Diary

Carrie
Eckenhoff

Past Entries

November 8, 2004

The return from the Boston- New York weekend sent us back to the library to catch up on studying, and for some of us, back to the training room. With more teammates to add to the sick/injured list, and heaps of work to catch up on, we fell back into our hectic weekly schedule.

Practices resumed where we played soccer and non-soccer related competitions to fire up the natural competitiveness that we all possess and would need to break open in the upcoming Carnegie game. Something must have worked because we returned from Pittsburg late Sunday night as the UAA champion, having defeated Carnegie Mellon 1-0 in the conference clincher.

We knew coming into this weekend that our NCAA fate lay first in the hands of chance and if we were lucky, second in our own power. Saturday we anxiously awaited the news we had no control over: the results of the Chicago-Wash U game. Reports of a 3-0 Wash U victory left us both astounded and excited as we prepared for what we could control: beating Carnegie.

Concerns about playing on the ever-dreaded turf and absence of some of our key players mixed in with our excitement and motivation to win this game. We were unsuccessful in the first half and entered into the second half a 0-0 tie. We knew that a tie would not cut it and realized that if we were going to win the championship, we had to play like it.

The intensity rose and within five minutes, Nancy Wilson blasted a shot from 50 yards to score a goal in the upper 90 that would become the game-winning goal. The following 40 minutes were some of the most stressful and scary moments of the season, as Carnegie did not let up and put us under some heavy pressure.

Again our defense (and revered goalie Adrienne) came through and as the buzzer sounded at the end of the game, a sense of utter relief, exhaustion, and exhilaration washed over us all as we piled on top of each other and celebrated.

It is amazing to me that we hold the undisputed UAA title. The adversity that we have been put under this season makes that fact all the more satisfying and I can think of no better way to culminate such a season.
We now enter the postseason, with our first NCAA tournament game in Maryville, Tenn., on Wednesday. We are energized, confident and ready to kick some butt.

Carrie Eckenhoff is a senior from Glencoe, Ill. She would love to answer e-mail questions from Emory recruits and fans.