Season comes to an end

We lost our final game of the season yesterday 7-0 to Trinity International. While it might not have been the result we were looking for (after scoring two own goals) it was certainly an improvement upon last year's 16-0 loss. Linda Munoz recorded 12 saves.

As we near the end of our season

What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us. - Unknown

High School Combine November 6

We will be holding our annual high school combine on Friday, November 6, 2009. The combine, open to all current high school juniors and seniors, is a unique opportunity for potential college-bound student-athletes to visit CCSJ, take a college tour and with the CCSJ women's soccer team.

Student-athletes interested in attending the combine must pre-register by November 2.

For more information, including pre-registration, please contact women's head soccer coach, Jennifer Fickett at (219) 473-4316.

Puzzle pieces coming together despite loss

For the first time since probably our Crimson Wave Invite in early September, we finally started playing together as a team yesterday. Despite a 7-0 loss to nationally ranked Trinity Christian, we picked up the pieces from our Olivet Nazerene loss earlier in the week.

The team starting believing and trusting. It showed in the way they communicated and moved together as a unit defensively, frustrating Trinity Christian's offense.

With only one more game remaining, we need to continue this same team effort one step at a time.

CCSJ Named 2008-2009 Champions of Character Institution

CCSJ is one of 231 colleges and universities that has earned the distinction as a Champions of Character institution for the 2008-2009 school year.

The mission of Champions of Character is to restore character values and raise a generation of students who understand and demonstrate in everyday decisions integrity, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship and servant leadership.

Read Complete Announcement

Some things just never change

For 21 minutes and two seconds, we finally played as a unit and held our line of confrontation just ahead of the comfortable shooting range of a nationally ranked Olivet Nazarene. We were doing what we prepared to do: patient defending, staying as compact as possible and frustrating them. And we held them to only two shots.

The confidence soon faded after a defensive breakdown, giving up a penalty kick. After the unlucky break, Olivet scored not more than 30 seconds later on another defensive breakdown to make it 2-0. We simply could not refocus and find our compact line of confrontation again and came out of the first half down 7-0. Olivet continued to capitalize on every defensive mistake we made in the second half. At the end of the match we gave up 35 shots and 12 goals.

One can only think of the "what if" we held our defensive shape in the 21st minute of the game? What if we didn't give up a penalty kick? Would we have finally believed that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE?

When one door closes, another door opens

Coming into our final three and toughest conference games of the season, we lose another player to injury. After suffering a concussion on October 7 against St. Francis, Angie Malinowski's symptoms have not improved and will need to see a neurologist (after learning this is actually her third concussion). It will be challenging to replace her speed and tenacious work ethic in our defense.

Remember that just the moment you say "I give up", someone else seeing the same situation is saying, "my, what a great opportunity... - Unknown

Nothing is impossible

Lessons from Northwest Indiana girls high school soccer

This past week I have spent my fair share of time watching the IHSAA girls sectional soccer games in the cold and the rain in search of recruits to bring in for next season. In short, it has been a week full of emotions for players, coaches, parents and fans alike.

I have seen teamwork, commitment, passion, talent, mental toughness, confidence, perseverance, defeat, victory, tears and celebration.

I witnessed Covenant Christian upset Boone Groove, who was playing without two key players, 2-0; Kankakee Valley edge Valparaiso, who has won 11 of the last 12 sectional titles, 2-1; and my highlight of the week so far, watching Hobart come back from a 3-0 deficit at halftime, only to defeat Griffith 4-3 in overtime.

Why is all of this relevant? Because ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE with hard work, dedication and BELIEF, the same principles we have been stressing to our team all season.

Best of luck to those teams participating in the IHSAA girls soccer state tournament!

Facing our own giants

Voice of Truth by Casting Crows

We all have potential to do great things

Team continues to face challenges

Slow starts and inconsistent play continues to plaque the team, as we allowed six goals in the first half of yesterday's game against St. Xavier before falling 7-0. Good defensive efforts by Evelyn Morales and Lesly Cuadra in the second half.

A good friend said...

Another Monday, another chance to make a difference!

Coming unglued

Yesterday we faced yet another defeat, giving up three goals in the first 15 minutes due to lack of defensive organization before we finally settled in. Hoping to make some adjustments at halftime, we came unglued and lost 7-0 to IIT.

Team Building: Doing!

Yesterday's team building included watching Winning Isn't Everything: The Untold Story of a Soccer Dynasty, nail activity, team jump rope and making a "stop doing" list.

Second half breakdown

Tonight we were unable to hang onto a closer game and suffered a 4-0 loss against University of St. Francis after only being down 1-0 at halftime.

We need to find our mental toughness and overcome our injuries and illnesses to survive our last five conference matches.

A bump in the road

Some not so good news today...Kari Stanley's MRI results confirm that she has a torn ACL (after this past Saturday's match against Holy Cross) which means we will have to make some more adjustments to our line up and style of play for our remaining six games.

A bump in the road is either an obstacle to be fought or an opportunity to be enjoyed, it's all up to you. - Unknown

Something to think about

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.
- Helen Keller

Not enough change to pull it off

The team came up short today after playing short-handed, losing 2-1 to Holy Cross. Kari Stanley suffered a knee injury seven minutes into the game. Less than a minute after playing a man down (without substitutes for today's match), Holy Cross found the back of the net to go ahead 1-0.

After a hard fought first half, Gaby Rodriquez tied the match in the 44th minute of play off of an assist from Alejandra Cuadra. The team continued to generate an attack with seven shots in the second half (12 overall); however, were unable to hold on, giving up a goal in the 87th minute. Linda Munoz had three saves.

Team Building: You cannot improve without change

The team participated in a three hour team building session this afternoon. We broke into small groups to further discuss how C-H-A-N-G-E can bring a positive effect on the rest of our season. Activities included: building a spider web, hold the rope, blind man's dodge ball and powerful "you are" statements.

Members of the team participate in the college's annual Blood Drive

CCSJ's Annual Blood Drive had a huge turnout this year. Not only did we break our goal of 35 units of blood, we set a new record with 48 productive units collected!