I will be the first to admit that when Coach informed us that we would be headed down to Arkansas for our team trip this year, I was a bit skeptical. I mean, what could there possibly be in Arkansas to keep 29 fairly high maintenance girls entertained? What I forgot to factor in, however, was our team's combination of awesome coaches and fun-spirited attitudes. That's when I remembered that with this combination any trip is bound to be one to remember.

Our trip started off with an eight-hour drive to our hotel in St. Louis, Missouri. Upon arrival, all we could think about was food. So Coach, being the wise man that he is, decided to take care of all of us hungry girls as quickly as possibly. With that being said, our first stop was Olive Garden - a Lady Cougar favorite. We could barely wait to dig into our carb-overloaded meals. The servers had their work cut out for them because once our food came we shoveled it in which meant numerous trips to the kitchen for them. The food gave us a bit too much energy, which would soon be taken care of after some shopping later on. A few girls, however, decided to unleash this energy a bit too early as napkins were seen hurled across some tables. Coach quickly put an end to that and was a little more understanding about the ordeal once we reminded him that we had just been stuck on a bus for eight hours. You would think this restriction might stop us from playing with napkins at all, but being the relentless team that we are, we just ended up finding less destructive ways to use napkins (see below). Our evening had exhausted us all, and it was only day one.

Day two included a fun-filled day in downtown St. Louis. And like every year, our freshmen got the chance to show off their finest clothing by wearing the outfits that the upperclassmen so graciously picked out for them. In fact, I'm sure if you asked them, they would tell you how much they admire our fashion sense. This was definitely a highlight to our day, but the most memorable experience was our journey to the top of the Gateway Arch, made possible by Papa Coach who provided the funding for every girl on the team. If you haven't realized it yet, Papa Coach is the most generous and caring man you will ever meet. Every one of us girls are extremely blessed to know him. He is like a father figure to us, and without him our team just wouldn‘t be the same. We can't thank him enough for making the incredible opportunities throughout each season possible for our team.

Once our exciting day in St. Louis had ended, it was time to head down to Arkansas. The hotel we stayed at was truly a blessing from God because the staff was EXTREMELY kind and welcoming. Actually, if there is such a thing as being over-accommodating, then that is how I would describe the Hampton Inn at Siloam Springs. Seriously, they went above and beyond the call by providing bottled water for us before our games, having fresh cookies and water available at all times in the lobby, and rearranging things so we could stay longer the last day. They even provided dinner for us one night, which isn‘t an easy task for a team of 29 girls. It's funny because most hotels would dread having a group of 29 energetic college girls staying for three nights. The people at Hampton Inn, however, raved about our team and we felt the exact same way about them.

During our stay in Arkansas we also visited the Eagle War Caverns (special thanks to Papa Coach AGAIN for this outing). Our visit to the caverns was very eventful, primarily because many girls on our team aren't too fond of crawlers or bats for that matter. This provided great entertainment for our guide as numerous squeals and screams were made throughout the tour.

With all the excitement we had been through over the course of three days, we still had to focus on what we had come down to do - play some soccer! Our first game didn't go as well as we had hoped, but that didn't stop us from coming out the next day and playing our hearts out. This attitude took us into a double overtime, only after Stacy Culbertson had an amazing goal with eight minutes left in regulation to tie us up 1-1. We ended up tying John Brown, but the passionate atmosphere that surrounded our team during this game made it the most remarkable yet. Overall, our trip was an awesome time filled with energy and team bonding that we will remember for years to come.