampshire and is the most magical place on Earth. The owners of the camp are gracious enough to have us for a couple of days each year, and for that we are truly fortunate. While at Merriwood, we practice on the camp field, play in the lake and do various other camp activities! It is the best part of preseason, in my opinion.
Thank you for reading the latest post in the BUWOSOC blog! If you all have any questions or topics that you would like us to include in future posts, feel free to email Kelly at kking@bu.edu, or me at arumsey@bu.edu.
Go Terriers,
Amanda Rumsey
AUG. 1 - ENTRY #1
King on First Day of Practice (Video)
Hello Friends, Family and Supporters of Boston University Soccer,
This is the first blog post of many that will occur throughout the 2012 season. My name is Kelly King and I am a junior goalkeeper on the Boston University Women's Soccer team (BUWOSOC for short). Amanda Rumsey, also a junior on our team, and myself will be writing to you throughout the season, in addition to various guest bloggers that may consist of coaches, players, and alumni. We are very excited to be writing to all of you and giving you some insight into the culture, tradition, and travel for our team.
The start of our 2012 season began on Wednesday, Aug. 1. We checked into our dorms where we will be living for the month of August, the residence hall 1019 on Babcock St, reunited with teammates, mingled with the first year players and had a couple of meetings to start off preseason. After the long day of moving and catching up with friends, we all anxiously awaited the morning of the Aug. 2, the day where we would do our fitness and lift testing.
Our fitness tests consist of the beep test and the 300-shuttle test. For lifting, we test our vertical jump, chin up capacity, bench press strength and hang cleans. This day can be one of the most stressful for student-athletes because of the anxiety of fitness testing, but this year's BUWOSOC team took the challenge head on. Our team performed excellently, with a few stand out events: four players made the top 10 for 300 shuttle speed, Andrea Green tied the bench press record of 135 lbs, and our strength and conditioning coach, Vic Brown, told us that this was one of the strongest testing days ever.
After we completed the tests, we sprinted into the West Campus dining hall to see what we could shove into our faces. Dinner was the best it has been yet and the fro-yo machine was plugged in (a favorite station of ours). In the evening, we had a team meeting regarding our team policies and team bonding that aims to create team chemistry. Although today was stressful, everyone is relieved to have the day behind them and hangout together and watch the Olympics. Friday is the first day of soccer training. We are all very excited to get on our shiny new red cleats and new Nike training shirts. From now on, we have two training sessions a day: one in the morning and one in the late afternoon.
Friday is the first day that we get to play together and get to know each others playing styles. We can't wait to get onto Nickerson Field and start this season off right. Thank you for reading the first post of many to come, and we are looking forward to sharing our team's experiences with all of you. Until next time...
Go Terriers!
Kelly
