methco soccer

Seven years ago I met Bobby Graham. We had talked on the phone for a couple of months and then he saw me play in my last high school soccer game at a senior all-star game in the "fog bowl." He claimed I could play soccer at Methodist College and help his 5-13 team. He explained that his mentor Joe Pereira was the first methco coach and the team had been a division III powerhouse back in the day... as recently as 1995 going to the national championship (at the time 1995 was only four years prior so it sounded recent). Bobby told me he wanted to get us back to the NCAA tournament by my senior year.

A few months later I would decide to go to Gardner-Webb University... paid my deposit and started planning the next four years. Bobby didn't give up and a couple of months later I broke the news to my parents I wanted to play soccer at methco instead. I spent three years in fayettenam attempting to play soccer with a ton of great people and doing everything I thought I could to get methodist soccer back to the NCAA tournament. My freshman year we lost in PKs to CNU in the conference semifinal... sophomore year we lost to Greensboro 1-0 in the conference semifinal... my jr/sr year we lost to Greensboro 3-0 in the conference semifinal... so much for the NCAA tournament.

I struggled giving up soccer when I decided to graduate in the spring of '03. I was never the star athlete, but I had a ton of fun and I love the sport. Sometimes it was easier than others, but it never changed the way I felt about methodist soccer. There will always be a year of eligibility hanging over my head asking me "what if?" When I came back to methco in August I knew it would be different. I knew some of the team, but they probably wouldn't know me or could care less... there was a new coach... I was in a new job... no one knew what to expect out of the 2006 season.

Over the last three months I've been routing this team along with everything I know about being a "monarch" (or if you read my last blog... mr. monarch). When the team went undefeated in conference play and won the regular season championship, I was thrilled. When the team advanced to the tournament championship, I was filled with nervous excitement. When the team was down 2-0 at halftime, I was trying to stay optimistic. When I was counting down the final 10 seconds, and the team was still down 2-1 I was screaming in my head for Chrystal to take the free kick quickly. When the ball hit the back of the net and there was still a second left on the clock I quickly turned off the mic and jumped up and down like a former methco women's soccer player should. When overtime ended and the team prepared for a shootout, I tried to ignore the thoughts of my freshman year running through my mind. When I had to announce CNU as the tournament champions, I wanted to puke.

This morning I woke up and checked www.ncaasports.com to find out methco soccer had received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament that women had been striving to get back to for the last eleven years. I did some more jumping up and down like a former methco women's soccer player should. There's history there... and even though I had absolutely nothing to do with this NCAA appearance, I'm proud to be a part of the process that filled the eleven year gap. The 2006 team is fulfilling a dream I dreamt seven years ago. I can't wait until Saturday night.