GameWeek #2 of 2010 Spring
The youtube video above is from the recent International Friendly between Northern Ireland and Brazil, played at Wembley Stadium in London. It illustrates why the Brazilians will be favorites to win the FIFA World Cup this July in South Africa, and it reminds us of why we all dream of playing attractive attacking football for Team Brasil!!!!
This Saturday (March 6th) will be our 2nd of 5 gamedays in our spring non-traditional season. And, it will be the first run at full sided 11v11 games; the 1st gameday was our 7v7 Tournament, where we won all four of our 50 minute matches.
Like most Saturdays in the spring, there will be lots of sports activities occurring on the Texas A&M campus, so I hope you can be here to take part in as much as possible! Here’s a taste of what’s in store:
Saturday March 6th – All Sports Schedule at Texas A&M
10am – Aggie Softball Complex – Monmouth v BYU
11am – Brazos Expo Center (Bryan) – Texas A&M Equestrian v OSU
12:15pm – Aggie Softball Complex – N Colorado v BYU
1pm – AGGIE SOCCER STADIUM – UTAH v SAM HOUSTON STATE
2pm – Olsen field – Texas A&M v Winthrop
3pm – Aggie Softball Complex – Monmouth v Texas A&M
4pm – AGGIE SOCCER STADIUM – TEXAS A&M v NORTH TEXAS
5:15 pm – Aggie Softball Complex – N Colorado v Texas A&M
7pm – AGGIE SOCCER STADIUM – UTAH v TEXAS A&M
So, because there is a softball tournament going on next door to the Aggie Soccer Stadium, it’s important that folks only wanting to come to the soccer games enter the Stadium in the West Gate entrance (that’s the gate nearest the Tennis Stadium – park at Reed Arena.
So, if you enter through any of the other 2 gates you’ll have to purchase a softball ticket… Also, because there is a baseball game, all of the parking lots that day will be “pay lots” – so be prepared…
I’m excited to see our team in action on the big field again. And, since we have 2 games on Saturday, I’m splitting our roster into 2 teams to insure that everyone gets a lot of playing time. I realize that on paper we might not appear to have our gun “fully loaded” for these non-traditional season matches, and could lose games. But, the intent of these matches is to develop all the players on our team. And, gaining game experiences against quality opponents is one of the key assets we have in our developmental program. Plus, I think you’ll be impressed by everyone’s play on this team.
So, this means you’ll probably get to see a few players that you might not be as familiar with. And, I am really excited for those players; they work very hard every day in training and are great teammates, so it’s going to be great seeing them in the starting line-up!
On GameDay 1, you saw the college debuts of Kat Bartley and Rachel Lenz. This week you’ll see them again, plus you’ll see the return of some of our players who were injured and missed most of the 2009 fall season.
Raven Tatum made her return to the field during the 7v7 tournament and scored the first goal of the day. This week, we might have the opportunity to give Amber Gnatzig and Beth West a limited time run-out – both of them have been seeing action during our practice sessions lately and both are ahead of schedule in their post-op rehab programs. So, I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed…
Our opponents this weekend are the University of North Texas, coached by an old teammate of mine – John Hedlund, and the University of Utah – a team which has qualified for the NCAA Tournament a few times. We expect both of these teams to come in and give our split roster a tough game! Both of these teams have played and beaten Big 12 competition in recent years to I’m looking forward to the challenges they’ll pose the Aggies.
4 Aggies Called Into National Team
The day after our march 6th gameday, 4 of our girls will board a plane for Florida to take part in the USA U23 Training Camp in Sunrise, Fl. I’m real pleased to see rachel Shipley, Kristin Arnold, Bri young, and Whitney Hooper earning this call-up to the National Team. Each of them have proven to be bg-time performers on the national scene with the Aggies. So, it’s fitting that they now get the opportunity to showcase their abilities in the International arena!
As you know, we have an excellent reputation of developing players who can play a quick, controlled, and sophisticated style of soccer. Players who had never even gotten a sniff from the youth National team scouts have developed into great college players and earned spots in the U20, U23, and full USA national Teams over the years. At this time, 10 of our current players have earned call-ups to a United States national team!
The U23 camp in Sunrise will run from March 7-14. Good luck ladies!
Shake, Rattle, and Rolling through South America
Getty Images - Luckily Petey and Micah were not yet in Chile when the quake struck!
As you might remember, former Aggie soccer stars Micah Stephens and Emily Peterson embarked on a around the world trip last month. Their international travel itinerary includes the following: Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Australia, India, Nepal, China, Russia, back through Europe to the USA. They were about to head from the wine country of Argentina to Chile when the huge 8.8 earthquake hit Chile. They actually were scheduled to take an 8am bus ride to Chile the morning of the quake – just hours after the earthquake rocked that country. So, upon news of the situation in Chile, they delayed their trip in Argentina for awhile. They now are in Santiago, waiting for the airport to open so they can fly to Australia. This is obviously not what they drew up on their initial itinerary, but what an experience…
On the day of the earthquake, all of us were worried about them, only to find that they were well and ever-optimistic about their next adventure. They have been keeping updates on their facebook pages as well as through Emily’s blog.
Personally, I know they’re having an incredible time, but I’m looking forward to them getting out of the “shake zone” and down under to Sydney!
Gig ‘em! -Coach G
