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Check back throughout the season for senior back Laura Miller's weekly diary.

Field Hockey report 10/20/03

It certainly is a lot easier and more fun to write these reports when I have nothing but good things to boast about. Despite our loss to Boston University on Sunday, the week was not at all without excitement and certainly deserves at least a little boasting.

For starters AU field Hockey made a clean sweep of the Patriot League accolades for the previous week, which included our games against James Madison and Lehigh. Melissa earned PL Offensive Player of the Week after scoring an amazing four goals against Lehigh. PL Rookie of the Week went to the well deserving Cami for her two game winning goals and I was able to sneak in with a PL Defensive Player of the Week to finish off the sweep. As Steve said, this was a long time in the making!

Believe it or not our clean sweep was outdone when we learned the National Field Hockey Coaches Association had voted us into the top twenty hockey teams in the country. Even though I knew I would pay the next morning if I stayed up until eleven to see the results of the voting . . . I did it anyway and could barely sleep because I was so excited.

With all of our recognition we knew teams would be gunning for us. We used our long week of practice to prepare for Holy Cross and proved once and for all that we were the best Patriot League field hockey team. Maybe we focused a little too much on beating Holy Cross considering the results of Sunday’s game, but we did what we needed to. We gained first place seeding in the league.

The game was OK. We came out hard and Mo found the net on a stroke less than five minutes into the game. We obviously shocked the Crusaders, yet they fought hard and forced us to play some serious defense. We went into half time knowing we should have given ourselves more than a 1-0 lead. We made a few adjustments, but mostly reassured each other we were fine, and that this game was ours.

The second half brought more of the same. We had offensive opportunities, which were quickly countered, forcing us to play defense. Heather made a key defensive save to keep the game at 1-0. The real excitement came in the last ten minutes when both Javi and Cami scored to secure our win over PL foe Holy Cross. What a sweet victory! This is our first win against Holy Cross since entering the Patriot league.

If it hadn’t been parents weekend at Holy Cross, there is no doubt we would have had more fans than the home team. Amazing! Eight hours from Washington, DC and we still manage to have a huge turn out of support. Thank you to all who made the trip to Boston and those who kept us on close watch through up to the minute cell phone calls. Not only did we have support, but the parent traveled with food . . . tons of food. I don’t know if it is possible but I think each tailgate out does the last. THANK YOU. What would we do with out all of you?

I really wish I could end now and remind you about Towson this coming Wednesday, but I can’t. I have been lucky - I have not needed to report on losses that often because I don’t like it and I am afraid I will not give the game justice. Nevertheless, we went to MIT on Sunday to take on BU. We certainly did not play our best hockey, but we never gave up and held strong through the seventy minutes.

Defensive breakdowns allowed BU to get into our defensive circle and capitalize on shots. They scored first making all of us worried about what was going on. We held things together defensively for the rest of the half. Offensively we managed to tie the game when Cami gave Heidi a beautiful pass across the goal for the assist and goal. Half time was quick, maybe too quick. We switched sides and went full force towards the goal. Kaitlin made a brilliant move past the goalie to give us the first and only lead of the game. BU was not willing to roll over and before I knew it we were losing 4-2. They had scored three goals in three minutes. Luckily the scoring ended here, but the damage was done. The team dug deep and continued to put pressure on BU but was unable to score.

I guess the best thing to do is chalk this up to be a harsh lesson and be glad it was not a league game. Invincibility is just an illusion that bursts when everyone is watching. We’ll go back under the radar and come out when it matters most, the Patriot League Championships!

Don’t miss this week’s away match-ups against Towson (Wednesday) and Colgate (Saturday).

Go Eagles,
Laura