Sept. 20, 2000

By Debbie Lieberman

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- Another journal entry, another set of games, another time zone?

Yup, that's right. Back from the west coast, we return after playing two hard fought games, a tour of the slightly hilly city, and many of us sleep ridden.

Similar to the Rocky Mountains that we passed over on our way to San Francisco, our trip had a bunch of peaks and valleys. Starting at a peak, we had a successful flight out there. The food was OK on the plane, but what can you expect from plane food (no pun intended).

We arrived to find that we were staying in a beautiful hotel: the hotel called itself "a little France in San Francisco." It smelled like fresh, sweet flowers as you walked through the front doors. At those doors, were doormen who were so gracious to hold them for you.

Still at the top of the mountain, we awoke and had a light training session to loosen out legs out from the five hour flight. Next we headed on over to IHOP. Can we say-Yummy? Let's just say we walked out of the restaurant fully loaded to play: and play we did.

Our first game versus Santa Clara was at 5 p.m. The game was intense right from the first whistle. An even match it was. They may have scored the first goal but we answered right back with our own.

There seemed to be a bit of deja vu because this occurred again, as we tied the game at 2-2.

The game was close with both of our teams fighting hard. There seemed to be a little home cooking. It was a game to build on and learn from. Deja vu didn't happen on the third and fourth goals against us, as we lost 4-2.

Instead, we reached our first valley of the trip, but with an outlook upward to the next peak. We worked hard. We played a full intense 90 minutes. The ball just didn't fall in the right goal this time.

So we continued on our journey up the next mountain. Repairing ourselves mentally, physically, and preparing for the next game that would come on Sunday against Standford.

Saturday, our day in between games, served as a good dose of medicine for the team: restoring our spirits, our muscles and our stomachs to full potential. Another peak was reached. After a good morning training, we headed off to Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 in San Francisco.

Most of us delighted our taste buds with Boston clam chowder in a bread bowl for lunch. We were able to walk around some and go into several shops. A few of us spent a good portion of time watching a particular animal at Pier 39. There were more than 50 sea lions, piled up one on top of one another, bathing in the sun on the few wooded decks that were provided. Their behavior was entertaining and fun to watch as some fought, some swam and others cuddled with each other.

The rest of the day was filled with candy apples, Ghiradelli chocolate, an imitation trolly/bus ride, an extensive, but not on purpose, tour around downtown San Francisco in our vans, and delicious Italian dinner to prepare us for the game the next day.

Sunday came and Standford awaited our arrival to campus. Coming off a peak from Saturday, we were ready to extend this peak into a plateau, or even a higher more extensive peak.

But again, the tides were not with us and the shift of the mountain top headed downward once again. Once again a hard fought battle. Both teams came out strong and even. It felt as if most of the game was played in the midfield. As intense as we played, they managed to get their first goal within 10 minutes of start time.

Battle continued, however, with nine seconds left, they scored their second goal of the half. Questions fill our minds of what to do differently, and how to correct things and how to score. We had 45 minutes left to get what we thought we deserved. Unfortunately, though we tried, a third goal was scored ten minutes into the second half and we were unable to climb back up.

We leave this weekend with some hard fought games behind us, and our heads looking upward, to the next peak.

As we climb to get there this week, we know that we have to work that much harder, run that much faster, and do that much better, so that we can soar amongst the clouds, surpass the peaks, and reach our final destination: a championship.