Aug. 30, 2005

The Mizzou soccer team opened up the 2005 season last weekend with games at Arizona and California. It was the first collegiate experience for the Tiger freshmen, including Kat Tarr and Ashley Hamblin, who kept a diary of the season opening trip.

Day 1: Today was our first road trip to our first two games of the 2005 season against two top-ranked opponents in Arizona and California. We met at the Tom Taylor Building at 6 AM and took a two-hour bus trip to Kansas City. When we got to the airport, all of us freshman had to carry around all the water and food. The plane trip wasn't bad. We had a layover in Las Vegas, where some of the older girls (all 21 years of age) played on slot machines. Unfortunately, nobody won. Also at the airport, we called the freshman at the dorms that didn't come on the trip. We missed the rest of our family! During the layover, we tried to guess who our roommates for the weekend were. When we got to the hotel, Kelly told us whether we were right or not. Many of the roommate couples were a big surprise! After we put our luggage away in our rooms, we got back in the vans and went to a practice field next to the Arizona game field, where we played soccer tennis. Everyone played, even our trainer William! That night, we had pasta and ice cream and went to sleep early.

Day 2: Today was the day of our first game! We woke up at 9:00 and watched film in a conference room of the hotel. We had breakfast at 11 and then went back to the hotel, where we rested and watched Lizzie McGuire. For our pregame meal, we went to Gentle Ben's where most of us had either salad or soup. We went back to the hotel, rested, and around 4:45, we got back into the vans and headed for the game. For it being our first college soccer game, we were really nervous. The beginning was a little rough and we got down 2-0. The second half we picked it up, but unfortunately, we couldn't come back. The final score was 2-0. We were definitely bummed about losing, when we knew we could have played a lot better. We went back to the hotel, quietly, and had Chipotle and smoothies for dinner and went to bed.

Day 3: With the game behind us, we had a day of traveling ahead. We woke up, ate breakfast at the hotel, and packed. We took the vans back to the airport and flew to San Diego and on to Oakland just the other side of the bay from San Francisco. We got on a bus and rode straight to the practice field. On the way, we saw the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. It was pretty cool! The field was up a really big hill and had a really pretty view. Practice was a short and light one, to just stretch our legs out from a day of traveling and the game the night before. We ate at the hotel restaurant that night, which turned out to not be so good. Casey and Elyse's steak weren't cooked very well and the food took forever. After the meal, we had massages. They were amazing! The masseuse did a really good job of relaxing our sore legs. That night, we all went to one room, sat in a circle, and told everyone about our family, our favorite food, and our favorite love song. It was cool to hear about all our other teammates.

Day 4: Today was the last day of our trip. We woke up, ate breakfast at the hotel buffet, packed, and loaded the bus for the game. At the stadium, we sat on the bus and listened to music for about 30 minutes. When it was time, we walked off the bus, set our stuff down, and started warm ups. We were all really pumped, because our nervousness had stayed at the Arizona field and all that was left was some pride. We weren't going to leave the California stadium with another loss. We played the most intense soccer game some of us had ever played, went in to double overtime, and finished with a 0-0 tie to the team ranked 17th in the nation. The game put us in really good moods. We showered at the facilities, ate Quizno's on the bus, and headed to the airport. We flew to Las Vegas and then on to St. Louis. After landing, getting on the bus, and sleeping or watching a movie, we finally got to Tom Taylor at 2:30 AM. We were really exhausted from our first trip, but happy that we had such a good time!