The Shutout

So I traveled once again to Lusitano Stadium to watch some soccer. UConn soccer of course. Well I saw the Western Mass Lady Pioneers, but I was there to support the current and former UConn players.

Mandy Schwartz had a shut out in goal.

Also here is a tip. If someone on Mandy Schwartz's team scores a goal, don't look at the person who scored for a good celebration. Look back to Schwartz, she'll be sure to keep you entertained.

I will also say that Mandy Schwartz will be the most important person on her team this year. What she does better than anyone else on her team (I'm sure of this, even though I haven't been around most of the team) is to keep her team loose. She keeps things exciting and fun. That is very important. Most people won't notice that but I'm telling you that she has a really positive effect on her team. Just being herself will do a lot for her team. She will be vital to her teams success this year.

I look up to Ryan Grace and Mandy Schwartz because they all have entertaining personalities.

Sam Kelley, Shauna Musser, Kacey Richards and Courtney Wilkinson Maitland also played.

I remember Kelley having her jersey being tugged on and she somehow got a word from the referee about it.

Shauna had a really nice sequence in the game where she got the ball moving up field well.

Courtney Wilkinson Maitland also played well.

Kacey Richards had a beautiful header that she knocked in for a goal. I was thrilled about that. She got a "fist pump" out of me. Like a real fist pump. I was excited she scored. I wanted to see a UConn player score badly. I miss the feeling of that happening

Meghan Cunningham is quite clearly one of my favorite athletes at UConn, but Kacey Richards is one of my favorite women's soccer players to watch. You'd never know that because I rarely talk about her. (Truthfully, I struggle to pick favorites, I root for all UConn athletes.) Most games that I saw for women's soccer were the view from behind the goal. That is not the best place to watch soccer. It's much harder to understand the game from there and much harder to appreciate the play of defenders and midfielders from that view.

If I have one goal it's to understand the game of soccer from the midfield and defensive perspective. I've always preferred to be a defender through-out my life when it comes to sports. I always appreciated the hard workers on the glass in basketball, the shut down corner in football, and the great fielding baseball player. Right now I don't appreciate midfielders and defenders enough.

I will never ever forget the hustle Kacey Richards had against Yale. I will never ever forget that play. I don't forget Bildstein's clutch kick, but unlike most people I also will not forget Richards hustle that made that play possible. It's so hard to put in words how important that play was and how important that hustle is. I love that sort of effort. To me Kacey Richards hustle is legendary because of what it lead to. I always hear stories in sports about times when someone didn't give up and it paid off. Coaches use those stories to motivate their teams. You see these stories in sports movies all the time. I will never forget that hustle and I will probably use Richards hustle at some point in my life to give some sort of lesson about life or sports.

It also can be really hard to see, but sports can teach great lessons in life.

Random but I felt like writing that.

Kacey Richards also made a nice move during the game. I can't quite remember what she did, but I do remember thinking to myself that what she did was nifty.

I wish I could write more about Courtney Wilkinson Maitland's play other than it was solid. I tried to make sure that I watch her play so I could appreciate how good she is. I didn't pay enough attention. I was too busy listening to a parent on the New York team.

Parents are very important but they have to be careful too. It's important that parents be there to show support and to lend support after tough games but I don't think it does athletes any good to hear their parents getting on them. I think it hurts their confidence and distracts them. They don't need to be silent, they should cheer and be supportive but they shouldn't go overboard. This guy at the game today went overboard.

Maitland will get in my blog for another reason though.

Never in a million years did I ever think that someone would meet me and go "your that person who writes about Meghan Cunningham."

She would be that person.

I said maybe. I haven't quite gotten used to hearing someone tell me that your the person who writes about Meghan Cunningham. I guess I'm known for something, which is better than being known for nothing.

I also said that "If you don't say it crazy no one will remember it." That is the truth. I know I've said some things that are just out there. I think every time I speak about Meghan Cunningham, or people bring her up to me, I think to myself that I need to go "Don't worry, I'm not a creep."

My whole goal is for people to appreciate the fact that playing two sports is not easy and that she and the 3 other UConn athletes that did that this past year deserve recognition for it.

One thing that I have learned through being in the media for a little bit is that being boring does no good. If I said "Meghan Cunningham is a two sport athlete and you should support her because that's tough work" then you would probably forget that. I want to get the point across (I think I've done a good job of that) that being a two-sport athlete is really impressive and really cool. I have to say something provocative or wild or crazy so that people will remember it. If I make up the word "Amazingness" to describe her than most people will take notice of Meghan Cunningham. That is a good thing. Unfortunately people also take notice of me and they go "He's crazy." That's ok, because as long as I get the point across I'm happy.

People don't realize that so much is taped for television. Most of it is edited out for the news. People take hours of footage, or minutes of press conferences and have to put them into 5 second sound bites. The stuff that you see in print or on television is almost always the most provocative, the most interesting quotes etc. because they are interesting and because you will remember them. If I don't write something crazy, you won't remember it and I will have failed as a communicator. If you don't believe me think about the lines in a movie that you can remember. I can guarantee it wasn't some lame quote. The best teachers and coaches can come up with some weird analogies that get a point across. For example in marketing you should use the rifle approach, not the shotgun approach. I remember that courtesy of a teacher that I don't want to get fired for saying that.

Somehow Meghan Cunningham was once again brought into this. I wish I wrote those paragraphs on why the Midfielders and Defenders at UConn are so good. One day, One day that will happen. I bought soccer for dummies, hopefully that will teach me a few things. Hopefully I'll learn to look for certain things.

What I will say about Courtney Wilkinson Maitland is that I never remember her messing up, which is a complement for any defender.

I do remember being impressed by her at a game this year that I saw on TV. I think it was the regular season West Virginia game, where the UConn defense came up huge. I definetly remember Stephanie Labbe making some amazing saves. I just can't remember if it was the Regular Season West Virginia game or the Big East Tournament West Virginia game. It's easy for me to get the two confused because I watched both on television and both went to overtime.

I also learned that women's soccer really has no memory of what happened in October against St. Johns. I wasn't the only one who remembered this game, which makes me really happy. When Meghan Nanfeldt brought up the subject of St. Johns I seemed to see some blank stares from the team. Atleast Meghan and I and Brittany Perrotti saw and remembered that game. As a matter of fact the game was brought up in our Husky Sport class.

All in all I enjoyed going to the game today. There was no sun at the Lake House but there was plenty of it in Ludlow. Western Mass won 3-0. Mandy Schwartz had a shut out and Kacey Richards scored. I was really happy. Plus I got interviewed and I love being interviewed.

I was interviewed for ABC 40. Shawn Nicklaw was interviewed after me. Meghan Nanfeldt didn't go because she was saving her voice. We were asked to talk about the US Soccer teams recent success. I said that losing to Brazil is ok because Brazil is good, it's where Pele was from and at least we beat Spain. The reporter said I was really good, which I knew I would be. I'm good when I talk about sports. Often quiet when I don't. I'm actually sort of shy until I really get to know someone well. Then I don't shut up. Many people would vouch for that, especially the second part.

I mentioned UConn men's and women's soccer during the interview. I put a plug in
for them as the reason that I like soccer. I hope that part airs. Atleast I tried. Free advertising!!! Hope it worked. I also had all of my UConn gear on.

Also I love the Western Mass Lady Pioneers even more because I got dinner and popcorn and a free ticket out of my trip. Plus I found cheap gas.

Today was a good day. I found the sun and watched a sporting event.

Most importantly I got to watch the game with a good friend, Meghan Nanfeldt. It's so nice to be able to relax and watch a game. I often don't get the chance to do that because I tend to be so involved at games.

Meghan also needs to get credit for a great save that she made while I was being interviewed. I nor the cameraman needed to be on the blooper reels.

Renee Montgomery once made a beautiful save at a basketball game. She ran into a cameraman and the cameraman dropped the camera, but Renee caught the camera in the air by the handle to save the camera from crashing into the floor. That is great eye hand coordination.