Corrie Hirokawa, Road Trip Reflections
The Cal State Dominguez Hills women checked in at No. 25 this morning in the latest National Soccer Coaches Association of America’s poll in the wake of five-consecutive shutouts and a six-game unbeaten streak, including a double-overtime 0-0 draw Sept. 19 against then No. 2-ranked UC San Diego.
(The Toros men moved up six spots to No. 7 in the poll, by the way)
The women are led by forwards Corrie Hirokawa (North Torrance High) and Lakewood's Kelly Matosian (Long Beach City College), who have combined for 12 goals and seven assists, while goalkeeper Alyssa Congdon (South Torrance High) has allowed just two goals in seven games en route to a 0.29 GAA.
The women’s team plays at 7 o'clock tonight against Western Washington in Carson, so it's an apt time for Corrie to pen her second blog post for 100 Percent Soccer:
The Sept. 19 game against second-ranked UC San Diego was, as expected, a tough battle from start to finish with both teams creating scoring opportunities, but not capitalizing on them.
Our goalie Alyssa Congdon played an amazing game and tallied ten saves ,winning the CCAA player of the week award.
We also played Cal State L.A. and Cal State San Marcos, winning each by 3-0 scores to give us a six-game unbeaten streak where we’ve out-scored those six opponents by a 12-1 count.
Right now we are second in the south division and I believe that as a team we are starting to peak and beginning to play to our potential. I know there’s not a lot of time left in the regular season, so the game at UC San Diego on Oct. 10 will be huge.
But before we can start to look toward that match-up, there’s a lot of work to be done over this coming weekend.
We travel up to Sonoma State and Humboldt State and being a senior I know first hand that playing on the road is tough. As a captain I need to make sure that we are focused and ready to play our game.
Sitting in a bus for 6 to 12 hours, and then dealing with the opposing parents is horrible. Everyone loves playing in the comfort of their own facility. However, being a senior I am now realizing that even though traveling is at times tiresome, I am going to miss road trips.
Spending time in the hotel with my teammates and going out to team dinners is a lot of fun, and over the course of my three-plus years, I know that road trips bring teams together. I just hope that we use this weekend to create an even stronger bond on and off the field.
As one of the five four-year seniors on the team, I know the newcomers are looking to us to lead by example both in practice and in the games. All of the returning players are doing an excellent job day in and day out and the newcomers are really stepping up to the challenge and it’s great to see.
We have a solid team this year and I can’t wait to see what the second part of this season will bring.
Go Toros!
About 100 Percent Soccer
Sportswriter Nick Green has written the 100 Percent Soccer column since 2005 for the Daily News, Daily Breeze and other Los Angeles area newspapers. The blog of the same name began in 2007. A native of England, he began writing about soccer in the mid-1980s and in 2000 permanently exchanged a seat in the stands for one in the press box. He lives six miles from Carson's Home Depot Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA and the training headquarters for U.S. Soccer and is married to a long-suffering soccer widow. Join Nick on FaceBook and follow him on Twitter.
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