Fresno State Athletics
9/1/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
A Women's Soccer Diary
The following entry comes from junior defender Barbara Davis. For a complete list of this year's entries, including those from the 2003 season, check out the sidebar on the right side of the page.
 Junior defender Barbara Davis
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Wednesday, September 1
The summer has gone by so fast. It seems like just yesterday I was playing in the WPSL (Women's Premier Soccer League) national championship game for a semi-pro team called the California Storm. We defeated the New England Mutiny 3-2 for the title.
It was an unbelievable experience because not only did I play soccer all summer, but I also played with some of the best players in the country and the world. Not to mention, two of my Fresno State teammates played on the team: Koleen Anderson and Kortney Lewis. I felt so lucky because I was able to play soccer with my role model Sissi, a member of the Brazilian national team. I was able to spend a lot of time with her on and off the field.
Even though I had a great summer I was really excited for the season to start. It was funny because my teammates on the Storm have all finished playing college soccer and they were jealous that I still get to play. I think that has motivated me even more to take advantage of the opportunity I have at Fresno State.
Finally, I was able to meet my new teammates and kickoff the season during our first day back in August. This preseason was definitely an experience that I had never been through before. Not only do we have 10 freshmen that are trying to fit in, but also three new coaches.
Now during the whole summer I played two positions, forward and midfield. Come to think of it, those are the only positions that I have ever played in my life. Well, this preseason I had to learn a whole new position... DEFENDER! During practice the last three years, the only time I saw Regina Esparza was when we scrimmaged- but now I see her all the time!
I quickly learned the basics of defending, but still do not exactly feel comfortable with the position. Then all of a sudden, what do you know-our first game is already here! In our exhibition against Cal State Stanislaus, I definitely was not expecting to be as nervous as I was. On offense, if you lose the ball there are teammates behind you. On defense when you lose the ball, you get scored on. We ended up with a 1-1 tie in that game, which was not bad. We next played Fresno Pacific in another exhibition match and won 2-0.
We started our season on the road in Southern California and had a bit of a rough weekend. We came back to Fresno with two losses and watched two of our players leave the game early and get taken to the hospital with injuries. They both were able to join the team on our bus ride back to Fresno and are doing fine. Now we leave for a tournament in Oregon so we need to shake it off and get back in there.
