Hello Cougar Fans 2010!

I don't know if you are aware, but the air is changing. It's getting crisp, the leaves are preparing themselves to turn and fall, students are moving in and getting back on to campus, and COUGAR SOCCER has been training - now it's game time!

Before I launch into the historical event that happened on Saturday at Jesse Owens Stadium, I think it would be fitting to bring you up to speed on the pre-season activities of Cougar Soccer.

For starters, Jake Reber, Kemar Jackson, and myself all moved in about two weeks ago for some captain/coach bonding and leadership preparation. A team rises and falls on its leaders, and we wanted to be sure we were in the best shape possible (physical, mental, and spiritual) to lead our team this year and accomplish the goals we've been setting.

Shortly after our preparation time, the guys moved in. I really don't know what the big deal about moving in/out of places is? With 25 soccer players it takes about 20 minutes tops! After getting all settled, preseason began and the activities included:

4-v-4 tournament...

Timed 2-mile run...

Camping trip (featuring canoeing, basketball, un-talent show, swimming relays, pushups, team church, a Remember the Titans-esque run to the ashes of my old house, and a lot of rain)...

Two-A-Days (just like the movies: burning hot, dripping sweat, full-body ice baths, blood, sweat, tears, laughter)...

The annual Blue/Green scrimmage...

Meetings galore discussing who we are, what we're expecting, and how to get there as a team...

Combined team church with the Women's Soccer Team (A major blessing to be elaborated upon later)...

Opening scrimmage versus The Ohio State University Buckeyes...

Whew, and all of that in roughly 10 days!

And now what I know you're all dying to hear about, THE scrimmage versus THE OSU Buckeyes. It was definitely a huge honor and privilege to play against a powerhouse Division I, Big Ten program at their home field. I'm not sure what everyone else was expecting from the match, but here's a little bit of what myself and the team were expecting: tall, big, and fast opponents, physical play, and a tough match all the way around.

While we got all of those, what we weren't expecting was to see probably 8 times as many Cougar supporters than Buckeye fans (see below), to play a 1-1 match against them (we actually lost 2-1, but I haven't seen the replay on their penalty kick call yet, so I'm not sure if I'm willing to count it), a minor flood with 15 minutes to go, and an incredibly responsive prayer time after the match.

I know there are a good number of Christians who play for the Buckeyes this year, but on the whole I've never been thanked and blessed by as many players after a prayer time with an opponent as I was Saturday. It was something incredibly encouraging as we look to continue the trend into our regular season.

Thank you for tuning in and caring about the Cougar Soccer family. As always, we all love the support you guys show us on and off the field, and I hope you continue to check in here to see what's going on inside the post!

In addition to the blog this year, feel free to check out the Men's Soccer Twitter page at http://www.twitter.com/mvnuMS for random blurbs about life as a Cougar soccer player!