Second installment of Melissa Wellman's weekly soccer diary

Today practice was moved indoors to the Murphy Center due to Hurricane Katrina. Practicing indoors allows us to get a lot of touches on the ball working on technical skills.

Wednesday: 3:30 PM

We were back on the practice field today. Before we started practice, (assistant coach Beth) Acreman broke out her new white turfs (which she thinks will make her run faster). Claire (Ward) tried to squeeze one turf on and swears it fits like a charm; however, you can see her big toe poking out. She reluctantly gives it back to Acreman, and we began our warm-up. The weather was beautiful; the lower temperature and cool breeze provided a nice change from the hot and challenging weather we practiced in during preseason. Today's main focus was working the ball through the midfielders. You can tell that now school has started we will have to learn how to focus better at practice after being in class all day.

Thursday: 3:30 PM

Practice before game day. (Graduate Assistant) Adam Sayers got us going with a warm-up today then we split into teams and had a little mini tournament.

Friday: 1:15 PM

We met at McCallister's for our pre-game meal.

3:00 PM

We met in the locker room at 3 p.m. Surprises of all kinds are secretly left in lockers from locker buddies. All sorts of things - baked goods, candles, toys, candy, and of course words of encouragement. Every year before we draw names, we say, "keep it a secret... don't let anyone know who you have..." and as soon as we get our name, what do we do? Tell someone of course. Locker buddies is a fun way to get to know our teammates. We warmed up on the intramural fields as Birmingham Southern and Alabama A&M finished their game. We ended the first half 4-0 but the score doesn't reflect how we played. Starting the second half we were told to play like it was 0-0. ETSU fought hard and scored two goals off our mistakes. Final score 5-2. Games like this it is important that we learn from our mistakes. Many comments were made after the game such as we must play until the whistle. Luckily we ended with our first win at home, but we also learned that it's not over until it's over. We had a great crowd out to the game. We appreciate all of our friends, families, and fraternities coming to support us at our home field.

Saturday 10:00 AM - Light Practice

We started with a light jog around the field. Then we had a special visitor join us for practice - Ashley Rhoden. While we stretched, she worked on her dribbling by bringing a ball to each player. Once we all had a ball, (Head Coach) Aston Rhoden dictated what we worked on as we dribbled in the center circle. Then we did some shadow play. After practice, Aston told us about our next opponent, Birmingham Southern. We all got scouting reports, and then a few upperclassmen talked with the freshmen simply telling them what happened against this team last year (we outplayed them the entire game, but lost 2-1) and told them how bad we wanted this game. If anything we asked them to help us out and play hard for us.

Sunday 11:30 AM

We met at Applebee's for today's pre-game meal. Reservations for 20 please!

1:30 PM

We got ready in the locker room and then Aston came in for our pre-game talk. He reminded us of our scouting report on BSC, making sure we knew their key players and their tendencies. When we were ready to go we circled up, said a quick prayer, and hit "Lightning Luck" (2 blue horse shoes that are mounted above the door) on our way out. We warmed up again on the intramural field. Once more we had a large crowd for our second home game. A well played game, much better than Friday's game and a 2-0 win as the result! One of our big goals we made during preseason was to win all home games. We finished our weekend at home with two victories. Those games are history and we now start preparing for Vanderbilt next Friday! We made it through our first week of juggling classes, homework, and soccer practice. Now we get a little break from classes on Monday in celebration of Labor Day and a day off from practice. Time to rest, recover, and get some school work finished. We report back at 7 a.m. Tuesday morning in the weight room for some upper body weight lifting; and then on the field at 3:15 p.m., for practice.