College of St. Mary's game

So there we are, on the plane, daydreaming about a nice little trip to Nebraska, thinking about all the fun and the good time we will get to spend with the team mates. We arrive at the airport, collect our luggage, and grabbed something to eat. We iced, we napped, we are off for our first regular season game. Our team arrived quite early to the college, which was perfect timing to focus on the game and get our ankles and shins tapped. Yes, we did get tapped, and no, we were not focused on the game from the get go. The game begins with a successful warm up. The warm up leaves room for concentration towards the next ninety minutes. Game faces should be placed in every players' minds. Instead, we goofed around and made our warm up unsuccessful. So there it was: the board was set to ninety minutes, the goals and shot on goals spaces were zeros, and the intensity and adrenaline was seconds away from kicking in. The man on the microphone announces the players' names and the ref blows the whistle. For the next forty-five minutes, it is absolutely blank. 8 to nothing by the end of first half murders every players' minds. Lack of communication, lack of attention, lack of concentration and focus, lack of respect for each other and coaches, and most importantly, lack of dedication for the team was spotted. But what does not kill us makes us stronger. No team in this world is perfect. Not even the best teams out there are. Everyone has a bad day, and that is acceptable. The important part comes from how we react to those types of situations. Should we keep our heads down and give up? or should we try harder, give it all we got, and pull something out of the bottom of our hearts and give each other the respect and the dedication we deserve? Well it is essential for the success of this team to look at the second option. So we did. We came out to the second half with decisive minds. We were ready to get those goals back and leave every breath and every heart beat on the line. We were not going to back down on each other. So there it was, by the end of the first half, only one goal was scored. We picked it up, and we worked as a team. We were on the right track. No one likes to loose nine nothing. No one likes to loose period. By the end of the game, our heads were down, our pride was touching the floor, and we began to wonder what we were doing here. But then it came the rehabilitation and the reality check. We showered and headed to the restaurant to eat some pasta. This was a great team bonding moment where we all let out our feelings and our visions and opinions out about the game. Everyone listened, everyone talked. And then bam!, the light bulb turned on. After we were done eating, we met up at the lobby. And what happened next was indescribable. Two hours of intense talking. Feelings were all out. So many things needed to be said, so many things needed to be known. What happened in that room, well that is something i will always, always remembered for the rest of my life. It was good to know teammates' opinions and feelings, it was good to let it all out, even if it meant crying our eyes out. After the meeting we all felt relieved. It was a new start, a new beginning that was necessary for our upcoming success. We are a team, and teams go through tough times. Like coach told us, no one said it was going to be an easy ride. A team with such a short history and a short time in the program has only one option: go forward. And I have faith on my teammates, i have faith on my coaches, i have faith on the program, and it does not matter how long it takes us to get to the top, we will work for it and we will fight our souls out. Because that's what we do. From here, it only gets better:)
Gabriela Rodriguez #10