Going with the Flow with Greg Cochrane
September 04, 2012 | Men's Soccer
Saturday finally rolled around which meant one thing, game day! Everyone's focus is always on kickoff at 7:00 p.m. So time seems to go extra slow that day. Minutes feel like hours and hours feel like days. At 3:00 p.m. is the first time we get together as a team to have pregame meal at the U Club on campus. This meal usually consists of some type of soup, salad, and cold cuts. But to our surprise as of late, they have been giving us some steamed veggies and chicken. I can speak for everyone on the team that we were very happy about that.
After pregame meal the next time we meet as a team is at 5:55p.m. This is for our pregame talk and warm up. During the time between pregame meal and pregame talk people do all different things to get focused. It could be little things from a quick power nap, to listening to music, etc. For two of my roommates, Daniel Keller and Michael Mauro, its playing N64 for a solid hour. Wayne Gretzky 3D Hockey to be exact. For me, it is eating a bag of swedish fish. I'm not really sure what got me started on this, but for as long as I can remember that has been my pregame ritual.
Finally game time rolled around. We played Belmont and came out victorious 3-1! After a scoreless first half, Belmont took the lead about fiv minutes into the second half. We kept fighting and eventually it paid off. Isaiah Trejo whipped in a delicious cross from the left and Ryan Smith hit a full volley into the upper corner. I'm almost positive the net ripped after the shot since Ryan hit it that hard. About five minutes went by and we took the lead for good. Marlon Hairston gathered the ball and drove it to the top of the 18 where he hit a low hard shot right into the corner! Hats off to both Ryan and Marlon for getting their first collegiate goals. Alex Obbey put the icing on the cake when he, Will Vitalis, and Dylan Mares did some great Tiki-Taki which lead to a tap in goal. I swear those three took a page right out of Barcelona's book. It was beautiful.
For now it is time to put this game past us and focus on the next one. We leave Monday for a game at Saint Louis on Tuesday night. Until then, Go Cards!
Greg
