By ZACH PALMER
Staff Writer
We got a huge win against a talented Virginia team last weekend which was a great response to a previous loss. But as soon as the Virginia game ended, we knew we would be in for a serious battle against a talented University of North Carolina team. For those of you that have never made this drive before, it is a six hour journey without traffic. Unfortunately the bus encountered traffic from the start, so the arduous trip was longer than usual.
Before we traveled there was a week of preparation for UNC. The Tar Heels are a team full of offensive fire-power in their three starting attackmen, so from Monday on we focused on containing these offensive threats.
On the offensive side of the ball, we knew we had to continue the momentum that we took from the Virginia game and bring it to North Carolina. They had a hot goalie, and in particular we knew that we would need to take great shots in this game in order to beat him.
North Carolina played Wednesday night against Brown University, so we were all lucky enough to wake up at 6 a.m. Wednesday morning for practice so that our coaches could make the trip to North Carolina to see the game first hand.
The early start was worthwhile, as guys were able to catch up on some sleep, as well as have a full day midweek to themselves.
Personally, I made my way to a local Baltimore golf course with Kevin Interlicchio, John Ranagan, and Greg Edmonds. The teams were set for this brisk afternoon of whacking golf balls around the course, and Taco Bell was the grand prize for the winners. I started off hot, chipping in from about 25 yards out for a birdie on the first hole. My game was all downhill from there as I didn’t make many good shots after that. Nevertheless, I ended up pulling out a hard fought win in the end.
On Thursday, it was our last tune-up opportunity to change any game plans that the coaches might have been able to see from watching the live team play. It was a crisp practice and we looked like we were ready to play. The next morning, we made it up to the CLC early for a practice and were on the road by 11:30.
The aforementioned bumper to bumper traffic seriously delayed our trip, and we eventually made our arrival at about 7:30 that night. However, upon arrival we saw that we would be staying at a Hilton Hotel, known for their high quality beds, so everyone was excited about that.
We ate dinner as a team and had a little stretch in the parking lot before heading to our rooms to watch some March Madness before getting to sleep. I had the honor of rooming with freshman attacker Ryan Brown, a great roommate. We were tired from the trip and were in bed asleep before 11.
Next thing we knew, it was 8 a.m. and our wake up call was ringing right in my ear. We went downstairs for some breakfast, then we were on our way over to the UNC football stadium for the highly anticipated game.
In the end, it didn’t go our way and we lost in overtime. It was a great effort by our team to come back when we were down. We now move onto this Friday where we can work on improving our execution and get back on the winning track. Beat the Danes!
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