Soccer Player Blog

Entry #9, Katie Quinones (Jr., Rochester, Minn)

This past weekend was amazing! We played the University of North Dakota twice. Friday we played them in Grand Forks, North Dakota and Sunday we played them at home. Going into the weekend we were coming off some tough losses to UNI and Creighton, but those games were far from our mind. The entire week of practice before UND, excitement was resonating throughout the team. Everyone could feel it and no one was afraid to say it out loud. The fact that all the freshmen were excited to play and to get a win really motivated me. It was really cool to see the new girls getting involved in the rivalry.

Friday we stepped on the field ready to play. We were working hard but the Fighting Sioux were the first to score. We didn’t get down at all, though. We just kept plugging along, doing all the right things, connecting, communicating, and maybe some hard hitting! ;) We inevitably tied the game and took the lead all within two minutes of play. We held our lead until about seven minutes left in the game when they came back to tie the game. The game had to go to overtime!!! Overtime was fast paced, hard-hitting, great soccer on our part. We produced a lot on the attack and made some great stops on defense. Time was running out, though, and we could’ve settled for the tie but USD soccer was determined to play to the very last second. Thirty seconds of play left, Yutzil got the ball at her feet, looked up and played a fantastic ball that landed right in front of me. The next few seconds were a blur but when I saw the ball go past the keeper’s hands I collapsed on the field, so proud of what we had just accomplished. I can’t describe the amazing feeling that I felt after that game, that we all felt after that game.

For me, that feeling, whatever it was, didn’t go away until after the game on Sunday. I looked forward to doing it all over again at home….and we did. Though, this time we did it in regulation. USD sweeps UND. Man, that heading will never get old. I can’t wait to see it again when we play them in October. Go Yotes!

*Keep following us also at www.usdsoccer.com where we will be posting pictures and videos from this spring activities.

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