Fresno State Athletics
10/22/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
A Women's Soccer Diary
This week's diary features senior midfielder Erin Sayegusa. A native of Honolulu, she talks about the Bulldog's recent road trip to Hawaii. Erin will play her final match at Bulldog Stadium on Senior Day (Oct. 26) against Rice. A three-time Fresno State Scholar Athlete and two-time WAC All-Academic selection, Erin has recorded 12 points this year (four goals, four assists).
 Senior midfielder Erin Sayegusa
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Thursday, October 16
Our trip to Hawaii started off bright and early with our team meeting at the airport at 5:30 am. For some of the girls, it was their first time to Hawaii. For me, it was great to be going home.
After arriving in Honolulu, we headed straight to one of Hawaii's favorite restaurants, Zippy's, where they serve an assortment of foods such as their famous chili, saimin, chicken, and various plate lunches. A plate lunch consists of two scoops of rice, macaroni salad and various entrees such as teriyaki beef, beef stew, hamburger steak, and chicken katsu.
When we were pau (finished), the team hopped into the vans for a short ride into Waikiki where we stayed at the Ohana Waikiki Tower. As soon as we checked into our hotel, Coach Welp allowed us free time until our training session. During that time, most of the girls chose to shop, while Kristyn Kellogg, Lisa Esteves, Koleen Anderson, and I hit the beach. It was so nice to be at the beach again.
We all later met back at the hotel so that we could go to a quick training session. The purpose of the session was to get familiar with the playing field surface and to ensure that we were all focused on the game.
When that was over, we headed over to my grandma's house where my family had dinner waiting for us. The menu consisted of kalua pig and cabbage, lau lau (pork and chicken wrapped in spinach-steamed), lomi salmon (chopped up tomatoes, onions, and salted salmon), poi (taro root paste), furikake (dried seaweed) salmon with teriyaki sauce, teriyaki beef, Zippy's chili, Chinese noodles, Chinese chicken salad, macaroni salad and watermelon. For dessert we were treated to hot Malasada's (a Portuguese doughnut).
The team enjoyed the meal even though they had never seen some of those foods before. Overall, it was a really nice evening because I got to be with all my teammates as well as my family. It was getting late and we all needed to catch up on some sleep so we left to go back to the hotel where we would have to be in our rooms for the rest of the night.
Friday, October 17
GAME DAY!!! In the morning, we took a little jog along the beach to loosen up and stretch. Everyone was so tempted to just jump in the water and go swimming, but we managed to restrain ourselves. When everyone was pau stretching, we jogged back along the beach to the hotel and had breakfast. After breakfast, we went upstairs to have study table for a couple of hours until we had our pregame meal. As usual, we had our positional meetings (forwards, midfielders, and defense) and treatment right before we left for the field.
Our positive mentality going into this game gave us confidence and the belief that we could. Everyone was pumped to play because it was a very important game for us. The game could make or break us and the team needed everyone to recognize that. With that in mind, we entered the game focused and ready to play.
As we got going, a couple of defensive errors put us down by two goals. We never gave up though and kept fighting and trying to put the ball in the net. For most of the game we were in our attacking half of the field, yet we could not put away our chances. Later in the game, Hawai'i put another ball in the net, giving them a 3-0 lead. Even though the game started to get very physical towards the end, we continued to play our game.
Before we knew it, the game was counting down from 10, 9, 8, ....3, 2, 1. Game over. We lost 3-0. Even though we lost, Coach Welp was proud that we did not retaliate against the fouls or lose control. She said we showed class out on the field. She was also proud of the fact that we never gave up at any time in the game.
Up in the stands, I had all of my friends and family waiting for me. It felt great to play in my hometown again. I was showered with many lei's, hugs, and kisses. My family LOVES to take pictures so I think I ended up taking a picture with every possible family member and all my friends. We spent a good 10-15 minutes just taking pictures.
While I was finishing up visiting with my fans, the entire team was waiting for me in the vans. I needed to hurry up and thank everyone for coming so that we could return to the hotel. When we got back to the hotel, Coach Welp gave us free time and assigned a curfew of 1:00 am. Most of the team went shopping again but I chose to spend time with my family.
Friday, October 18
Before we left to go back to Fresno, we were allowed free time once more. We all went on our own and met back at the hotel at 10:30 am so that we could head out to the airport.
All in all, even though we didn't bring home a win, we took away the lessons of playing hard and maintaining our focus from our trip to Hawaii.
