Erm . . .
Apparently I didn't catch the name of the other team. This is a bit embarrassing right off the bat,
especially given how many recaps I may be writing over my vacation week. We're going to be doing some hard core
Aggie-ing this week. Starting here on
Friday, I'd already listened to the Aggie
Volleyball this morning (which I'll recap later). Since I'd gone into work early the day
before, I was going to be coming in late today so I could see Aggie Soccer. I probably should have just taken the day
off, but I couldn't since it was month end.
The weather
more-or-less cooperated. It was 97
degrees and I could see it was raining by the mountains. However, the clouds didn't come into town and
it wasn't anywhere near as humid as last weekend's game. Stepping out of my truck in the parking lot,
I once again decided I'd be using an umbrella and I'd be getting a
Gatorade. I was greeted with the strong
smell of skunk. Then I noticed the guy
coughing in the slot next to me and realized it was that other thing that
smells like skunk.
Yes, there was
some parties going in the parking lot.
There were two different tents with tailgaters. I was unintentionally rude to one of them, as
I think one of them invited me over. I
was too surprised to take them up on it.
I was friendlier inside as Danny was there and he came over to
chat. I told him about the volleyball
this morning. He didn't think the team
would be very good this year. He'd been here
at the pitch for the last game (I never saw him) and he doubted this team would
be good either. Out on field, I could
see some reason for skepticism. Goalie Dmitri Fong was out on field with team,
but wearing a boot.
I also saw the
son of a co-worker, Rito, on the sidelines with a TV camera. He'd been hired by Aggievison after graduation.
I told him his mom sent me there to check up on him. On the other side of the field, I looked over
the NIU . . . umm . . . team (for
lack of a better name). They looked tall
and lean. A little more height and they
could also be the volleyball team. They
brought a few fans with them. You could
likely say the same about the Aggies, but the stands filled in later. Quite a few students from other teams were
there.
First Half
Okay, we're ready
for some soccer! 15 seconds into the
match, Alexa Barrera passed it to Katie Martinez in front of the NIU net
and Goooooooal! 1-0 Aggies. Apparently, we
weren't all ready soccer, or the Aggies just shoved it down their throats. That was rather startling. Danny came over a minute later and said, “It's too early to tell me to eat my words.”
It was Bark at
the Park day. There were a few dogs in
attendance. A group of pretty girls,
maybe the Swim and Dive team again,
sat nearby and put up signs for their favorite player, Kayleigh Cox. One of the
girls brought in a friendly black lab and sat next to me. I immediately made friends with the dog (not
so much with the very pretty girl). He
was a sweet pooch, but his owner later took him out on the much more
comfortable grass to lie down on.
Oh, the match was
still going on. (I was so distracted by
the dog.) 37' left in the half, Mia Montano, the freshman Aggie goalie,
made a good punch save. I missed Coach Rob Baarts' interview on the Aggie Coaches Show earlier this
week. I e-mailed host Adam Young if there was anywhere to
re-listen to it. He sent me an audio
clip of the interview. What a swell
guy. I found out Mia was starting because
the team had not only lost Dmitri to injury, but also backup, Ashley Martin. He'd had to press Mia into immediate
service.
35' there was a
foul on field. “Are you kidding me!” screamed an overly dramatic
voice. I think the fan wasn't being
serious, as he laughed afterward.
Actually, the fans were somewhat less obnoxious today (note I said “somewhat”).
I think a few parents weren't there.
I didn't see it on-field, but did in the game notes, that my dear Aileen Galicia got a yellow card. I'm well familiar with her angel face and her
rough play. This might have been the
play she got carded on. NIU's free kick
just went over the net.
The game went
back and forth. 26' Aileen led a
breakaway, but at 24' NIU came back and forced Mia to make a save. 21' Aileen took a great shot well outside the
box and nearly got it. 20' Aileen passed
to Rebecca Mazzie (that’s her in the poster above to the right), who came
close. 15' Kayleigh Cox cycled in to the
screams of her friends there. 13' the
NIU goalie, Megan Donnally, made
another good save on a shot outside the box.
7' some members of the football team came in. I don't know who they were. (Tyler
Rogers and maybe Larry Rose III
were the only guys I could ever recognize.)
“Get wide Number 9!” I really don't know
what that means, but I kept hearing from someone in the crowd. It was more confusing than irritating. 3' NIU had a great chance here with a
one-on-one breakaway, but the attacker and the defender both went down in the
box at the same time. Perhaps that was
why there wasn't a foul called. 2'
Aileen ran down a loose ball and took a good solo shot. 1' Alexa stripped the goalie and took a shot
to end the half.
Halftime
“You can rest at halftime!” Not to say that there weren't still some obnoxious parents
there. I heard that during the
half. There was another fan soccer
skills competition with a foam finger as the prize. I think they were giving those away before
the match on the courtesy table. I
decided not to take one. DJ Downs ruled the contest a tie and
that both guys should get a . . . finger.
(That doesn't sound right.)
Unfortunately, the marketing girl only had one with her. A bit later, she found the other guy in the
crowd and gave him a finger too. (That
still doesn't sound right.)
The pretty girls
near me left and took their signs with them, though not before taking pictures
with them in front of a goal. Some other
girls from the Swim and Dive team came in and sat in front of the stands. One of them was a striking tall blonde with a
bob haircut. I need to check out their
roster. Speaking of pretty female
athletes, the Aggie Volleyball team
was about to play their next game of the day.
I had brought my little portable radio for it and listened during the
second half. I'll recap it later and not
confuse you with double play-by-play.
(Ugh, I mixed them both together in my notes.)
Second Half
In spite that
very early score, this was not going to be a blow out. Both teams were going to have to work for
it. 44' Emma Smith took a corner shot on goal. 41' NIU came back and hit the scoreboard over
the Aggie goal. 35' Audriana Chavez made a crossing pass to Aileen, who took the
shot. Donnally had to make a diving
stop. 34' Mia pushed out a ball on a
corner kick. 31' Gooooooooal! Becca put it in an open net on a great
crossing pass by Emma. 2-0 Aggies.
I was a bit
distracted by an odd sight at the nearby football field. A bunch of girls in white shirts were walking
up and down the berm behind the pressbox.
That hill slopes about 45 degrees and would be a heck of a workout,
especially in 97 degree heat. Kids go
sledding down that hill. They walked
down it backward and then walked forward going up. I found out from Danny later at a volleyball
game, that it was the softball team
out there. Coach Rodolph is brutal on the girls.
From here, the
Aggies dominated most of the time of possession. Becca took a couple more shots and hit the
crossbar once. The girls were doing a
good job of passing in their attacks.
Donnally was able to stop the shots.
17' She made a loud scream as she ran into a crowd in the box to grab a
ball. It worked. I did notice she was very loud during the
match.
11' Aileen had
come out earlier, but came back in here.
She said, “Hi,”
to one of the NIU defenders by leveling her with a hip check. Aileen should have played hockey. She's a natural. 7' Mia made a good catch on a long shot. 4' Alexa took a good shot that Donnally made
another good save on. 2' Aggie defender Kelly Burton somehow got in on an
attack. She made a high, soft kick that
just floated over Donnally and into the net.
Goooool!
3-0 Aggies
was the final. The goalie was clearly
angry about that last one getting in, but I don't know how she could have
stopped it. After the match, Kelly got
some big hugs from her teammates, who were very happy for her. The girls came out to midfield and gave their
applauding fans a jaunty wave. Later, at
work, I looked at the team Twitter feed.
This was Coach Baarts first win as a head coach. A couple other Aggie coaches tweeted congratulations. There was also a video interview with him
posted. (Maybe it was Rito doing the
footage.) He took a moment to praise Megan Donnally for her opposing work in
goal. That was a nice gesture.
I needed to get
to work, but I'd dropped my mechanical pencil under the stands at some
point. I needed that pencil for my
upcoming trip to see the Chihuahuas
so I could fill out my scorecard. I
ducked and half-crawled under the grandstand supports and got it. When I came out, a lady appeared and asked if
I could get her spray bottle, which she'd dropped. Somehow, I managed to get in and out twice
without hitting my head. Before leaving,
I also ran into the Old Man, Tom. We
said, “Hi,”
and he commented on how intense I look when I'm taking notes. I've heard that from someone else. Maybe I'm scaring people off. I don't feel like I'm concentrating that
hard.
Driving out of
the parking lot, I actually had my personal game highlight. Softball
Coach Kathy Rodolph was walking
out to her car. She'd probably been
working at the nearby softball field. I
stopped and called to her and congratulated her on last season. She was very gracious and pleased with the
recognition. This wasn't a great place
for a conversation, but I did ask about her assistant Kat Heifner coming back. The
Coach thought the team would be really good next season with Kat instructing
the hitters. As if the team could
realistically get much better. (The rest
of the conference just soiled their pants.)
Kathy was able to focus more on recruiting and had gotten a bunch of new
players.
Under other
circumstances, I would have loved to have talked to her some more. (Perhaps asking her about her insane
conditioning program for the team, if I’d known it was them out there climbing
the hill.) Coach said she hoped see me
out at the park again next season. Oh
my, she recognized me. Is that good or
bad? If it was bad, hopefully I've
changed her mind. I'm a regular now
aren't I? I'm the weirdo with the
notebook. I was still listening to the
volleyball game as I left. Work proved
to be a very long busy night, even showing up late, but I was really glad I
went to this game. I may try this again
next month.
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