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Lehigh Field Hockey Blog with Kara Zweizig

Senior Kara Zweizig enters her final season in the Brown and White following a junior year in which she finished second on Lehigh in goals, assists and points.  The Pennsylvania native scored three game-winning goals as a junior, including one in overtime versus Georgetown.  Zweizig started 15 games as a sophomore, and appeared in 18 as a freshman, having scored 14 career goals and 36 points.  Check back soon for her latest update.

Life after field hockey – November 11
Our last game of the season was on October 31st, as we fell to American 6-0 at Lafayette.  We did not make it to the Patriot League Tournament this year, so field hockey was over for all of us that night.  For the three seniors, our days of competitive field hockey were over.  For the returning players, they had off-season training and another season up ahead.  I am a bit jealous of the returning players, not only because they get to play another season, but because they get to play on the brand new field currently being built!

Although this season was not what we were hoping for, the program is growing.  The biggest step is going to be regaining some confidence and stepping forward.  Look past this season and look forward to what is up ahead.  I’m looking forward to hearing great things about this team in the upcoming years.  As for me, yes, this season was a bit disappointing, but I have experienced good seasons with LUFH and bad seasons with LUFH.  In a few years from now, I will not remember the bad moments, but only the good.  I won’t remember our win-loss record, but the time I got to spend with my teammates and all of the good memories we have.

With a little over a week off from field hockey, I have had no time to miss it.  I have been very busy with exams, papers, and the whole job search process.  At the end of the day I can’t figure out how I ever had time for practice in my schedule.  Once school slows down a bit, I’m sure I will begin to miss having somewhere to be at 4:15 every afternoon, but for now I am enjoying that little bit of extra time I have in my days.  I have started to run for fun, which I never thought would be a hobby of mine.  I have also found more time to search for post-graduation jobs, since unfortunately I have to enter the real world in just a few months.  So far I have been semi-successful and have snagged a few interviews, so hopefully come May I will not be unemployed.

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League Play - October 15
League play opened on Saturday October 4th with a game against Colgate.  We came out strong in the first half but could not pull together a full 70 minutes and fell to the Raiders.  We had an opportunity to get back on track the next day at Cornell, and although the effort was there, we suffered another loss.  The team had the next week to prepare for our game on the following Saturday against Bucknell and the chance to become 1-1 in the league.

The game against Bucknell may have been the hardest fought game for us this year.  We were battling from the first minute to the 70th.  We were up by one goal at half time and Bucknell came back to tie it up in the second half.  It seemed like the game would go into overtime with both teams struggling to find the back of the cage, but with 90 seconds left in the game Bucknell scored.  The game ended 2-1 in Bucknell’s favor.  The end result was disappointing, but I saw this game as motivation for this Saturday’s game against Lafayette.  LUFH finally played for 70 minutes with HPP (our team motto meaning heart, passion, and persistence) and although our execution was not always up to par, the mental game we played against Bucknell must carry over throughout the remainder of the season.

One of the most important games of the season is coming up on Saturday the 18th.  This game is important for a number of reasons.  First of all it is against Lafayette.  Enough said.  Secondly, it is our senior night and the seniors would LOVE a win against Lafayette to finish our four years of home games!  Our field holds so many memories and it will be sad to see it go, but we are very excited for the new athletic facilities on the horizon.  Saturday’s game will be the beginning of a farewell to LUFH’s “home” for the past ten years and what better way to go out then with a win against Lehigh’s biggest rival?!

And finally, to the LUFHers that may actually read my blog I have a quote for you:
“It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get back up.” – Vince Lombardi

We may have gotten knocked down a few times these past couple of weeks, but I think it is about time we get back up.  We still have three more league games left and two non-league games so let’s make the most of it!

TO RETURN TO THE LEHIGH STUDENT-ATHLETE BLOGS HOME, CLICK HERE.

September 22 – Hourly Exam Time
The semester has really been going fast and it is that dreaded time again, four o’clock exams.  Since I have been such a good student these past two weeks, I have had little time to blog, so here is a quick recap on the past couple weeks.

On Wednesday, September 10th, we had a night game against Princeton at home.  The game ended in a bad loss to a very talented team.  After this game, we realized that we have a lot of work to do before our next game.  Princeton is a team that we would like to learn from and be able to compete with.  This game showed us that we needed to go back to the basics, refine our fundamental skills, and encourage a more team-oriented attitude.  The next night, we had a team dinner and spirits seemed to be back up and everyone was ready to get back on the field Friday for a night game against Georgetown at the University of Maryland.  We fought hard throughout the entire game against Georgetown and the end result was a big win for LUFH, 4-1.  Team morale was definitely high after this game and we were all ready to take the energy from this game and transfer it over into the next week.  There were still things we needed to work on, so we carried over the good from this game and worked out the bad for our next week of contests.

Our next game was on September 17th at home against St. Francis.  Although we did not play our best, we still won 3-0 and earned the first shutout this team has had in nearly three years.  We will take a win any way we can get it, but this game was not a good display of how we are capable of playing.  This game helped us to realize just what potential we had if we could have a rough game and still come out on top.  Although team spirits were up going into the weekend contest against Rider, we still managed to come out flat in the beginning of the game and Rider pulled ahead.  The game ended 3-1 in Rider’s favor.

This next week we have games on Friday and Sunday, which means we have four straight days to prepare.  This is a good chance for us to really focus at practice and get the job done.  The contests this weekend are our last games before league play begins and we must really work hard and fight to get some momentum going to carry over into the league games.  We will be on the road for our next five games, which will be a challenge but I am confident that this will not deter us.

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September 6 – Season Play Begins
Our season opener was on Saturday, August 30th against Temple.  Unfortunately, the game did not end as we would have liked.  The score was 5-0 in Temple’s favor and although we were working hard on the field, we just could not put it together.  It is always tough starting off the season with a loss, but the Temple game showed us what we needed to fix to be more successful on the field.

We got back to work the next week and had a game versus West Chester University on Wednesday, September 3rd.  We looked like a completely different team and kept on fighting throughout the entire game.  Regulation ended in a tie so 7 v. 7 sudden victory overtime began.  A little over five minutes into the second overtime period West Chester scored and won the game 3-2.  The way we played in the game against West Chester is just one step closer to playing at our full potential.  We played tough and smart throughout the entire game and although we outshot West Chester, 30-18, we just could not finish.

Today we had another chance to prove ourselves and to get our first win.  We played Bryant on our home field and came away with a 4-1 victory.  Although there are still things that we must work on as a team and individually, today’s game boosted the team spirit and hopefully the fight and persistence from this game will carry over into the next week.

We have two more big games this week, Princeton at home on Wednesday night, and Georgetown at the University of Maryland on Friday night.  We are looking to improve our record and keep working hard so that we can play a full 70+ minutes of our best hockey.

TO RETURN TO THE LEHIGH STUDENT-ATHLETE BLOGS HOME, CLICK HERE.

August 20th — Preseason is in full swing
Preseason check-in was seven days ago and we got to work the very next day and have been practicing two to three times a day since then.  Although there have been a few injuries and some sore muscles, we have all made it through the dreaded preseason and are excited to see our hard work pay off. 

Today we had our first scrimmage at Monmouth University.  We played one 35 minute period, two 15 minute periods, a 15 minute overtime period, and did two sets of 5 penalty strokes.  We started off a little rusty and got behind, but throughout the 11 v. 11 periods, we began to become more organized as a team.  In the 7 v. 7 overtime period, the team looked the best it had looked all day.  We were possessing the ball better and playing with more confidence.  Although we were disappointed at the end of the day, we had to remind ourselves that this is why we have preseason scrimmages.  This scrimmage just helped us to see what we need to work on in the remaining days leading up to our season opener.  Now we have a better idea of what we need to do as individuals and as a team to have success on the field.  After the scrimmage we went to Kalynn’s house which is very close to Monmouth and had a chance to relax and enjoy good food and good company.  It was nice to see the LUFH parents again and get a chance to catch up with our biggest fans.

Our next scrimmage is on Saturday at Drexel University and we will be playing a Dutch club team.  In the time leading up to the scrimmage, we will be able to get back to work and fix the problems that arose in the Monmouth scrimmage.  Our season opener is the following Saturday at Temple and by then we hope to have all of our kinks worked out and play a solid 70 minute game.  Ending last season as second in the Patriot League was an amazing accomplishment for the program and I know that we are all preparing to improve on last year’s record.

TO RETURN TO THE LEHIGH STUDENT-ATHLETE BLOGS HOME, CLICK HERE.