The Flip with Lip
October 20, 2010 | Men's Soccer
Oct. 20, 2010
Louisville, Ky. - Hello again Cardinal fans - thanks for having me. It was another successful week for your men's soccer team. We still remain undefeated after a win on the road against the University of Cincinnati, and a long over due win against Notre Dame.
Our match against UC was away last Wednesday night. Even though the trip to UC is a roughly 90 minute bus ride, we departed Tuesday afternoon at 3 p.m. In the past the Cards traveled to Cinci the day of the match. But when the team couldn't get results the coaches decided to depart the day before the match to increase the focus and downtime. The bro's seemed competent with coaches decision especially after arriving at Austin Berry's beautiful house in his hometown of Cincinnati. The Italian spread Austin's family prepared was almost too good to be true. I mean, the meatballs were the size of my fist. We devoured salad, pasta, garlic bread, meatballs, and fruits until I could no longer consume. I'm serious. If I took one more bite, I would have been found in the living room curled up in the fetal position; deep in a food coma. Fortunately I was able to hold myself together and by the time we got to the hotel it was almost time for bed.
The hotel was located on UC's campus and a half mile from the game field. Our hotel was an enormous Courtyard by Marriot. Few of the bro's even rated the large buffet breakfast at no.1. The first floor had many meeting/classrooms. We would constantly see groups of nicely dressed men and women with name tags most likely participating in a business seminar or presentation. We used one of the rooms for our routine evening meeting to watch video and discuss the gameday schedule. After the meeting it was bed time. My roommate was the Governor (our captain Kenney Walker,) who was already sleeping like a little school boy. I gulped down a cherry drink and turned out the lights.
Again our gameday schedule went accordingly: breakfast at 10 am, walk through on UC's game field, pre-game meal at 3 p.m., and last but not least a win over UC. This trip included one of the finer pre-game meals. Nice work coach Proud, great chicken noodle soup.
You will often hear Austin Berry and David Stockum refer to their homeland of Cincinnati as "The Nasty". Just wonder off UC's campus and you will know exactly what they mean. "The Nasty" has more than a few shady looking areas. It's probably a good idea to stay out of the dark and never wonder alone. "The Nasty" can be nasty. Ha ha. I'm kidding David and Austin.
It was raining during our warm-ups making UC's turf field quick. We felt like this benefitted us because we like to move the ball fast. Congratulations to Charlie Campbell for scoring two goals and showing all the kids how it's done. Nick DeLeon scored a great third goal to clinch the win. After we handled UC we showered and boarded the bus to head home. Starting with recovery that night, preperations for Notre Dame had already begun.
Thursday and Friday's 7 a.m. practices were kept short and light. These practices are meant to recover. We had two days to prepare for Norte Dame. After playing a team like UC who leds the league in fouls, staying focused was important.
Here are a few reasons why it was important to me to beat Notre Dame: ND beat us last year, twice and Austin broke his leg in our first meeting there last year. What a great way to win against Notre Dame. A 2-0 victory in front of the third largest crowd at Cardinal Park Stadium of 3,200 plus people is something special. The evening was festive. The first 300 fans received a Cardinal scarf upon entry.
At halftime the Cardinal soccer alumni was introduced. This included coach Simon Bird who was a goal scoring legend during his time as a Cardinal. Freshman "Wonder Boy" Dylan Mares added to his tally scoring first for the Cards followed by Nick DeLeon's incredible strike to score his second consecutive clincher. In fact, the shot was so incredible it blew my mind. My knees buckled and I felt dizzy. I had to sit down to realize I hadn't been dreaming. Did you see the goalie? Poor fellow didn't even move and thank goodness the ball never made contact with any part of his body... I wouldn't have wanted to see that.
Our next game is October 20, 2010, 7 p.m. against the DePaul Blue Demons at Cardinal Park Stadium. We could not tell enough how much the team appreciates your support. We thank you and we look forward to making you proud! Get em Cards!!
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