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Last Day
In case you missed it, the Armstrong Pirates women’s soccer program, champions of the Peach Belt Conference, advanced to the NCAA Division II Final Four. Their season was definitely one for the ages! To chronicle the Pirates’ run to the Final Four, the Peach Blog enlisted the help of Armstrong’s Emily Cattanach. Armstrong’s amazing run was ended in the National Semifinals with a 2-0 defeat at eventual champions Saint Rose.
Words are hard to come by at times like these. Emotions are high after another season comes to an end, but when we all look back on this season it will be one full of memories that will last a lifetime. Unfortunately we did not end this year on top as we had dreamed, but we fought hard all season and achieved many great milestones. As I am remembering all of the great times we had this year I start to smile at the memories I got share with some of my best friends. Now we enter a transition period as the seniors move on and the juniors become the new leaders and the freshmen are no longer just freshmen.
Action from the Final Four
Our seniors were small in number but big in heart. They gave so much to this program and were a huge part of the program becoming what it is today. I have so much love and respect for all four of them and I along with the rest of my team will greatly miss them next year. However even though they will not be with us on the field anymore, they will always be with us in spirit, just like all the others who played before them. My class, the juniors, came in as a big class with high expectations. We have accomplished a lot in three years, but that elusive national championship that we talk about has still eluded us. We now begin our last year together and now know what it takes to make it that far. Unfortunately we know the feeling of coming up short, so we need to remember that and use it as a driving force and motivation as we prepare for our senior season. The sophomores and freshmen have each contributed to this in their own unique way and I can’t wait to watch all them grow in the next year and show everyone what they are made of next season.
Our assistant coaches are the best in the country. They put in a lot of their free time to help us become the best soccer players we can be. Even though we might complain when they make us do fitness we all truly appreciate all the things they do for us. Finally our coach, who cares so much for each and every one of us and gives so much of his time to this program. We can’t say how much we appreciate all that he does, whether it’s mowing the field, watching film, or coming early to work with some of us before practice. We all wanted to win the national championship for each other, but also for him, so that he could achieve a dream of his own. This was a great year and I will never forget the experience of playing in the Final Four. However, I left with a bitter taste because we came up short of our ultimate goal, so it’s back to work even harder so we can return more prepared and stronger than we were this year. It was a fun ride that I will never forget and every person who was part of this team is now a member of an exclusive family that they will never forget.
With Armstrong’s 2-0 loss to Saint Rose the Pirates finish the season with an 18-3-3 record. Seniors Kelli Bahr, Erin Holt, Erin O’Rourke and Kyndal Schaaf finish their careers with a record of 59-17-11.
Final Preparation
In case you missed it, the Armstrong Pirates women’s soccer program, champions of the Peach Belt Conference, have advanced to the NCAA Division II Final Four. Their season has definitely been one for the ages! To chronicle the Pirates’ run to the Final Four, the Peach Blog has enlisted the help of Armstrong’s Emily Cattanach. Emily will be sharing her experience throughout the rest of the tournament, to give you a window into what a student-athlete goes through when competing on the biggest stage.
One last practice and one last pep talk before it time to put it all on the field. Tomorrow we will all get to live our dream and play in the Final Four. When we drove up to the complex for practice and saw the game field I started to get goose bumps. All of the 120’s and sprints during preseason finally seemed worth all the sweat and pain, as we get ready to live out a dream. At the championship banquet the keynote speaker (Erik Stolhanske of Super Trooper fame) talked about how cool it is that we are at the pinnacle of our sport, and there are only four teams left in country playing in our division. The moment is getting closer and my teammates are anxious to get the game started and enjoy the experience. Well, the sun has set on the day and it’s almost time to get one last sleep in before the big day!
Our team on the championship field
Emily and the rest of the Armstrong Pirates will be taking on The College of Saint Rose Golden Knights in the semifinals on Thursday December 1st at 2pm in Pensacola, Florida. For more info on the Final Four click here. Check back as Emily updates the blog on her championship experience!
Day 3: November 29, 2011
In case you missed it, the Armstrong Pirates women’s soccer program, champions of the Peach Belt Conference, have advanced to the NCAA Division II Final Four. Their season has definitely been one for the ages! To chronicle the Pirates’ run to the Final Four, the Peach Blog has enlisted the help of Armstrong’s Emily Cattanach. Emily will be sharing her experience throughout the rest of the tournament, to give you a window into what a student-athlete goes through when competing on the biggest stage.
The sun is shining, and we only have two practices left until game day. Today is a special day because we get to practice on Florida State’s field and tour their facilities. Having the opportunity to practice at and see one of the top Division I soccer programs in the country was a memorable experience. Once we finished up with practice we headed back to the bus and traveled the remaining three hours to Pensacola. When we arrived in Pensacola it felt more like we were in the northeast instead of the Sunshine State as the weather was a little chilly. After watching the sun set on the beautiful Gulf of Mexico, we all headed down to the pool deck for a luau with the other boys and girls teams in Pensacola for the Final Four. This luau was one of a kind as everyone was bundled up in an attempt to stay warm. We had a lot of fun though making bracelets and street signs of whatever theme we wished. Today was our first day in Pensacola and our excitement about the approaching days is becoming greater. As another day comes to an end we are one step closer to game day, and the anticipation builds. Tomorrow is our final preparation, and another day to soak in the wonderful opportunity we have in front of us.
Here is one of the street signs one of my teammates made. Kristina Pascutti came up with the idea.
Emily and the rest of the Armstrong Pirates will be taking on The College of Saint Rose Golden Knights in the semifinals on Thursday December 1st at 2pm in Pensacola, Florida. For more info on the Final Four click here. Check back as Emily updates the blog on her championship experience!
Travel Day
In case you missed it, the Armstrong Pirates women’s soccer program, champions of the Peach Belt Conference, have advanced to the NCAA Division II Final Four. Their season has definitely been one for the ages! To chronicle the Pirates’ run to the Final Four, the Peach Blog has enlisted the help of Armstrong’s Emily Cattanach. Emily will be sharing her experience throughout the rest of the tournament, to give you a window into what a student-athlete goes through when competing on the biggest stage.
The day is here. The stress of school and tests seems far behind because we are heading to Pensacola. Hopefully everything we need is packed and nothing is left behind. As long as we have the essentials, our cleats and shin guards, then we can live without the other, less important things. The bus is packed full with our bags and dreams of playing for a national championship just days away from coming true. You can feel the excitement and anticipation from everyone on this special bus of ours. As I look back on our season, it is only fitting that we had to take a bus to Pensacola instead of flying. This year one of our team mottos was based on a book called The Energy Bus. This book talked about how positive energy can overcome anyone’s negative energy and doubt. The weekend before we played our rival Columbus State, our coach made each member of the team read this book. Since then, we have gone 12-0-3 and our energy bus is picking up more steam with each win. As we all sit on this bus thinking about the opportunity in front of us, we are prepared and ready to keep riding our energy bus all the way to the national championship game.
Emily and the rest of the Armstrong Pirates will be taking on The College of Saint Rose Golden Knights in the semifinals on Thursday December 1st at 2pm in Pensacola, Florida. For more info on the Final Four click here. Check back as Emily updates the blog on her championship experience!
Meet Emily Cattanach
In case you missed it, the Armstrong Pirates women’s soccer program, champions of the Peach Belt Conference, have advanced to the NCAA Division II Final Four. Their season has definitely been one for the ages! To chronicle the Pirates’ run to the Final Four, the Peach Blog has enlisted the help of Armstrong’s Emily Cattanach. Emily will be sharing her experience throughout the rest of the tournament, to give you a window into what a student-athlete goes through when competing on the biggest stage. Without further ado, meet Emily Cattanach:
Hi, my name is Emily Cattanach and I am junior rehab science or pre-physical therapy major at Armstrong Atlantic State University. I am a proud member of Armstrong’s soccer team, where I like to say I play the “hybrid” position. I mainly play outside back, but I have also played midfield and forward this year. While our soccer program is still relatively new (it was established in 2005) we have been fortunate enough to have a lot of success in the first seven years. We have won two PBC tournament championships, two PBC regular season championships, and have been to five NCAA tournaments. While the first six years have been pretty successful, this year we have accomplished many firsts.
After a great regular season where we captured the PBC regular season and tournament championships we earned a top seed in the NCAA tournament! After winning a hard fought game against North Georgia, we set a rematch with Lenior-Rhyne, the team who knocked us out in the sweet 16 of last year’s tournament. This was a game of two halves as we got an early 1-0 lead and held on in the second half to pull out the victory and got our revenge for last year’s defeat. This win marked a first for our program, as we became the first team to advance past the round of 16 and onto the round of elite 8. However, we weren’t done with setting new milestones for our program.
Our next game just two days later was against a perennial power in the University of Tampa, who won the national championship in 2007. We played Tampa to a 1-1 draw earlier in the year, but we were ready to show the country who Armstrong was, and we were on our home field, so we wanted to “protect our house.” We jumped out to an early 1-0 just 3 minutes into the game. At halftime the score was 1-1 after Tampa got a penalty kick, but during halftime you could tell that everyone had one thing in mind: to finish off the game and punch our ticket to Pensacola and the final four. After the final buzzer went off we had won 2-1 and the celebration ensued, we did it, we were going to the final four!
After hearing our coach tell us all year that we can make it there when we finally did we were ecstatic. As game day gets closer, the feeling is a little surreal; that this program is in its seventh year has made it to the pinnacle of its sport. As we get ready to travel to Pensacola, my teammates and I are extremely excited for this amazing opportunity and can’t wait to represent our school and the Peach Belt Conference at the final four.
Emily and the rest of the Armstrong Pirates will be taking on The College of Saint Rose Golden Knights in the semifinals on Thursday December 1st at 2pm in Pensacola, Florida. For more info on the Final Four click here. Check back as Emily updates the blog on her championship experience!
