Nov. 14, 2003

Sophomore Danielle Malagari is on the road again as the Terps are in the NCAA Tournament. Here's her first entry from freezing cold Happy Valley.

By Danielle Malagari

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Coming to you live from the "Waffle Shop" on College Ave., in State College, Pennsylvania, it's Danielle Malagari again with What's Up With Women's Soccer - NCAA Style - on the morning of our game with Rutgers.

This could quite possibly be the coldest weekend ever to play soccer. Yesterday was a very adventurous day. On our way to Penn State there was an overturned tractor trailer on the highway. We had to pull over for about an hour at a Truck Stop. So we ventured inside for a couple of snacks to hold us over for dinner. While we were at the rest stop all of a sudden the power went out because of the fierce winds. After a few minutes it came back on. We got back on the road and headed straight to the practice field.

Our practice time was scheduled for 4:15 p.m., but because of the delay we did not get to the field until 4:45. It had just started snowing when we go there so we were a bit timid to start running around. But we decided since we had better get used to the weather - what better time than now instead of at gametime.

During the 10 minute practice we had, we just huddled around one person trying to keep each other warm, We touched the four corners of the field then sprinted back to the warm bus.

We finally headed to the hotel after training for a quick stop to check in before we headed off for dinner. We hit our second favorite spot - Olive Garden. Wow did it taste good and warm.

After dinner we had a team meeting and then headed for our rooms for a great night of television beginning with Friends. Some other watched the Maryland football game, which they won.

After some great TV it was off to bed with dreams of our 2003 NCAA Tournament season. It begins tomorrow night right here in the frigid and windy State College, Pa.

This is a frozen Danielle Malagari signing off. Go Terps! Beat Rutgers!