Our season has gotten off to a hot and cold start. Despite playing in brutally cold temperatures, our team has played well together and started off 10-0. We have successfully established a home-field advantage at the vaunted Shelby Bottoms. We were initially disappointed to find out our home games would be at Shelby Park this year instead of Greer Stadium, home of the Nashville Sounds. Shelby has treated us well so far (just ask Derek Hamblen, who had two hits yesterday that bounced completely over the head of the fielder), so we can’t complain. The only negatives include one day where the flag was raised upside down and another where the flag was non-existent.

With spring break this week, we will watch all of our friends leave Nashville to go home or on vacation, while we stay here to play baseball and have the whole campus to ourselves. Our next game is Tuesday afternoon at 1:00 P.M. at Shelby Park against Middle Tennessee State. In my career, we are 0-6 against MTSU but always play them close. Then, we get to head to Jacksonville, Florida for the latter part of Spring Break to begin our conference season against the Dolphins of Jacksonville. Come join us on Tuesday as we start anew playing for our facial hair.

-  #5  SR  Brendan Frazier, INF

Come out and help cheer on the softball team to a couple of wins!

-          Sara Bentley, #2 SR infielder

Both teams came back in the second double header with something to prove.  The Belmont teams were victorious over the Hatters from Stetson with Amber Rockwell and Ian Clark having big games for the women and men respectively.  Rockwell knocked down 6 three-pointers to lead the team with 18 points while freshman Ian Clark had a career high night posting 31 points.

Both Bruins teams will be back in action Thursday afternoon as they take on USC Upstate at 2:00 and 4:15.

-  Haley Nelson, SO #44

After a brief intermission, it was time to see how the men could perform on their home court for the first time this season.  Before the start of the game, the freshmen, class of 2013, was honored and had the chance to run out on the court with the team.  From the opening whistle, the team came out strong and built up a dominant lead which they never relished to the opposing squad from Alabama State.  This game luckily was not a nail biter, as the women’s was, because I do not think our fans could have handled two extremely close games in one night.  All fans were entertained at halftime by the USA Hot Shot Jump Rope team from Franklin, TN.  Both teams will have a small break from playing to enjoy the food and festivities that surround Thanksgiving Day.  They will both be back on the court in action this weekend: Friday for the women when they start play in a tournament out in Arizona against Oregon State and Saturday for the men when they travel north to play Eastern Illinois.

Throughout the season you could sense the amount of leadership she had and could tell her team looked up to her as the Senior Captain. Although Campbell put up a good fight, Belmont was able to secure the victory in 3 games and send J. Gray out in winning ways on her home court. The Belmont Bruins have an opportunity to extend their season down in Florida starting Thursday when they open up with Kennesaw State in the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament.

This was our third appearance in the semi’s ever, but this road was a LOT easier than previous years! As soon as we got to Georgia we had a VERY efficient 55min practice. We weren’t even allowed to touch a ball until the clock struck 3pm! I’m not going to lie, the coaches really stressed us all out with how quickly we were moving from one thing to another, but we understood that time was of the essence. Dinner later that night was at Ippolito’s, a cute Italian place. I sat with our trainer Michelle, LP and Erica. Erica thought it would be funny to put salt on and ice cube and lick it. She immediately regretted that decision. This is what happens when you forget to serve hyper soccer girls, their bread! Erica may have burned her tongue that night, but this weekend she “burned” every defender she matched up against! At night we received our Regular Season Championship Trophy. Lisa caught Derek off-guard when she told him to get the surprise for us, but Kyle saved him. Derek saved himself though later when he showed the highlight video he made for us from this season. I’m proud to say, me and my silly video camera, contributed some sugar and spice to our game footage! We could not have been more fired up to play the next day and boy did we show up!

We FINALLY put together an AWESOME first half! Though we didn’t score, we had them on the heels the entire time. The second half, of course, evened out, but we still created great opportunities and won 1-0. It was a nightmarish ending for Stetson, as we beat them on the same free kick, from the same person (Annie) as the last game, when we scored late to tie them 1-1. We returned to the finals for the second time in a row/our history. We would face off against our co-Champ foes, Kennesaw St…

As more of our families arrived, we had dinner at the Porter household. I LOVE this part of college soccer! It was SO cool to hang out at a home and have parents and players get to know each other. We have families from GA, to AZ; PA to OH; from FL back to TX and then some! You wouldn’t think playing horseshoes and sitting by the fire would be this priceless of an experience, but it is! I will never forget the good times my “soccer family” gave me and the rest of the team. We are extremely grateful for all that you fans have done for us! After eating we all gathered in the living room to watch the video together. Everyone got to laugh and got to see what makes this team so special. My mom worries that I am far from home, but I tell her I’m surrounded by good people here. She KNOWS that now. Lisa spoke to us all and gave a speech that made even our parents want to play Kennesaw! Derek and Sari proceeded to thank her, on behalf of the team, for how much she gives to us and cares. I haven’t heard too many coaches immediately turn credit over to their team and team management after winning the Coach of the Year Award, but Lisa is one of them.

Usually, the YouTube videos floating around, consume our downtime. This helps to let our minds go and not over think the game ahead of us. One of these was a soccer clip from the UNM game. A girl went ballistic and pretty much assaulted the opposing team…knowing this girl was not on KSU’s roster was one of many things we had going for us!

The other things we had were confidence, belief, urgency, experience, and support. This is what made us come out so strongly in the first half. We got a legitimate PK called for us for the first time this season, but we should have known, getting a good call, was too good to be true for this team. Jess buried it, despite KSU players SCREAMING at her…very unsportsmanlike if you ask me…(or anyone else). 1-0 at halftime was not a big enough lead and we did not come out like it was. We had no intention of packing it in, but after it was tied, we knew we had to step everything up even more. With 3 min left, a handball at the top of the box was called. To be clear, we were not disputing the handball call. We were disputing the PK call which with 3 min left, would decide the game. We were also mad the game was not stopped 2 min before this event, because our player was injured; meaning that we were defending down 1 player for that length of time. This is THE WORST way to lose a game that, we truly believed, was supposed to go in our favor. It’s rare everyone on a team feels NO DOUBT before a game like this, but all of us, had complete faith in the outcome. That being said, this one hurt…to say the least.

You guys should know we are TOTALLY proud of how our season panned out. We still took steps forward for the program overall. And we still ran across and thanked our fans for an incredible season and for their incredible support! “No one can take your dignity from you, unless you give it to them” and Belmont Women’s Soccer is one team that will NEVER give that away. We tried to be a class act in the process. We know we had opportunities slip us by, but realize, Kennesaw, that those missed chances are going to be the starting points for next year’s attempt to regain the title. Our RPI this year finished at 149, which is 14 places above Kennesaw St. (163). RPI is a totaled statistic that compares the competition of a school, to how well they did on the year (322 total). This program just keeps building and building! The flag I brought everywhere, has been passed down on behalf of the seniors, to two, VERY, deserving freshmen, Jane Owen Robbins and Lauren Trappey and they will be sure to keep BU positive and to let people know when the BruWins are in town! Grrrr!

One last shout out to everyone who followed us, especially our own Volleyball team! The support from everyone has really impacted our success and will continue to do so!

Thank you to…whoever…reads this! I hope I gave you a few giggles, as well as a little bit of on insight to the fantastic group of individuals that represent your university every day!
Affectionately yours,

  A senior and now, a retired GK/Tribe member,

       #0 “Reggie” Pilch <3

WAY TO GO!!!!

Lisa often gives us some “last chance” motivation before games. They start with “This year’s Seniors have never…” This week that sentence ended with…”beaten Florida Gulf Coast.” That obstacle in front of us, AND the WET, FREEZING, MUDDY, conditions ahead of us, proven a formidable challenge for this years team to face. Well, class of 2010, we can cross beating FCGU off of our “to-do list.” A Pair of goals from Erica Carter sealed the deal in the second half. We ran, and ran, and ran, at the tired, cold, and jet lagged Floridians until the game was over. They are probably the best SOCCER team (besides us) in the Atlantic Sun and play VERY similar to us. Only a few teams will be as creative and connect as many passes, and I think beating them is one of our greater achievements. In the future, if you have a chance to see Belmont and FGCU play women’s soccer, don’t pass it up! You will not be disappointed by the soccer being played.

Our post-game chat was quite short. Lisa wanted us to go inside and defrost ourselves. Saturday morning, we woke up to our field…our brown field. Double-headers help with attendance to games, but really kill our playing surface. It was cold anyway, so instead of even walking on the field, we jogged and stretched in the parking lot, and talked over some things in the locker room to get ready for Sunday against Stetson.

The reason I titled this article the way I did, was because Sunday was SENIOR DAY for the 2010 class. There is NO greater motivation for a team, than to have them play for a group of girls, who, after this year, will most likely walk away from soccer and into other things. Well, if they don’t have soccer in the “real world”, than I’m not going! Whether I stick to my word, will remain to be seen. However, allow me to enlighten you on some Senior day traditions…

The team as a whole, usually gets together for gifts for all of the seniors. This year, we were presented with the most awesomest scrapbooks ever! Please, ask us to see them. I have never seen anything like the detail they put into them! Secondly, they spraypaint sheets with our names and things that are funny or that remind them of us. Last year, we accidentally got the seniors “fitted sheets”…Still sorry about that, by the way guys! You can imagine how well HANGING fitted sheets worked out…but this year they made the adjustment. They all looked awesome! Thirdly, Lisa always writes the seniors a letter and reads it to them. We love this part …I was only a part of two of them, but wowzers!…Holy cry-fests in our locker room! We thank you for all your sincerity, Lisa, and for the rare, but meaningful words of affirmation!

This next tradition is fairly common. We walk out with our parents/families and share our big moment with those people who got us there. Not to make this too personal, but the gratitude I’m about to express, is most assuredly shared, at least to a certain extent, by each of us seniors, who are graduating. That being said, I want to wholeheartedly thank 2 specific members of my team, who you will not see on the bench, but they are my teammates, nonetheless. My parents, Lou and Jean, are the motor on this “little engine that tries.” It is one thing to allow your children to dream. It is another, if you support that dream. But when you stand by while they go through the heartbreaks and support that dream even harder, ALL you Parents, put yourselves in the hall of fame! On behalf of the class of ’10, we thank you for following us, praying for us, PAYING for us, and cheering us on, near or far!

Lastly, generally all the seniors start. Elizabeth Bublis, Alex Mindel, Annie Mussacchio and I, all started. THANK YOU, Lisa, for trusting us. Stetson is, to put it nicely, “rough.” They came out to dash all our hope of winning and ending up scoring towards the end of the half. I wasn’t happy about that. Life goes on. The team came out in the second half with bigger smiles and more energy than I have ever seen at halftime! They were all juggling, laughing, and doin’ the ‘Stanky leg’! (It’s a dance.) I don’t know what Lisa said, because all the goalkeepers were warming Sari up, but I was told she was certain this game would turn out fine! When we came out and started firing shots at will, I soon realized that as well. The pressure was on and towards the end, a free kick was awarded and a senior, Annie, put a knuckle ball in the upper 90 (the top-corner of the goal, where it is HARD to save)! We went NUTS! I lost my voice in no more than 15 seconds…still sound like a frog. We ended up tieing, but after that first half, SU had no room to breath. They were lucky to escape with a tie and we are happy to still be in the driver’s seat after this weekend battle. North Florida and Jacksonville next weekend…”This year’s seniors have never…been regular season champs.” 2 wins=Champions! I hope when we travel to Florida, we take the ‘road to VICTORY!’ Ba-duum Chhiii ! ;P