Centre College Athletics: Women's Soccer

Every program has milestones in their history they are proud of. For some, it is a Conference Championship; for others a NCAA tournament or even a Final 4 appearance; and for a select few, it is a National Championship. In earlier articles we have spoken of our team's goal to make this season a banner year of firsts . We have challenged ourselves to reach new heights and set the bar even higher for the teams that have yet to come. Steadily, week by week, we have been taking the necessary steps to achieve this goal. This past weekend, we took a leap of faith reaching a milestone in the history of the Centre Women's Soccer program.

Reaching a program's milestone isn't something that happens overnight. It is a slow process that takes months, weeks, or even years. In fact, the particular milestone we reached this weekend is one that has taken 16 years to accomplish. That is a long time! Sixteen years ago, the Centre Women's soccer team began playing a Texas-based team called Trinity University. Year in and year out, this team has dominated us, collecting win after win. Last season, we posted the closest score in our history when we fell 1-0 to them on their home field in San Antonio. Feeling as if we could have done better, we held onto those feelings saving them for this season when we would again face them on their home field.

Nearly a year later, on Sunday, October 21, 2007 the stage was set and this time we were ready to meet Trinity head-on. Just as we expected, the game was fast-paced, physical, and hard-hitting. Trinity scored early in the first half, which meant we had to pick our play up even more. It is important to note, that even though we had conceded a goal, the coaching staff never once saw our player's heads drop. They continued to fight, inch by inch and minute by minute to do something about it. As a result of their resilience, their effort did not go unrewarded. In the 73rd minute of play, we were presented with an opportunity and ceased the moment. Junior Lizzie Hubbard gained possession of the ball and played a fantastic ball out of the back to sophomore teammate Elizabeth Hooper who took the end-line and serviced the box. That cross was met by sophomore Cindy Bergstrom who finished a beautiful header into the back of the net. Needless to say, that moment will be one we all remember for some time to come.

The game would go into double overtime and we would hold-on to tie with the No.19 team in the country and end a 15-year losing streak. It is certainly hard to capture the feeling of accomplishing something that has never been done before. In that moment, we stood with arms around each other's shoulders, looking into each other's eyes, sharing in one of our program's greatest moments in history.

Moments like that are rare and special. Moments like that do not come from one person wishing or hoping for it to be so. Moments like that come from a team's desire to achieve something that is bigger than itself. In the movie Any Given Sunday, Al Pacino comments on the tremendous difficulty of life and sport. In perhaps the greatest moment of the movie, he delivers a brilliant pregame speech to his players just minutes before the biggest game of their season. We've adapted it here so it better applies to our program and soccer. He says:

Life is a game of inches – so is soccer – because in either game, life or soccer, the margin for error is so small…one half-step too late or too early you don't quite make it. One half second too late or too early and you miss the goal. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They are in every break of the game, every minute, every second…we fight for that inch… We CLAW with our finger nails for that inch ‘cause we know when we add up all those inches that's going to make the difference between WINNING and LOSING between LIVING and DYING.

What Al speaks of in this speech is our inner desire to survive and our will to fight for the things that matter most to us. For this team, making a decision to become the Team of Firsts means nothing, if we don't have the inner strength and desire to sacrifice in order to bring this dream into reality. We should never expect anything to be given to us and should understand everything must be earned. This past weekend was a testament to that fact. Neither Southwestern or Trinity handed us those results, we had to fight – inch by inch, minute by minute, and second by second. Just as Al says at the conclusion of his speech, we accomplished those results because we were willing to sacrifice for the person next to us and for this team in order to go that extra inch.

As a result, this weekend we reached a milestone we have been inching towards since the program began in 1991. More importantly, we learned that when it matters most, we have to believe that the person next to us will sacrifice for us and that person must believe that we will sacrifice for them in return. That - is the essence of team and the game soccer.

Our Reserve squad concluded their season with a 4-0 win over Lindsey Wilson last Monday. Scoring on the outing were Kim Leake, Brittany Garr, Anna Horne, and Katherine MacMurray. Assists were credited to Sarah Hall, Lora Gralheer, and Kim Leake. Tuesday, we had a set-back when we fell in the NSCAA polls to No. 7 in the Great Lakes Region. The players responded very well however, committing themselves to one of the most challenging Work Days we've had this season.

Thursday afternoon flew to Texas for our games against Southwestern and Trinity. Upon landing in Austin and processing to the luggage carousel, I looked up and could not believe my eyes. We had flown a little over 1000 miles and in a completely random turn of events ran into former University of Kentucky Head Women's Basketball Coach and Kentucky Native, Mickie Demoss. Without even a rational thought of how awkward it would probably be for Coach Demoss to be approached by a chatty-Cathy like myself, I made a b-line in her direction. Sitting down we chatted about what had brought us to Texas and I relayed the story of Trinity and how important Sunday's game was. Without hesitation, she leaned back in her seat and took a deep breath. She then looked me directly in the eyes and said, “I've got a good feeling.” I smiled and she smiled back. Standing up, I shook her hand once again and thanked her for taking the time to talk with me. Then, scurrying off to collect my things, I hurried to the bus with her final words bouncing around in my head: I've got a good feeling .

Saturday in San Antonio we took the Men's and Women's teams to the River Walk. They truly enjoyed themselves and the experience. A few of the players ran into a street band who was performing covers of popular music. During the performance a man felt moved by the music and proceeded to dance freely by himself. After moments of watching the man dance alone, a few of the players decided to get up and dance with him. It was a random, yet special moment for those players and yet another moment they will talk to years after they have left Centre and taken another path in life.

With this weekend behind us, but the high from its events still lingering, we look to our next home game. As this weekend, is Homecoming at Centre College, we will play Austin College (Texas) at 12-Noon on Sunday at the Centre Soccer Complex. As always take care and until next time…