Nov. 6, 2002
By Katie Kruse and Valerie Lawrence
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - After four long seasons we've come to the conclusion that not only is the Maryland's women soccer team one of the top teams in the country, but we are also one of the more fun and entertaining teams as well. As our regular season closed with a record of 11-6-1 our postseason starts today with our sights set on bringing home an ACC championship ring.
Having filled our bellies with a mixture of Mexican, Italian, and American foods, we made our way towards warmer temperatures. The Shuttle to BWI was filled with jokes and stories all bringing laughter and anticipation of new memories as we headed to Tallahassee and the 2002 ACC Tournament.
It's not all fun and games though - to get here we had to "buckle-down and get after it". With long rides and delays, any other team would become mad or frustrated with all the adjustments to the schedule. But not the Terps, always creating the most fun out of any situation.
As any food-lover knows (we carry a full roster of them...), a meal is never complete without dessert. We were heading down the escalator to the gate in Atlanta on the way to Tallahassee, when the word "ice cream" was suggested. By the looks on our faces, you'd think that the ice cream truck rolled by. Whether it meant taking down teammates, and going back up the down escalators, no obstacle was going to get in our way. After switching gates 2-3 times we finally got settled in with naps, phone calls, studying and games.
Over half the team chose to play "Cop" and "Killer"; a few of us need winking lessons. We were then resourceful with our surroundings and after being rejected countless times from getting food from Burger King, as they supplied us with plastic ware to play a big game of "Spoons." Fortunately, there are no injuries reported as of yet.
As time passed, we tired of fighting for plastic forks and moved to a more intelligent game of "Psychiatrist." It was a fitting suggestion, coming from Audra Poulin due to her hope to prepare herself for her and Jenny Biscoe's career together as marriage counselors.
We finally arrived at our hotel in Tallahassee around 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning.
We awoke for a breakfast at the hotel at 10 a.m. and trained for an hour at Florida State from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. The field was soaked and a lot the players had fun in the mud.
After practice we had lunch at this Firehouse restaurant which was fun. Then it was time for naps after our long night in the airports.
After we refreshed for a while, it was time to get dressed up and ready to go to the annual ACC awards banquet at night.
All we have to say is buffet style is the way to go. For once the pasta was good, and that's according to our Italian Stallion Jennifer "J. Lo" Lovecchio, the large supply of green beans was a pleasant surprise for Lindsay Givens, and the mini cakes and brownies were a hit - considering at one point our team was the only group of people hovering over the dessert tables.
Leave it to the Terps to start off the awards ceremony with a sense of humor, as Ali Andrzejewski thought a bathroom break was more important than receiving her ACC All-Rookie team award along with Mallory Mahar.
Mal made a second appearance to the front along with Kimmy "Franny" Francis and Katie "Ludnuts" Ludwig to receive second and first team All-ACC awards, respectively. To properly conclude the evening, a standing ovation met our head coach Shannon Higgins-Cirovski as she accepted her second ACC Coach of the Year award at Maryland.
With the accumulation of our wacky personalities, we have joined as one force with our "weapons, our engines, and our walls" to make our presence in the Atlantic Coast Conference well known. We packed our suitcases to venture on this pilgrimage and we have no intention of leaving early.
