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

Two wins! Five goals! Four scorers! Two shutouts! I can’t think of a more perfect weekend. With wins over Pacific and Rutgers in the Terrapin Invitational we have improved our record to 4-1. This has put us in pretty good standing and most certainly prepared us for the next round of games, which include our first Patriot League match ups. Before I get ahead of myself let me fill you in on the details of this past weekend.

For those of you who braved the weather on Friday night you know what it was like. For those of you who could not…just think rain, lots of rain. The night was cool with constant cold rain but this did not dampen our spirits or give us an excuse as to why the approaching game might be difficult. We started our warm-up to a stellar new music mix. You couldn’t help but get excited. By game time the team was ready to win. We took the field with confidence. The whistle blew and we were off. For most of the seventy minutes we dominated over Pacific. Melissa scored about half way through the first half. I think it was a little pay back. Just minutes before she took a hard hit ball to the knee. Don’t mess with Melis; she’ll hit you back where it hurts!! And thank goodness she did; her first half goal and continued offensive pressure assured our victory. Of course I can’t forget my mighty defense, which gave awesome support to our offense all evening. It was truly a team win and a team shutout. This put us at one down and one to go for the weekend.

We turned our focus to Rutgers. Saturday was spent mentally and physically preparing for Sunday, which for me I know included not enough homework! The day off and our individual and team preparation paid off, BIG. At our nine o’clock breakfast meeting, Sunday morning, I knew that the day’s game would at least be hard fought. The locker room was almost deafening with everyone’s excitement. This excitement continued through the van ride to Maryland and our warm-up. The game started and we looked, well off. Luckily, this lasted for only a bit until we made the adjustments. Once the adjustments were made, especially after half time, the team played beautifully. Passes were on, we were transferring the ball, hits were strong, and we started to score. It actually took us until the last eighteen minutes of the game to start capitalizing on our shots. But once we started there was no stopping. Within eight minutes we scored three goals. Heidi picked up the first goal, followed by Javi who scored on a penalty stroke. Then Moei stepped up and put the game away. Her two goals were picture perfect. So clear I could see both balls fly over the goal line from my end of the field. When the final whistle blew we had collected our second ‘W’ of the weekend and our second team shutout.

As always an American Field Hockey game is not complete without a tailgate. Parents WOW!! You definitely out did yourselves this time. I have never seen so much good food and gourmet food at that. Talk about high class. Football tailgaters have nothing on us.

I hope all of you can join us this weekend when we take on Lafayette. This might prove to be ‘the’ game of the season; it will set the tone for the Patriot League and determine the frontrunner. Wish us luck, even though we all know it is not luck it is up to us!

Thanks for your continued support,
Laura