A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

women's soccer

Chasing the national crown

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!

Live for making moments

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!

Going for the glory!

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!