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Lower's Lowdown
October 05, 2004 | Women's Soccer
Oct. 5, 2004
Every few weeks during the women's soccer season at Louisville, junior Gina Lower will share her thoughts with you in Lower's Lowdown. Gina is the U of L Student Athlete Advisory Committee President, a member of the Dean's List and All-Conference USA honoree in soccer.
The Cards are off to a record setting start in Conference USA! We opened conference play at South Florida. Last year, the game was very intense with a lot of controversial calls. This year, we wanted to get revenge and come out with a win, which is exactly what we did. We won 1-0 in a very intense game. For all the freshmen, I think it was a rude awakening to what conference play is all about. It was a physical battle for all 90 minutes, especially the time remaining after we scored. We got out of Florida just before the hurricane hit on Saturday. We traveled to UAB, defending conference champs. Sunday games are always mentally challenging. We have to bounce back from Friday and perform just as well, if not better. The team played a great game. We were tied at 0 at half time, and then with only 6 minutes left, we scored. That is the first time we have beaten them in my four years here so it was awesome. After the game, you could see the disappointment on the other teams' faces and I loved it! Our first weekend, on the road in conference was successful: two wins, 4 points.
The next week in practice, energy from the weekends wins were evident. Next up was Tulane and Southern Miss. We had a few recruits in for the weekend and it was also my birthday on Saturday. The whole team and all the recruits went out to dinner on Saturday night to celebrate my birthday! It was so fun, and a good chance to hang out with each other outside of soccer. We all chatted with the recruits and got to know them a little better. Friday's game was again an intense battle. We ended after two overtime periods in a 0-0 tie. We had plenty of opportunities to put the game away, but just couldn't find the back of the net. Sunday was Southern Miss, who we beat last year. They were coming off a win Friday night against Cincinnati, so we knew they would come out tough. Although as a team, we weren't at our best, we still came out with a 2-0 win. We are still tied for first in the conference with Tulane and have yet to give up a goal in conference play.
Meredith Miller and Jamie Craft swept the weekly conference honors with defensive and offensive players' of the week. Meredith has also broken her own school record for minutes played and shutouts. Jamie has also scored 10 goals now, and is second in the league in points. These honors were good the both Mere and Jamie, but also for the whole team. Overall, we have been very successful so far. We have a long road still ahead, but what we've accomplished so far is awesome. Next weekend we go to DePaul and Marquette and we are planning on coming home with some wins to add to the list! Go CARDS!!
