Wake Forest Athletics
Lauren Crandall's Diary From Chile: Entry #2
9/21/2005 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Sept. 21, 2005
Santiago, Chile-- - We have a lot to catch up on kids, but I"ll keep it short because well otherwise it would just be boring.
This past week has been real crazy and "super" fun. After an off day on Friday in which we all mostly did work and recovered - lame - we got back to it with a game on Saturday against Zimbabwe, seeded #16.
We soared through that game and immediately focused on the next phase of the tournament - crossovers. The top three teams of our pool would now play the top three seeded teams of another pool - the crossovers will determine who plays for what places. Confusing and if you are really interested you can check it out at www.usfieldhockey.com.
Anyway we played Chile the next day which has always proved to be a great game. There is an extra element to these tournaments that give it an extra feeling - we have played against these teams in other tournaments and basically lived in each others pockets during them, so you get to know a lot of the players on the other teams. With Chile we always seem to have a friendly, but competitive camaraderie. The game proved to be exciting as we came from behind to win it 3-1. Note that we played on Chile's day of independence in front of a home crowd of screaming fans - it doesn't get much better than that, unless of course all of the fans are cheering for you instead of against. The victory against Chile put us in a great position to make it to the medal rounds - a feat no other US Junior team has ever done - however two great teams stood in our way: Australia and Spain.
We had most of Monday off to recuperate and refocus on Australia. The wonderful Lauren Powley and myself decided to take advantage of her teammates connections in native country, Chile, and toured a bit of Santiago with one of her friends - un guapo chico: Pablo - good good man. We, along with my wonderful parents - Amers and Timers, took a trip to the mountains and then to some local markets. Finally we had a late barbeque at Pablo's house - probably one of the funnier moments in my time in Chile. It was absolutely classic and yet not funny enough to mention in an online "diary", if you will.
So after stuffing our faces with delicious Chilean barbeque, an hour later, we had to practice - a very light one and actually very fun. Then back to the hotel for even more food and a video meeting to top off the night. Game time calls against the Aussies.
We went through our daily game day routine: breakfast, walk and stretch, lunch, meeting, then finally departure. It's hard to wait around all day for a game and quite boring. You can't really go outside and walk around because you would tire yourself out, but you can't just sit in your room because you're too excited - that's the game day dilemma we all struggle with. Anyway, the much anticipated activity for the day - our game - proved to be a heartbreaker. One of those games in which your team fights off the numerous offensive attacks from the other team for the better portion of the game and then right when you look up at the clock and begin to take a breath of relief (because you've almost survived the storm) the game changes.
The Aussies scored with one minute remaining and we were unable to retaliate. We suffered our first loss of the tournament - but the good thing is, with another game in less than 24 hours, we're not able to hang our heads or play the "if only" game with ourselves.
So after a long 5 minutes of reflecting we knew we had to refocus - tomorrow would provide another opportunity. Back at the hotel was the usual routine: pool workout for some extra stretching, ice baths, showers, dinner and then yet another meeting.
Tomorrow is our big game - the decider - and the best part is we control our future. If we beat Spain tomorrow, Wednesday, we are into the semifinals. Therefore, send lots of love to your US Junior team down here in Chile! And of course us Wakies are sending our love back up there, shout out to the team for their awesome wins this weekend! Keep Rockin' up there! We miss you kids!
