Story Links
Hello and thanks for clicking on my blog! My name is Ginger Miles and as Virginia’s women’s lacrosse volunteer assistant coach – and former goalkeeper – I’ve decided to give anyone who’s interested a behind the scenes look at life on the road with our women’s lacrosse team. We’re certainly a fun bunch and I’ll be posting weekly with the inside scoop. Thanks for reading!
Be sure to read And So The Postseason Begins… from after the Virginia/Virginia Tech game.
Sunday April 26th, 2009
We should have played a game today. Unfortunately, we fell to Maryland on Friday and had our first early exit from ACC weekend in a long time. I really rather not blather on about that, so let’s turn our attention to what’s next: the NCAA tournament.
It’s NCAA time and bids come out next Sunday. Unfortunately, this season we didn’t control our own destiny so it will be a nerve wracking Sunday for sure. We’re hoping to get a bid but it will more than likely mean traveling for our first two games.
Being in an analytical mood, I’ve put together four keys that will lead to a successful postseason for this team (remember: four is the magic number!).
FOUR Keys to Success this Postseason:
1.) Minimize mistakes:
A common thread amongst all of our losses this year has been unforced errors and mental mistakes. Whether they were miscues, poor judgment, or just missed opportunities, we have found ways this season to shoot ourselves in the foot and lose games that we didn’t have to. The nice thing is that those losses were not for lack of talent. Like I’ve insisted all season, we have the talent on this team to achieve great things. If we can clean up the mindless mistakes and play smart lacrosse, we can very likely make it to the very end.In the end all we need to do is win four games. One by one, if we can string together four mistake-free games, we can end this season the way we envisioned it ending back in September, with a National Championship.
2.) Play for each other:
Every player wants to win. It’s the reason they train and condition and practice for weeks. It’s the reason they push their bodies to the limits and endure pressure and adversity that most normal people would balk at. For this team the questions is not WHAT we’re playing for so much as it is WHO we’re playing for.Sometimes one’s solitary will to win is simply not enough. To generate the results that we want at the end of this season, we will have to play for selfless reasons. Lacrosse is a team sport and players that work for each other possess a big advantage, particularly in the postseason. It’s that greater extent to which you will work for a teammate and extra effort that can be the game-changing intangible for winning teams. It’s well known that people are far more willing to give up on themselves than let someone else down and if this team can play for each other, we can overcome any game adversity.
We will have to play not just for ourselves and but for 25 other people. The 25 other people that helped push each other through 25 200s, arena runs, high-intensity practices, Spring Break two-a-days and adversities off the field that have tested the strength and will of this team all year long. If we can play for the team and for each other we will be the pack of wolves we need to be to save our season.
3.) Forget the past:
This has been a tough season for us. We’ve shown moments of both sheer brilliance as well as moments of complete failure to execute. And while we’ve struggled at times, we can’t change the past. It is what it is, and what lies ahead of us is all that we can actually control.The nice thing about tourney time is that once you get in, the past doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter how many games we lost or how poorly we’ve managed to play at times. Would it have been cool to go undefeated and win it all? Sure. Of course it would. But we didn’t and there’s no time to mourn our losses. Every minute we spend licking those wounds is precious time taken away from mentally preparing to win these next four games. There’s an old poker saying by the best in the game, saying that all you need is a “chip and a chair.” For this team, I am confident that a chance is all we need. That NCAA bid is our chance to save our season and show the world (the lacrosse world at least) what we’re actually capable of.
Should we get in, the slate will effectively be wiped clean and we can focus completely on winning the game(s) before us. Yes, we took a far different path than we might have imagined almost nine months ago when it all started. But what matters more is how we finish in the end. Maybe this time it’s not so much the journey but rather the destination that matters more- and our destination is winning a National Championship.
4.) “Fight every round like it’s the last”:
This old boxing reference seems like a no brainer right? But this is something that we will have to remember every time we step on the field. If we’re not doing every single little thing that we can to help this team, the journey will end before it should. Every minute of every game we will have to slug it out like our season depends on it, because it does. Every ground ball, every draw control, every extra possession will move us one step closer to our goal. We’ve played some great ball at times this season but our best is yet to come. No team this season has faced us at our very best.For the seniors, it’s their last chance. Not just their last chance to play collegiate lacrosse, but also their last chance to dictate what their legacy will be. We could go home 11-8 with their senior year ending disappointingly early and being defined by disappointment and frustration. Or we could go 15-7, win four games in a row (something that used to be common in our world) and be remembered for winning a National Championship.
For the rest of this team, it means not taking a single opportunity or moment on the field for granted. It means understanding that four years go by incredibly fast and one day real soon (most likely before you know it), it will be their last opportunity as well. And hopefully, when it’s their last chance, they will have 25 teammates willing to do whatever it takes to send them off on top.
Our fate is in our hands and to win it all we have to play with not a single regret. No holding back. It means going all out, all the time. It means erasing should’ve, would’ve and could’ve from our team vocabulary. It means no regrets. None.
Pretty simple, right? Right! And that’s why you should be as excited as I am! Our best lacrosse is yet to come! No games this week with exams, but tune in to the Selection Show Sunday night and see who we’ll face first round. It won’t be an easy road if we get a bid, but it should prove to be one heck of a ride.
Until next week,
Ginger