UVa Women's Soccer Team Counting Down To NCAA Semifinal Match
Story Links
Nov. 30, 2001
Lori Lindsey and Laura Gaworecki sharing thoughts on Thursday’s activities
Thursday, Nov. 29, 2001…narrated by Lori Lindsey
Wakey wakey at 9 am for a delicious buffet at the Marriot hotel filled with plump sausages and bacon. After we filled our stomachs, we headed back to the rooms for a fun-filled two hours of studying with my midfielder buddy Jess Trainor.
12:30 p.m. rolls around, we head to the bus. We got to practice on Stanford’s field. Since it’s been raining out here the last week, the field conditions weren’t the greatest, but created all the more challenge for us. The most comical moment of the day was when Laura Gaworecki totally wiped out on a cross. God bless her for providing us with so many laughs.
“We practiced for about an hour and a half to get the ‘trip out of our legs’,” Gaworecki commented, using a common soccer team used by many of the players, in reference of course to the long plane ride, and much time spent on the bus as well.
“Of course, my team won again in ‘bread and butter’,” Lindsey quickly added, in reference to another drill that the team participates in as part of its practice routine.
After a hard practice and preparation for the Elite Eight game, we headed off to the showers, using the Stanford facilities, which was much appreciated. We then went over to the luxurious Stanford Mall, where I got some Steve Madden boots at Bloomingdale’s. I must say, my teammates and I enjoy the mall experience–one of our favorite pastimes, the mall. After a long trip to the mall, we’re off to Bucco di Beppo’s, an Italian restaurant in Palo Alto, Calif. We gorged ourselves with pasta dish after pasta dish–the best pasta is the macaroni rosso–Laura ate two plates. (Gaworecki grins from ear to ear). Since Thursday night is a prime time TV night, we had to rush to get back in time for Friends and a quick meeting with Steve-O followed by a little Temptation Island. Lights out at 11:00.
Friday, November 30, 2001
First-years Lindsay Gusick, Jess Trainor and Taylor Wood take some time to share their Friday thoughts, while watching The Mighty Ducks. Aly Benitez tells us about a luxurious dinner in Palo Alto, and a little about a team meeting.
Gusick, following another big breakfast in the hotel, began her day by taking some time to e-mail her friends and send some instant messages.
We played our usual ‘Ten goal’ game, just so Steve can show off his moves in front of us. We came back to the hotel, showered, then went to dinner. We went to dinner at a place called Perry’s. I closed my day with some treatment, as I want to be extra careful that I don’t pull a hamstring or anything like that. (Gusick was joined by fellow first-years Jess Trainor and Taylor Wood, as they received final treatments for the day, while settling down to watch The Mighty Ducks.)
“This is a great movie. How can you not get fired up after watching it,” Gusick added. “I also like Hoosiers, but probably my favorite sports movie of all time is A League of Their Own.” Trainor likes the ending of The Mighty Ducks, in reference to the goalkeeping change made, that helps the Ducks defeat the team from Iceland. “Nothing like sending a woman in to do a man’s job,” Trainor pointed out. Wood, who met up with family earlier in the day was also reunited with a newspaper writer who has followed her career since the days of her youth. She commented how exciting it was to be home, let alone play in an Elite Eight game for the NCAA Tournament.
Aly Benitez talks about Friday night’s dinner followed by a team-only meeting
After our team meeting with Steve that we regularly have the day before a game, we had our own little team pep rally. We went into mine and Erin Engelhardt’s room and talked about the game, and what kind of an opportunity this was for us. We even created our own parody for the Evita song Don’t Cry For Me Argentina, changing the words in honor of our opponent tomorrow. Of course we were still full from our four-course meal at this place called Perry’s, in Palo Alto. Steve and Perry, the owner of the restaurant, are good friends, and he even reserved a special banquet room for us, and created a special menu just for us. A lot of Steve’s former players at Stanford knew he was in town, and they came by to say hi. Right when we sat down, we had appetizers consisting of pizza, then a plate of wings, potato skins and calamari. We had a choice of chicken, salmon, cheeseburgers and this Italian dish called Pimenta. A lot of us chose the salmon, just to try something you can only get in California. We had brownie sundaes for desert, then sat down to enjoy a highlight video that was well done by Shauna Itri. She did the whole thing digitally, and inserted different kinds of motivational quotes to the footage–was a very nice way to end the evening.