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Oct. 17, 2007

On Saturday morning, the team got to sleep in a little bit. We ate breakfast on our own at the Hickey Dining Hall before departing at ten o'clock. We loaded the vans and prepared ourselves for the three hour drive to the Cleveland Airport.

We stopped around one o'clock for a buffet lunch. Some of the girls ate at the buffet while others decided on the Chinese food in another section of the restaurant. Coach Manoj even allowed us to have a small cup of soft serve ice cream! Yum.

We got to the airport with time to kill, so we did our own thing until it was time to board the plane. The flight was almost empty, so we chose our own seats. We had a great time on the plane.

We landed in Missouri around five o'clock, loaded into three rental vans, and then made the short drive to the Fairfield Inn.

Next, it was off to dinner at Red Robin. We celebrated our Assistant Coach Richie's birthday with his family and the many other family members who are our groupies. After an excellent dinner, the coaches let us run to Target and TJ MAX for a quick shopping session. Thanks guys! In a very short time, some of us were amazed at how much we were able to spend!

At 8:30 p.m. it was time to head back to the hotel for our 9:00 team meeting. We were informed of the formation we would be playing and the best ways to beat our opponent. Mostly, coach told us to go out on the field with confidence and to have fun. When the meeting ended, we headed to our rooms and called it a night. We had a big day ahead of us.

Sunday morning we woke up at 8 o'clock to watch the second half of the World Cup finals between Brazil and Germany. Some of us went down to eat the complimentary hotel breakfast as well. At 9:30 we checked out and headed to IHOP for our pre-game meal. Nobody makes pumpkin pancakes like IHOP! My Dad also made the 7 hour drive and met us at IHOP - it was awesome to see him and I am amazed at how many of our parents drive all over or fly in to see us play! It's awesome to get such great support-especially on the road.

After eating, we loaded into the vans again and headed to St. Louis University. After a few wrong turns, we made it to the field and started to prepare ourselves. We were given a few last words of advice and then we got right into our warm-up. Next thing we knew, the whistle blew and the game had started.

The first half was excellent. Our intensity was great and we were playing well together as a team. Unfortunately, in the 52nd minute a St. Louis player knocked in a great shot to make it 1-0. We continued to play our best, but in the 80th minute another shot was put home by a St. Louis player.

When the whistle blew we shook hands with our opponents, did our cool down, and finished with our stretches. Even though we lost, we played really well and had great possession versus one of the strongest teams in the conference. It was something that we can build on for the rest of the season and I hope it gives us confidence against our remaining opponents.

We headed to the locker room to shower before dinner and the flight home. For dinner we went to The Pasta House Company near SLU. The food was delicious and the portions were massive. Then Coach Manoj treated us to Ben and Jerry's for dessert.

On full stomachs, we boarded the plane at the St. Louis airport and headed for Cleveland. Since the flight was delayed, we didn't arrive in Cleveland until after ten o'clock. We boarded the vans for the three hour home stretch to campus, arriving back at our locker room around 2:00 A.M. It was time to prepare ourselves for our next weekend away.

-Anna Cunningham #9