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A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

soccer

National champions!

November 15, 2016

There are 76 colleges that play women’s soccer in Division III for the National Junior College Athletic Association.

Of those 76 teams, only one will stand at the end of the season crowned National Champion. Just one.

Over the course of three or so months, teams will battle in leagues and divisions and regions just to have the chance to get to the national tournament. For some teams, they’ll get there several times and never win a title. And, as with many other sports, the best team doesn’t always win.

Celebration time!

Celebration time!

But other times, the best teams do win.

I’ve been lucky the last couple of years to have the chance to see quite a few of my niece’s soccer games. As a freshman last year, she earned All-Tournament honors when her team – SUNY Broome – took third place at nationals.

Mind you, this is a gal who has experienced a lot of success in soccer. She went to two state championship games in high school, winning one. Her first year of college soccer ended up in a regional “B” title (the region her school plays in gets two bids to nationals) and that third-place finish.

This year, the team was quite impressive. They were ranked second in the nation for the first five polling periods, and took over the No. 1 spot for the final five ranking periods. The only loss Broome suffered was against Division I Asa.

That’s solid.

Not everything came easy. In a regional semifinal against a .500 team, Broome faced a scary position. No goals were scored in regulation as the opponent packed the box and it sure seemed like they wanted to take their chances with a penalty kick shootout. Broome scored in the second sudden-victory period to advance. In the final, the Hornets faced a big rival and trailed, 1-0, midway through the second.

As they say, though, sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.

Number 1!

Number 1!

A shot came in from the right of the goalie – it was soft and on the ground. The goalie went to one knee to scoop the roller and … it somehow got through her legs and trickled into the goal.

All I could think about was Vin Scully in 1986 … “The ball gets behind Buckner!”

A little bit later, a direct shot went to the goalie… she seemed to have it, but it bounced out of her arms and my niece was there to pop the ball into the goal for the winner.

Then nationals came around. Broome earned the top seed and faced No. 8 Anoka Ramsey. It was 3-0 in the blink of an eye and the Hornets rolled to a 6-0 win. Then they faced No. 4 Brookhaven and, again, scored early. That goal held up for a 1-0 victory.

The championship game started a little late, but the quick start theme continued as Broome went up 1-0 within the first five minutes and won, 3-0.

It was the third national championship in school history all under coach Bill Rich, who notched his 299th career victory with the title.

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In the beginning of the year, my niece was one of hundreds of young ladies around the country who had a goal of winning a national championship. Many will dream about it. Few will ever achieve that level. This team was filled with a bunch of talented young women who had skills to play at levels above a junior college – and hopefully many will go on to do that. A strong defense, a crazy good offense (including the leading scorer in the country), and a solid bench gave this team an extremely well-rounded group.

Over the years, I’ve covered a lot of soccer when I was in newspapers. I was part of a group that had the chance to cover one other national championship (Oneonta State) for a local newspaper, and I also watched many NJCAA Division III men’s basketball championships over the years.

This one, I wasn’t reporting or anything like that. Over the past two years, I’ve had the chance to watch this team blossom and fulfill a dream that many won’t. The excitement on their faces as that final horn went off is something to always remember. Teams like this don’t come along every day, so it’s cool to know that my niece was part of something special.

Memories like this are ones you can never lose.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Filed Under: My world, Sports Tagged With: broome, national champions, njcaa, soccer, suny broome

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Chasing the national crown

November 10, 2016

It’s hard to say how many soccer games I’ve been to over the past 15 or so years.

And I’m not talking about those when I was working for a newspaper.

My niece Nicole has played soccer for as long as I can remember. From youth to high school to varsity to travel teams to college. She’s run the gamut of soccer.

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She’s also experienced success. Two trips to the state championship game — winning one — when in high school. In her first college season, her team made nationals and finished third. This year, her final at this school (it’s a two-year school), her team is top-seeded and the No. 1 team in the country heading into nationals this weekend.

She’ll move on to a four-year school next year and continue to play soccer. It’s a bit of a haul from where I am, so it will be hard to get to too many games. But I’ll try.

Over this time, though, I’ve seen countless games. The youth leagues to the modified, some travel. I have a hard time remembering a time I haven’t seen at least 7-8 games during a season.

This weekend is special.

She has the chance to be part of a special team. It’s not that they aren’t a great team full of ladies who can really play the game. But not every team wins a national championship. And it’s not easy, that’s for sure. Top seed or not, they’ll have to play some great soccer for three straight games this weekend.

Today, it starts.

Her first game is today. Game two is Friday. If all goes well, they’ll play a third game on Sunday. What that game is for is to be determined.

Two weeks ago, she helped lead her team to the regional title. She assisted the first goal and scored the winning goal in a 2-1 victory.

There’s no telling how this weekend will go, but it will be fun to continue to watch her play and chase the dreams.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Filed Under: My world Tagged With: broome, college, college soccer, family, nicole, soccer, suny broome, suny broome women's soccer, women's soccer

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Regional finals!

October 28, 2016

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My niece, Nicole, plays in the NJCAA Region III championship on Saturday.

Her team,  Broome Community College is No. 1 in the country.

Here’s hoping for a great game so they can make nationals for the second straight year!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Filed Under: My world, Sports Tagged With: broome, njcaa, regionals, soccer, sports

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Live for making moments

November 17, 2015

Life is full of moments.

Let’s be real here for a moment — life has ups and downs. There’s a lot of negative out there and everybody goes through times when they wonder if life is ever a good thing.

But the moments …

I know many people will be obsessively happy. I try and consider myself — for the most part — a pretty upbeat and positive person who is more often than not pretty happy. But life isn’t easy.

The shot that ended up in the goal for Nicole.

The shot that ended up in the goal for Nicole.

It’s the moments that get you through it.

A few weeks ago, while working on a personal project, a friend spoke with me about making moments. Now, that talk was about professional wrestling, but it can easily be shifted over to life itself.

Moments is what get people through life.

When talking about moments, it can be anything — big or small. There are those times that people can never take away from you, no matter what.

This past weekend, my niece played in the NJCAA Division III national tournament for women’s soccer. The end result wasn’t what they wanted as they didn’t win the championship.

Obviously, there were some upset people with this result.

However, it’s the moments you’ll remember 20 years from now.

Life — like sports — is full of wins and losses. Despite society and youth sports making sure everybody should get a blue ribbon, it isn’t reality.

Not even close.

Everybody won’t win. Everybody doesn’t get a trophy. But everybody has a chance to make moments.

The women’s soccer team for SUNY Broome made moments this weekend by being at nationals. The team made a moment by winning a breathtaking 1-0 game in their opener to reach the semifinals. The team made another moment by finishing third in the country.

And my niece, Nicole, had a moment nobody can ever take away from her. In that opener, she scored the lone goal to give the team the 1-0 victory in the first game. I couldn’t have been more proud.

The second game, in the national semifinals, didn’t go as well with Broome falling to Brookdale, 3-0. Brookdale, by the way, made a moment on Sunday by winning its third straight national championship. If you are going to lose to a team, it might as well be to the national champs.

Battling for a ball during nationals.

Battling for a ball during nationals.

Life is all about the moments.

In the third-place game, Broome dominated regional rival Herkimer (which entered the tournament as the No. 1 team in the nation and the top seed) to win, 3-0. Nicole had two assists in the game and earned all-tournament honors.

Moments.

Sure, there were some tears after losing in the semifinals. But what this team accomplished this weekend is something to be amazingly proud about. Nobody can take the moments away from them and what they did. Twenty years from now, the moments will remain vivid. The results are a fact of history. But the moments will be what you continually smile about and always remember.

Live for the moments.

Always.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Filed Under: Family, Life, My world Tagged With: broome cc, family, life, life and moments, life is all about the moments, life moments, making moments, moments, moments in life, nationals, niece, njcaa, soccer, women's soccer

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Going for the glory!

November 12, 2015

Today is a big day in my niece’s life.

A freshman in college, Nicole is going to be playing in the NJCAA Division III national women’s soccer tournament.

She’s been playing soccer her whole life, but this is a big step.

Over the years, she’s been on some seriously good teams, including a high school team that made two trips to the state championship game, winning one of them.

Nicole during the regional championship game.

Nicole during the regional championship game.

Through the years, Nicole has been on some great travel teams and everything else.

This year, she went to college and has started throughout the year. She’s played a few positions and has been a strong part of the team. She earned all-conference honors this year and was named to the all-region tournament team.

And now, her team is three wins away from winning a national championship.

The fourth-ranked team in the country, SUNY Broome is the third seed in the tournament, being held in New Jersey.

Thankfully, I have some vacation time I can use, so I’ll be there watching and cheering along.

The team played a guaranteed two games (Thursday and Friday). Should they win at least one, they’ll play in a game Sunday. If they win two games, they’ll play for the national championship.

It should be fun to watch and here’s hoping the team does well.

Good luck, Nicole!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Filed Under: Family, My world, Sports Tagged With: njcaa, njcaa division III, njcaa division III national tournament, njcaa soccer, soccer, sports, suny broome, suny broome hornets, suny broome women's soccer, women's soccer

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hoohaa29

Writer who loves images just as much as words! In search of perfectly poured pints of Guinness and great hot dogs. Find me on twitter @softball29.

I guess the April Fool's joke is on us, Mother Nat I guess the April Fool's joke is on us, Mother Nature? Oh .. ha ha ha.
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I also guess this is why hitting back roads to work is good -- you can stop and take a photo and not worry about anybody coming (usually)! Main roads around here are fine for now, but it's definitely quite picturesque on the lawns/trees etc.
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softball29P.J.@softball29·
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I mean, if you hold a #Wrestlemania in an open stadium... eventually rain delays had to come, right? 🤣

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28 years ago The Sandlot was released and this iconic scene was brought into our lives.

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New blog post: Photo Blogging Challenge (March 2021): Eight #photobloggingchallenge #pbc #challenge #blogging https://hoohaa.com/?p=15201

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