Keepin' It Real With Alba: The Time Is Now!
A Diary by Alba Garcia, Toros Soccer Player
October 22, 2003

I don’t recall if it was Joe (Flanagan) or (Jeff) Tuttle who said, “Championships are won in December, but lost in October.” This quote made me think about how this is it. This is what all that training last spring and all summer was for.

For me the training was different because of my injury, but believe me I kicked my own butt and worked a lot on the mental aspects of my game. My overall goal was the same as the team's, to win a national championship, but my immediate goal was just to play.

Although our season “officially” began in early August with the beginning of double days, our work began that rainy November day in Sonoma when we lost to UCSD at the CCAA tournament. Back to the drawing board it was.

Joe realized women are difficult to coach (poor guy) and approached this season at a different angle. He assigned us A Vision of a Champion, an inspiring book by legendary University of North Carolina coach, Anson Dorannce, and spoke to all of us individually to get our view on things. This is not to mention that we hired Timmy (Tim McGuire) to run our butts off for seven weeks before double days.

We got through double days just fine and had a great beginning to our season going 10-1. Then the dreaded month of October came along. From our first October game against Humboldt to our last game this Sunday against UC Davis, it’s been a battle to maintain our spot in the rankings. Thank God we’ve stayed above water.

This weekend was particularly tough. We faced Chico in a dogfight on Friday and ended up short, losing 2-3. Then we faced UC Davis and squeaked by with a 3-2 overtime victory.

Above all we are beginning to feel the effects of a college soccer season. Girls are beginning to become fatigued, both mentally and physically. The thing is, this is the beauty of sports. This is the stuff we have to face and overcome as athletes.

The point is, ladies, we have worked too hard to let a little fatigue kill our ultimate goal. Either we suck it up now or that’s it. For the seniors, remember it’s now or never. We only have three regular season games, and then playoffs. Don’t look back ten years from now wishing you could have done something differently. We know what we’re capable of, individually and as a group, so let's do it!

Alba