I?ll Take a Cheesesteak over Roses Any Day
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Saturday, February 14, 2009
Helloooo women’s lacrosse fans and Happy Valentine’s Day!
This weekend brought the squad all the way to “the city of Brotherly Love.” That was as romantic as the day ever got though. Practicing this morning, we loaded the bus for Philadelphia, Pa. right after lunch. Practice was fun and the girls were full of energy and excitement for another round of scrimmages. This will be our last test before kicking off the season against Virginia Tech on Wednesday. Tomorrow we will be facing off against Towson and U. Penn at the prestigious Franklin Field. For those of you that haven’t followed Virginia lacrosse religiously like myself, this is where we had our infamous “comeback” two years ago against Duke. Will this weekend bring the same magic???
A five-hour bus ride brought with it the usual bus debacles. Luckily for us, this time we were given a newer bus that even had satellite TV (way better than the retired Greyhound we had in Orlando). With the Georgetown-Syracuse men’s basketball game on, I was very excited about this. Unfortunately for me, the girls were hard pressed to watch a movie.
Cue the movie tug-of-war. How do you get 30 girls to agree on a movie? Let a coach pick. All movies go through Colleen Shearer. She ultimately wields the veto power on what we watch and with the Myers kids on board our options were even more limited. After a few minutes of lively debate, off went the game and on went “The Devil Wears Prada.”
Now for those of you who haven’t seen this movie, I gather that it’s a behind the scenes look at Vogue or some other such fashion magazine. Needless to say, I dozed off fairly quickly. I woke up to “Kung Fu Panda” and was even more disappointed that we hadn’t even hit Pennsylvania yet. Soon the famous Pennsylvania keystone appeared on the highway signs and I knew we were getting close.
Tonight was a special treat! Tonight, we were graciously hosted by Marghi’s parents for some well needed home cooking. This is no easy feat. Restaurant professionals up and down the East Coast have crumbled in the face of an ornery Colleen Shearer and 30 hungry girls. Blue and orange balloons welcomed us at the Walters’ driveway and wafts of lasagna and garlic bread greeted us as we walked through the door. That was all we needed to feel perfectly at home. Mrs. Walters truly outdid herself and after stuffing ourselves, it appeared that everyone had saved room for dessert.
We’re usually a pretty polite team but as the angel food cake and strawberries began to dwindle, upperclassmen pulled rank and I definitely slid in out of line for some cherry cheesecake. Don’t mess with us when it comes to dessert. If groundballs were strawberries with whipped cream we’d win every extra possession.
After thanking the Walters’ for such a great spread, we scurried back to the bus amongst winter flurries eager to finally get to our hotel. Our bus driver wasn’t too happy having to navigate the narrow streets of Marghi’s neighborhood but we made it to the Marriott just fine. Now it’s time for PJs, Law and Order and bed. Tomorrow will be another long day.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
The Conshohocken Marriott is known by our team for its incredible breakfast buffets and we were certainly not disappointed this morning. The buffet featured an omelet bar, fresh fruit, bagel bar, fresh squeezed orange juice and some darn good bacon. We fueled up for the day, got treatments, played MASH (a childhood throwback for most of you), and met one last time as a team before we headed off to Franklin Field. Game time.
A scrappy Towson team made us work hard for every goal and every ground ball but we managed a “W” by the final whistle. Penn was even more relentless in the next game and did a great job of winning draw controls and maintaining possession. We weren’t able to narrow the margin and the game ended in a loss.
Cheesesteaks, soft pretzels and some of the best marshmallow treats I’ve ever had were waiting for us after the game and that was just what we needed to soften the blow for the ride home. A long bus ride after a loss is always difficult.
We’re on the bus now and its pretty quiet. Most folks are studying, sleeping or brushing up on their celebrity gossip. It wasn’t a perfect day but we’ll take what we’ve learned and move on. Wednesday will be here before we know it.
As the sun sets before us on the open highway I’ll leave you with the quote of the day from our trainer (and biggest UVa fan I know):
“You know God’s a Wahoo when the sky’s orange and blue.”
Until next time, Go Hoos!
Ginger