Nikki Labuda Czaplicki's Senior Season Blog
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Last weekend we went to Winston-Salem, North Carolina to play in the Wake Forest/Nike tournament against Wake Forest and Virginia Tech. This is our second weekend road trip in a row. Playing on someone else's turf especially against the home team is always a challenge. We left Thursday night (September 11) for Winston-Salem so we could be focused on the day of the game. Friday night we played Wake Forest and lost 3-0 which wasn't really indicative of the way we played or the way that they played. Although both teams played well we had more dangerous opportunities in the play than they did. But they finished their chances and we gave them more chances by fouling and giving them set pieces of which they finished two of them.
We came home Friday night after the game. My husband Andy came home for the weekend too which was nice even though I only got to see him for a couple of hours.
We trained in Charlotte on Saturday and then left that afternoon for Winston-Salem again. That night we watched the Wake Forest men's soccer team play Clemson. Wake was national champs last year and it was great to see a team that good play. They played so fast and spread the field much more than women's teams typically do. But it was a lot of fun to watch.
Sunday morning we played Virginia Tech, which was a very athletic team. As we got in the vans to go to the game, Coach Lipsitz pulled me aside and told me that he was shutting me down for two weeks and that I would not be playing in the next two games. Needless to say I was upset. But my knees are hurting and Coach could see that I wasn't moving very well on the field so he plans to rest me until conference play starts. (The 49ers open defense of their two straight A-10 regular-season titles at home against La Salle, Friday, September 26). As a player, I of course want to play and strongly objected to being pulled for two weeks but if I come out feeling better at the end of this time it will have been worth it.
We lost the Virginia Tech game, 5-1. We again gave up more set piece goals including a penalty kick. Set pieces seem to be our Achilles heal this year. You can bet that is what we will be working on in practice this week. This weekend we are away yet again at Francis Marion on Sunday. Hope to see you there.
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