April 14, 2006
Throughout the spring training season, Santa Clara University sophomore Brittany Klein will provide fans with her insights and experiences as the perennially top-ten ranked Bronco women's soccer program begins preparations for the 2006 season.
Brittany is one of the stalwarts of the midfield for the Santa Clara women's soccer team, having started 25 of the 43 matches in which she has appeared in her first two years on the Mission Campus. In 2005 she assisted on three goals and netted a pair of her own, including the game-winner in a 2-1 victory over Saint Louis on September 23, giving head coach Jerry Smith his milestone 300th career victory. Brittany's solid play has also made an impact on the national team level as she played for the U-17 U.S. National Team through 2003 and is currently one of five Santa Clara members of the U-20 National Team's player pool.
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Posted: Monday, May 31, 2006
Bring On Summer!
We attended Athlete's Ball this past Wednesday. This is a student-athlete dance...a night for all the teams to get together and have a great time. Everyone looked very nice and had a fun time socializing and dancing; it was a really fun event.
Thursday marked the end of our 2006 spring season. At the end of each spring season we always have a fun final practice. This year, we decided spice it up a bit by making it a costume practice as well. Costumes included Rainbow Princess, a pretty little Bee, a few `80s Prom Queens, a few of us in `80s workout attire, basketball and volleyball players, and some other creative costumes. We were split into two groups; California and The Rest of The World, and then competed the entire practice. I am a proud member of Team California. We won the juggling and dodgeball competitions, but lost the knock out, shooting, and 6 v 6 competitions. We may have lost the battle, but I am still a proud Californian!
Although our team suffered a number of injuries this spring, we were able to stay focused on improving both individually and as a team. Practices were very competitive each day, challenging us in various aspects of our game. Now that we are officially done with spring training, most of us will be taking it a bit easier before preparing for preseason.
We all will be doing a variety of fun activities during our summer break, but training and playing will be two of our top priorities. Soccer related activities include Poach and Jordan's journey to Russia where they will compete for the United States at the U-20 World Championships; Court, Meg McCray, and I will be playing for our club team, as well as Dani and Hayley for their respective club teams. We will play a number of games in hopes that we will advance to the National championship in late July. Some of the other girls will be playing for local women's teams and working at our Santa Clara University soccer camps where they will train.
We are all really looking forward to our 2006 season. We have very talented freshmen coming in, as well as a great group of returning players. I hope you have a nice summer... see you all at Buck Shaw stadium in the fall!
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Posted: Sunday, May 14, 2006
Farewell to the Seniors
We recognized the graduating seniors this past Thursday at Senior Awards Night. Every athletic team dressed in the `Retro SCU' theme. Oddly enough, part of our team's outfit consisted of our outlawed red practice shorts, which we no longer wear due to the affects weight training has taken on us, and the dryers shrinking them to itty-bitty sizes. Although I vowed to never wear the red shorts again, they proved to be perfect for the night's theme.
During Senior Awards Night, all of the seniors were recognized for contributing to the Santa Clara Athletic program. The senior student-athletes who excelled academically were announced and rewarded, and special awards were given to those specifically nominated by the rest of the student-athletes, coaches, and athletic department.
Micaela Esquivel, Cat Sigler, and Jessica Ballweg are our team's three graduating seniors. All three of them are incredible players and amazing people. Micaela is now playing in the Women's Premier Soccer League for the Sacramento Storm. She recently took the MCAT and will soon be applying to medical school. Cat is also playing for the WPSL, but is on the Sonoma County Sol. Cat's major is in marketing, and will be traveling before settling down to work. Jess majored in English. In her first three years of playing as a Bronco, she proved to be one of the country's best defensive players. She unfortunately suffered a bad injury, but continued be an inspiring leader. She recently returned from traveling Australia, and is residing in New Jersey where she will begin working.
These three graduating seniors each will be greatly missed by all of us on the team. I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to not only play on the same team as them, but to become friends with such good people.
Thanks Mac, Cat, and Jess... we love you!
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Posted: Monday, May 8, 2006
Starting To Feel Like Summer
The weather the past couple of weeks has been absolutely beautiful. Saturday was amazing. Some of my friends set up a 10-foot high blow-up water slide, and a bunch of us got together to have a BBQ and some fun in the sun. We spent most of the day acting like we were just kids again, sliding down the slide in a variety of creative ways.
Kendall's head-first somersault was one the most notable, as well as Casey's unsuccessful attempt to qualify for the distance championship. In case you aren't familiar with this specific technique of going down a slide, it is the distance event in which you go headfirst down the slide and try to slide as far as possible onto the grass... but I am sure you know this already. =) Throughout the day, more and more people joined in on the fun. The group consisted of, but was not limited to, those from the teams of volleyball, men's soccer, track, baseball, basketball, lacrosse, and of course, women's soccer.
Sunday was more of a relaxing day. Some of us went to the softball game to cheer on the seniors at their last home game, and everyone had to tend to their school work and studies. Although this quarter is flying by since our schedule is busy with school work and soccer, I am sure we will be able to squeeze in a few more days like this past Saturday. That's about it for now. I'll make sure to catch you up on any team updates and activities again next week. Have a nice week!
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Posted: Monday, May 1, 2006
Shin Guards Leave Unsightly Tan Lines
We played Chico State, Sacramento State, UC Davis, East Bay Power, and Stanford in the Cal 7 v. 7 this past Saturday. Unfortunately, we did not perform very well, and did not advance to the semi-finals. We had bits and pieces of good play throughout the day, but failed to put together a complete performance.
Luckily, it did not turn out to be as warm of a day as expected. We were thankful for the weather for two reasons: it was easy to stay hydrated, and Snelly (Meagan Snell) kept her shirt on.
Sunday was our day to relax, rehab, tan, and to study and catch up on school work. It was a beautiful day out so a few of us even went out to the pool to get rid of our awesome shin guard tans.
We will be focusing on improving throughout this week in preparation for our game vs. Sacramento Storm. I will let you know how we do after we play Saturday. Until then, have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the sunny weather!
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Posted: Sunday, April 23, 2006
KICKS Against Breast Cancer Tournament
Yesterday our team played at the Stanford KICKS Against Breast Cancer tournament. We played San Jose State, Cal, and Stanford, and ended up tying in the first two games and losing the third. These were full field, 11-on-11 games with 25 minute halves. We struggled a bit due to several of the girls on the team dealing with injuries and illnesses. The good news is we're all still alive!
We were lucky to have Cat Sigler, a graduating senior, play for us again Saturday since we were down some players. One of the key moments of the day was Dani Potts kicking the ball into Cat¡¦s head in our defensive third. This definitely made us all laugh a bit. There's never a dull moment with Cat around! =)
We are all excited to build on this first weekend and will be working hard to improve throughout the next month or so of spring season. Since the fields have been in much better condition now that the rain has eased up, we will continue to have competitive practices. This upcoming week we will be preparing for our favorite spring season weekend event, the Cal 7 v 7. This is always a very fun and competitive tournament. I will make sure to update you on how the Cal tourney goes next time. Have a great week!
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Posted: Friday, April 14, 2006
From the Beach Back to Buck Shaw
Members of our team spent their respective spring breaks enjoying a variety of activities including Mexican cruises, road trips to L.A., Arizona, and Idaho, spending time with family and friends, and for most everyone, relaxing. Although everyone agreed that their time spent away from school and soccer was refreshing, we all were excited to start training as a team again.
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April 3 marked the beginning of our spring training, which is comprised of weight training, team practices and games. The first two weeks have consisted of both indoor and outdoor training due to some rainy weather, so we are all anxious for the sunny spring weather to arrive. Training has gone pretty well so far. We are getting all the kinks out and are excited to compete in our upcoming games.
We will be playing at the Stanford KICKS Against Breast Cancer tournament this upcoming Saturday, April 22. "Awareness" bracelets are being sold through the athletic marketing department and anyone interested in supporting the cause by buying some bracelets may contact Christine Gajdos at cgajdos@scu.edu or at (408) 554-4066. We are looking forward to playing in some competitive games against the other teams in the tournament - San Jose State, Cal, the California Storm (a women's pro team), Stanford and USF.
After Easter weekend, our training sessions will continue to be very competitive as we prepare ourselves for our first spring tournament. We are very excited for game day No. 1 to arrive!