by Jen Wrublesky

Tomorrow we play Temple and begin conference play!  We have had a pretty tough schedule this season, and a win is essential for not only our conference record and our path to the Atlantic 10 Championship, but also for team morale.  Both teams are coming off some pretty tough losses, which means that this game has even more at stake than the normal SJU-Temple rivalry. 

Our team goals for conference play include playing the full 70 minutes of a game, scoring first and scoring early, maintaining focus throughout the entire game, communication, and finding that "competitive edge."  Luckily our team is back in full force and recovered from some mid-season injuries.

This week at practice we concentrated on offense, perfecting our circle play, and working on our transitions.  Tuesday was a long day of practice out in the cold rain, but the team was very dedicated and remained focused throughout practice.  Wednesday was dedicated to competition and overtime play, and today we perfected our penalty strokes and corners.  

The mood on the team is one of excitement; the upperclassmen realize how much is at stake and how high the emotions will run tomorrow during the game.  It will be good for the freshmen to see how much A-10s mean and what our team is really all about.  Tomorrow will be a nice change to start out by playing Temple, rather than waiting to play them our last game of the regular season.  It is vital for our team to come out with a victory tomorrow, both for team morale and to start off with some forward momentum in the conference.  It is hard to believe that this is my last regular season game against Temple!  We just need to come out early and hard and not let up for even one minute against the Owls.

As Henry Ford said, "Coming together is a beginning.  Keeping together is progress.  Working together is success."

Let's go Hawks!
Jen