Not your average season. Not your average bunch of girls, either.
I kissed my summer goodbye that July morning. I also kissed my tanned body goodbye, hesitantly
gave a very unwelcoming hello to the inevitable infamous soccer tan lines (shin
guard, shorts, arm, and neck lines) and packed up my little car and drove the
two hours back up to good ol’ Logan. Little did I know just how amazing and
memorable the upcoming soccer season would turn out to be.
I play soccer for USU with the group of the most incredible
girls and couldn’t be prouder to call them my teammates. We had an amazing 2012
season. We were regular season WAC conference champions as well as WAC
conference tournament champions. We went on to the National tournament and
played in the first round of NCAA’s losing only 2-1 in a hard fought battle to
BYU who was ranked second in the nation at the time. This post is dedicated to
my teammates aka my second family aka my sisters.
I get chills thinking about it. Thinking about those final
ten seconds of the WAC Championship game. Impatient side glances at the seemingly
impossibly slow winding down clock on the scoreboard. As the buzzer sounded, a
million images of the countless hours spent in preparation surged through my mind.
The moments of struggle, discouragement and disappointment.
All for this moment.
Hearts pounded as ecstatic screams of 27 girls erupted into the Logan sky.
I ran around in a daze, embracing my teammates. These girls
I have grown to love. I looked around in each of their faces and saw that theirs reflected my own. Complete and utter SATISFACTION. BLISS. HAPPINESS. The feeling of working so
incredibly hard and putting your entire heart and soul into something for so
long and seeing it finally pay off. It's like no other. Although we
achieved the same thing the year before, we were a completely different team
this season and had to start from ground zero to work our way to the top
again. We had to come together as a new team with new strengths, as well as new
weaknesses. I looked around at these girls that I would do ANYTHING for and
felt such strong love for each one of them. (extremely cheesy moment, guys. sorry.) I felt a bit like an emotional
wreck of a proud mom. We all jumped around the crowds of people on the field restlessly,
not wanting this moment to end. I just wanted to stand there, put my arms out,
close my eyes, and soak it all in.
I just wanted to carry that feeling with me every day.
Utah State Soccer. What is it? It’s that sun beating down
hard on your freckled nose during excruciatingly hot two-a-days in pre season.
It’s the sound of “somethin’ ‘bout a
truck” echoing across the Chuck and Gloria Bell field on game day. It’s the
cooling feel of that cold chocolate milk as it slides down your throat after a
hard lifting session. It’s that dreaded “on the line!” when you think practice
is over. It’s that exhilarating rush of running down the line of your cheering
teammates after your name has been called in the starting line up. It’s the pit in your stomach after hearing
the ever so familiar “ wakie wakie aggies!!” It’s the moment you are dragging
your exahusted numb legs around that final lap of the fitness test (also known
as hell) and you hear your teammates’ voices telling you to keep pushing, and
you listen, despite your legs feeling like two heavily oversized tree trunks. It’s
the locker room pre-game dance offs that always end up getting frisky. It’s the
unmistakably awful whine of a teammate as they pathetically belt out a tune on the
bus during the “ipod game.” It’s having each other’s backs through everything,
no matter what. It’s having a team prayer before every game and squeezing each
other’s hands while the prayer is being said. It’s the continual quotations of
bridesmaids or some random youtube video throughout practice. It’s spring 6 am
conditionings where everyone’s natural beauty shines through. It’s eating out
at texas roadhouse as a team and looking around to see that all your teammates
ordered big ol’ steaks as well. It’s Roger’s loyal friendship on the sideline.
It’s that ever-so-supportive laugh from your teammates after you biff it hard.
It’s that weight lifting session that ends with a team cheer of “ DONE WORK!!”
haha. It’s seeing the welcoming smile of Ernie as you step on the bus. It’s the
strobe light session and loud singing that causes the flight attendant to
reprimand your entire team over the plane’s intercom (and later write a formal
complaint to USU). It’s sitting at a volleyball game together and freaking out
and asking a million questions when a fellow teammate is spotted with a boy.
It’s the blissful “IT’S TACO TUESDAY GUYS” quotation shpeeled after an
exhausting practice as your stomach growls in agreement. It's all those disgustingly ugly face snapchats ever continually in circulation amongst each other. It's Alec's adorable little legs running across the field to trevor after a game. It's rolling your practice shorts up one, two, and sometimes even three times to achieve that sought-after absolution of comfort. It's meeting together in a hotel room during away games to play some mafia. It's the sexual innuendo in practically everything roundy says and does. It's the way you shout and get super excited when you see a teammate on campus despite seeing them hours every day at practice. It's those pre-game chills singing along to "Man in the Mirror." (so loudly that the football team in meetings on the floor above hear every word might I add). It's being mistaken in the airport for pretty much every sport but soccer every single time. It's coach's arm hanging out the window of a minivan. It's that never give up attitude even when you miss your pk's at practice, resulting in having to watch your teammates run. It's the pre practice gossip about who got some the night before while stretching.It's looking out into the crowd during a game and seeing your family in all USU gear cheering annoyingly loud for you. It's going to a banquet and looking in awe at your fellow teammates and being in shock about how different they look now than at practice and how nicely they clean up. It's adding "soccer girl probs" after everything. It's coming home after practice and eating everything in sight. It's wearing that Utah State jersey with pride and love.
Utah State Soccer is SO MUCH. I could seriously go on and on, but it comes down to this. Utah State Soccer is... pushing yourself and doing so with
your whole heart, every single day. Not only for yourself, but for the girls
around you that you call family. Because you know that each of them would do the same for you.
Proud to be an Aggie. But even more so, proud to be an Aggie soccer player and to be a part of the best team I have ever known.
