The West Virginia game

I think I remember saying that I would talk about the West Virginia Big East Tournament Women's Soccer game.

I will add right now (while I remember too) that I had a very good first impression of the West Virginia Football program. They were class acts. I worked at the WVU, UConn game and I thought that WVU had good fans and a good program. I wish we beat them, but I totally respect their program.

I will not say the same thing for the men's soccer program there. Part of me wants to travel to Morgantown to see UConn beat them. Unfortunately West Virginia is a long drive and I've already been there and don't feel the need to go back.

Ok finally on to the game.

I do remember looking forward to this Big East tournament game all-week. I could feel a win coming and I wanted to see if I was right. It was a Friday afternoon game. Thankfully I didn't have class then. Truthfully, if I did, (depending on the class) I would have thought about missing it. The thought would have at least gone through my mind, I don't know if I would have gone ahead with it though. My mom is a teacher and I don't like wasting my parents money by not going to class.

So anyway I was in my dorm room on a Friday afternoon in November watching this game on CBS College Sports. The computer was off and I was not going to be bothered while watching this game. Not only did I want to see UConn win, but I also thought that watching a game on television would help me learn the game. The TV camera is always focused on the action that is important, where as at live games, my eyes are not always able to find what's most important. (example...At the last W-League game I was at I watched the Western Mass Lady Pioneers score a goal. I watched the goal scorers celebration...which was not as good as the celebration that I missed by Mandy Schwartz)

I thought that the commentators and tv cameras would add to my knowledge of the game of soccer. It probably did. I don't exactly remember what I learned, but I'm sure I learned something.

I remember that I could hear Stephanie Labbe yelling out information to her defenders on television. (I could remember her voice from the games at Morrone that I went too....I also remembered Mandy Schwartz's voice from a game too...I heard what sounded like Mandy's voice at late night Karaoke in the student union on Halloween...I stopped what I was doing in the student union store just to see if I was right and I was...Mandy was singing...and she was really the best I'd ever seen up there)

So back to the game again.

The commentators at the West Virginia/UConn women's soccer game couldn't stop talking about three players on UConn. It actually surprised me because I thought they'd talk about more. Anyway the commentators could not stop saying good things about Stephanie Labbe, Erin Clark and Annie Yi.

They were always talking about how amazing Labbe was. Labbe was truly fun to watch that game. She had me yelling in my dorm room...and with some of saves she made it was just a natural human reaction to yell and celebrate. I celebrate when my football teams stops someone on 3rd down and I celebrate when my teams goalkeeper makes great saves. She was truly awesome...amazing during that game. I am quite confident that absolutely everyone on my floor must have thought I was nuts. There aren't usually big games that guys yell about on a Friday afternoon in November. I was truly amazed by Labbe's outstanding play on all three games I caught on TV (The overtime of the regular season West Virginia game on ESPNU and the two Big East Tournament games)

Going into the game I knew that we tied West Virginia in the regular season. I also knew that West Virginia was a great team. I was actually sort of expecting that the game would go into Penalty Kicks.

I hoped that the game wouldn't go into Penalty Kicks. Ashley O'Brien's great pass to Annie Yi for a goal gave me even more hope. I was really impressed with the pass...with the play. O'Brien had a pretty long bending airborne pass to the foot of Yi and Yi knocked it into goal. I am pretty sure that I remember that the pass was in the air and that Yi just kicked it in without having the ball touch the ground. I appreciate how hard that is to do now that I have started to play some soccer. To be able to kick a ball that is moving in the air into a goal is not easy, even though Annie Yi and other great soccer players make it look easy. Shawn Niclaw's goal this year is amazing to me because of the height that the ball went and because of how far out he was when he kicked it.

Kicking a ball that is moving in the air.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H68kIK8sxlc&feature=related

After Yi's goal West Virginia responded to even the game up. For the next maybe 50-60 minutes of the game I held my breath and watched Stephanie Labbe and the UConn defense come up big.

I had a feeling that the game would go to Penalty Kicks, and it did. I was also pretty confident that UConn would pull it out.

I was even more confident when Ashley O'Brien knocked in the first penalty kick...which is by far the most important kick because it's tough to stay mentally tough after if you miss the first PK.

I became even more confident...and elated...when Stephanie Labbe knocked in her penalty kick. I thought it was cool to see a goalie get a chance to score.

Becky Gundling's PK was sort of like finding a nail and a hammer. (you'll see where I am going with this soon)

Meghan Cunningham's PK nailed the coffin shut.

I distinctly remember Cunningham's PK because I knew that if it went in, that the game would be over.

Maybe I have a photographic memory, but I swear I can replay that kick in my head. What I thought was so funny about it is how relaxed the shot was. It was a grounder hit lightly and the goalkeeper couldn't do anything about it. I wonder if Cunningham did some sort of trick with her eyes to completely confuse the goaltender. I also remember Cunningham raising both of her arms in elation. I hope someone caught a picture of that, because those are the great pictures in sports. Pictures of great game clinching moments.

This game was one of my favorites this year.

I also remember telling Katy Ryan at the dining hall that women's soccer had won after the WVU game.

I feel like I haven't said much about this game, which seems odd to me. Now I have.

About a week after the game I passed Ashley O'Brien in the School of Business and I couldn't help but think that she had absolutely no idea that a week earlier the person that she just passed in the hall spent 3 hours of a Friday afternoon watching her play, make a great assist and nail a penalty kick.