Preseason is Officially Over

Even though it only lasts a week, preseason always stretches on and on feeling like a month.  On Friday we had a scrimmage against Randolph College.  They were a Sweet 16 team about two years ago, so we knew they would be better competition than Chestnut and more like our regular season games.  I got called for the start again and played the first half against their first team.  We won the half 1-0 which was much more competitive, so we were pleased with the advntage.  I had no personal stats but still played decent.  Our second team played their second team for the second half and at the end of the match we won 2-1.  It was a solid scrimmage, and we were happy to get the win.  Even though it technically doesn't mean anything, preseason scrimmages are good to win, just to start on the right foot and see where we will sit for the season.  

Then on Saturday our preseason wrapped up with the Alumni game.  These games are always much less intense and usually a lot of fun.  Our first team started and even with the alums playing a man up, we went up 2-0 in the first two minutes.  Coach was pleased that we scored quickly and efficiently and we were done for the game.  It was good to get some of the other guys some time on the field, although they honestly didn't play all that well.  It seems like they are still trying to adjust to the college game which can take a while.  Then after the game, we feasted on a great tailgate put together by the alumni and parents.  The tailgates are some of the best food we get all year especially since the cafeteria is subpar, but no need to complain.  

Then Sunday was our first day off, but I went for a light run and got a good lift in with Josh Barrett.  I think it's good to stay loose and lift occasionally during the season just to maintain some strength.  Today we have practice in the evening which will be leading up to our first regular season game on Friday against Dickinson.  We have been looking forward to this matchup since last spring, and we are looking to go out and dominate them.  I'm very excited for the game and glad MammaZimm and Nelson will be able to make it for the game.  

Today was also the first day of classes.  So far, so good.  I have two professors that I have already had, which is always a good thing, and all of them seem to be good teachers.  One of my tougher classes will be Math 309 which is probability and statistics in engineering.  I haven't taken a statistics class before so that material may be somewhat tough not seeing it before.  We shall see.  I'm ready to get into my routine and the first week is just always a little hectic.  So now Sophomore year has officially begun classes and all!  

-TZ

First Scrimmage

Wednesday we had our first preseason scrimmage against Chestnut Hill College.  The final team consisting of 32 people hopped on the bus to head to Philly to play them.  I honestly think the team is a little bit too big and sometimes question some of coach's tactics including one of the sophomores he cut, but it's his team and it's not my place to interfere.  Anyway we got to the field and I got my ankle taped and was called to start at right mid.  My ankle is getting better but it is still sore and I'm just trying to strengthen it while still taping it.  The beginning of the game was fairly close.  We were able to knock the ball around and got some decent chances while they, being D2 and overall a bigger (size-wise) team, played a very direct game and almost had a few chances targeting their 6'6" forward.  Then about hallway through the half, our forward pressed and won the ball.  I quickly followed in the box, he played it across to me, I somewhat wiffed the shot, and it went right to our left mid who put it in the back of the goal.  It was an accidental assist by me, but hey, I'll take it!  A goal's a goal, and an assist is an assist.  Then with less than three minutes left in the half we got a throw in and it bounced around the box for a while, came to my feet, I took a touch and poked it in the back of the net.  It was an important goal that set our lead strong for the half and kept the momentum with us for the rest of the game.  I was subbed at half and watched the rest of the game from the side.  Overall I was very pleased with my performance.  An assist and goal for our first two goals of the game.  Coach has started to give me much more freedom with my runs from the outside mid position and I am cutting across the field a lot more which has given me and the team a lot more chances.  It reminds me of my junior year at Gibbons being able to basically make whatever runs I want and get open in places that the defense isn't expecting.

At the end of the game we won 5-0.  It was a convincing win even though it was just a scrimmage, but it helps the team gain confidence.  It was also very nice to catch up with Jason Woloski at the game.  On the way to the game, I remembered he was working in Philly so I texted him where we were playing and he got to make it to the game and catch up afterwards.  I always enjoy having family and friends at the game and it was great he could make it even while being very busy at Med school.

Now we are now expecting some better competition today when we face off against Randolph-Macon at 4pm.  They have two Gibbons alum Kyle Unruh and Will Wolfe.  It should be a good match, but I personally think we should be able to outplay them.  We shall see.  Then tomorrow we have our annual alumni game followed by our first day off on Sunday!  This past week has seemed like a month (preseason always stretches on), so it will be nice to have a day to rest.  Still grinding for two more scrimmages and we need wins!

-TZ

Preseason Grind

Today is the third official day of preseason.  As always, it's a tough grind but necessary and worth it.  We started Saturday morning at 6:15 am with the timed mile.  As the first official practice, many were nervous and excited to get this season going.  We all lined up on the track and had to run a mile faster than 5:20.  Personally I think this is an extremely fast pace for the whole team, but coach has high fitness standards for us.  Since last year's preseason, it's been my goal to get less than 5:00 on the mile and "Champions Club Level" where I missed it by one second last year.  Anyway, I went out flying on the mile and paced my group out.  I hit the first lap at 1:07, which would be a 4:28 pace, but just tried to hold on to that pace for a brutal three more laps and finished the mile at 4:57.  I felt extremely accomplished after completing that mile since it's been one of my goals for over a year now.  One senior ended up passing me just on the last lap for a 4:55 mile time, but I came in second overall and only one of three to get under five minutes.  We continued after that with a regular practice.  Everyone came out flying and motivated and it was a solid practice.  Later that day we had another session, and those two-a-days are just grueling, but due to my training and fitness, I played well, and the coaches are pleased with my play.

Then on Sunday we woke up bright and early again to hit the turf to run our second fitness test, the Beep Test.  This is a series of 22 yard runs back and forth having to beat a programmed "beep" which increases in speed with different levels.  Level 14 is the "Champions Club Level" and around level 9 I started to get tired, but at that point, it's mostly mental and eventually there were only three of us left at level 14, and the other two quit at 14-1, while I pushed it for the last sprint to win the fitness test at a level of 14-2.  According to these tests, I am the most fit member of the squad and I am very proud of that.  Shows that my hard work pays off. No one else is in the running for the Champions Club except me now, and I hope to "come into Paris with the yellow jersey." Anyway we followed that with another practice, a break and then another session in the afternoon with mass at 6pm.  Unfortunately in the afternoon session we played full field and I tried to cut on the baseline, and rolled my ankle pretty bad.  The trainer said it is a minor sprain which is disappointing but not as bad as it could've been considering I've rolled that ankle a couple of times now.  I iced/Advil alot and chose to sit out today's (Monday) first session.  I would rather rest now and make it better than hurt it a lot worse and impact the rest of my season.  I am going to try and give it a run tonight's session but we'll see how it holds up.

So that's about it.  The coaches have seen that I am fit, and I feel pretty confident with my starting role at left mid.  As long as this ankle heals relatively fast, I am looking at starting on Wednesday for our first scrimmage against Chestnut Hill College.  Besides, soccer I haven't been up to much.  I basically eat, sleep, and play soccer.  I've been filling my time with some light reading and movies with the boys.  I am really enjoying my own room this year in our new dorm and am looking forward to the rest of my roommates moving in on Saturday.

So that's about it for now.  Hopefully this ankle can sort itself out!

-TZ

Here we are again, Round 2

Obviously I haven't been keeping up with my blog all that much.  During the summer I rarely find the time to blog and instead spend my free time relaxing etc.  But now I am officially moved into my new dorm and ready for my sophomore year at Catholic University.  On July 31, I was all packed up and headed to DC.  We met as a team to train for three days on campus to prepare for our overseas trip.  Upon arrival, we were all surprised to find Chelsea's first team using our facilities as a training ground.  For those that don't know, Chelsea is considered one of the top professional teams in the world and have multimillion dollar players. Here is a link to their website if interested. http://www.chelseafc.com I got to meet Frank Lampard, basically a living legend and took a picture with him.  One of the cooler moments as a soccer fan.

Then our team departed on August 2, heading to Barcelona, Spain. Overall it was one of the most fun trips I have taken.  Being able to play soccer with my buddies against foreign opponents and then getting to sightsee and experience the city with my friends was a once in a lifetime experience.  Here is the link to the blog that the team completed while over there (just way to much to recap by myself) http://catholicusoccer.blogspot.com If the link doesn't work, try it on your smart phone. Here are a few pics of my own:

Anyway we returned last Sunday the 11th and moved into my new dorm.  I have my own room but sharing a suite with four more of my buddies.  It should be a good setup.  We have been having captains practices and been preparing for our official preseason to start up on Saturday.  We will have two-a-days and run a lot. I am conservatively confident about the fitness tests, and overall very excited about the upcoming season.

I will try and update this blog as much as possible during the semester and season so stay tuned!  More to come!

For now,

TZ

End of the Spring Season

Last Wednesday evening I hurt my foot at practice.  I went into a tackle and kicked Luke's knee with the outside of my foot and it did not feel good.  The pain felt like a sprained ankle but it was all in the foot.  I went to the trainer and they said it was either a fractured toe bone or a bone-bruise.  It didn't swell up too bad, but it was definitely hard to walk on.  It was pretty bad timing since our one play-day for the spring season was on Saturday.  I iced and rehabbed as much as possible and was getting optimistic by Friday.  I was able to run and cut without too much pain, but didn't play in practice.

Then Saturday was a big day for the team.  We played American University and JMU right down the road at AU.  Both are Division I teams so we knew it would be difficult to play up to their level especially since they have much more time available to play and train in the spring.  Anyway, my foot was feeling better, not 100% but I decided to play and it felt okay.  I played the second half of both games (two 30 minute halves for each game) and we ended up tying AU 0-0 and lost to JMU 2-0.  They scored both in the second half which was the 120th straight minute for some of us, and we were low on subs due to injuries.  Anyway we were all pretty pleased with our performance so it was a good day of play.

Now we have one week left of the season.  One more practice on Wednesday and then the alumni game on Friday.  It's been fun to play, but I think I am ready for the spring season to wrap up; it's grueling to keep on practicing with high intensity for five weeks or so with only one day of games to look forward to.  I am also ready to get back to more lifting and some biking to train for the duathalon in May.  I'm pretty excited for that to say the least.

It's finally started getting warm out as well.  All of the cherry blossoms are blooming here and spring time has been very pretty in the city.  Here's a pic of the Jefferson Memorial from the city:

Overall school has been going well also.  I have A's in all my classes so far except Philosophy which is hovering around an A-.  I know I struggle in that subject, but I am really hoping I could pull something out on the final for an A.  I don't know if it's possible, but I'll be shooting for it.  I could also be excused from my Math final as well which would be really nice and help with my workload for finals week.

It's also starting to hit me that my first year is almost already over.  We only have about three or four weeks left here.  It's kind of sad to be honest.  This has been a great year for me, and I have really enjoyed myself here at Catholic.  I will be enjoying these last few weeks, living in the moment, but also looking forward to the summer to come.

Take care,

-TZ

Easter Break etc.

A perk of going to a Catholic school: I get a long weekend for Easter.  I headed home the Wednesday before Easter and stayed until Monday after.  It was a great break which I wouldn't be able to get going to any other school.  This break was nice in comparison to Spring Break because the whole family seemed to be around for the whole time.  I got to spend a lot of time with everyone which was very enjoyable.  Thursday and Friday were relaxing and relatively unexciting.  I got to see Meredith and BD in the gym Thursday morning and visited Michael at his work at United Therapeutics.  They are doing some pretty cool stuff over there, and it really makes me want to get some research experience this summer at some type of lab.  I seemed to have tried everything for getting a major-related job/internship for the summer, but I think I might have to resort to working some volunteer job at a lab or corporation. We shall see about that.

Anyway Saturday I got to try out a new type of training.  I rode the bike out on the roads for the first time.  I am training for a duathalon in May and it was really fun getting out on the roads.  I rode with Michael and Dad and it was a good time.  I look forward to riding some more and am hopeful to do well in the race.

Easter Sunday was also really nice.  We had Julee, Grandma, and Nana and Pops to join us for dinner.  The food was great and it was a good time.

Then Monday I caught a ride to Richmond with Julee to catch the Megabus there because there were none leaving from Durham for reason.  The Megabus picked me up late and then we got in traffic and I was traveling from 10am that morning and got in my dorm at 7pm.  It was a long nine hours of travel that should usually only take about 5 hours.

This past week has gone past fast.  I feel like every week should be only four days.  It would make everything much better.  We had practices at 6am this week and we had to run the mile before one of them.  We had to get it in under 6 minutes which isn't too bad, but I was still a little concerned about it.  I ended up doing fine coming in third out of the team with a time of 5:33.  I was pleased with that and then followed that up with a solid practice.  Coach actually emailed me and said I have started to play well these past two days and to keep it up.  It's nice to get positive feedback especially after all this hard work I've been putting in this spring.

It's been hard to find time for the trainer and lifting during spring season but I'm still getting all of my workouts in that I need.  Tomorrow we have practice in the morning and then we are going out in the city to look at the cherry blossoms.  I will try and post a pic if I can.  It should be a good time.

I know I can't really go into detail about everything else, but I don't wanna bore anyone either.  So those are the major highlights of the past week or so.  I have been thinking about posting this since Monday, but I haven't gotten around to it.  I really need to get better about these posts.  Especially since I have a new follower! Shout out to Lindsey for the follow!

So until next time,

-TZ

Is it Actually Spring?

There's no way I could possible fill in everything that has happened since my last blog.  I guess I've just gotten pretty lazy in keeping up with this thing.  I do enjoy doing it, but tough to find the time.

So I'll just hit the highlights here.  Sunday was the first day of our official spring season.  We trained in the morning and it was solid.  I though we were going to do more fitness / running but it wasn't that bad.  It was fun to get back out there with the guys and do some actual drills instead of just scrimmaging and whatnot during captains practices.  So now we have about three practices a week for five weeks and then one day of scrimmage.  We are going to play American University and James Madison (both DI schools) which should be good.

St. Patricks Day was also actually a really big holiday up here which I did not realize.  There was a huge block party off campus which was pretty fun and then a group of us finished the day off at Buffalo Wild Wings.  It was actually a pretty fun holiday; one which I haven't ever really celebrated.

Now I have four more days of school before coming home for Easter.  I just bought my MegaBus ticket for next Wednesday at 12:45 and then I'll return to school Easter Monday.  It will be a good break. Now I just have a chemistry test to get through tomorrow and then it should be a relative cruise.

I'm also working on putting together my schedule of classes for next semester.  It looks like I will be taking 16 credits which should be decent with the soccer season etc.  And now my Physics teacher asked me if I was interested in minoring in Physics and I don't even know what I want to do because I could also minor in Math since I'm far ahead in math but we'll see.  I also want to enjoy myself lol.

And so Wednesday was the first day of Spring and it was decently nice, but now the day after the high is 40 degrees and its freezing especially at practice.  I am truly ready for warm weather.  Hope it comes sooner rather than later.

So that's about it for now.  Looking forward to Easter with the fam.

-TZ