Corrie Hirokawa, Final Whistle Blows on Her College Career

Corrie Hirokawa ended the season with nine goals and nine assists for the 14-5-4 Cal State Dominguez Hills women, the highest points total on the team. This is her final post for 100 Percent Soccer.

Our 2007 college soccer season has finally come to an end.

I will never play in a competitive college soccer match again, and believe me, that is hard to swallow.

We traveled up to Seattle for the first round of the NCAA playoffs to face UC San Diego once again.

We battled hard and never stopped fighting even when it went into overtime.

With only one minute left in the first overtime I passed the ball to Yvonne Vasquez and she sent it right into the net.

The way I felt at that moment is what I will always remember about playing college soccer.

I was so proud of the team and of all the hard work we put in together to win that game.

It was a fight from start to finish and we never gave up. After the game I started crying because I was so physically and emotionally exhausted.

Those feelings of intense passion for the game of soccer are what I will always cherish.

Of course I am going to try to play on other teams, but nothing will ever compare to my years playing for Cal State Dominguez Hills.

The final match of my senior season was against Seattle Pacific, which was ranked second in the nation.

Their record was 20-0, a perfect season, and going into that match, although I knew it was going to be a tough battle, I had faith in the team that we were going to give it our best shot.

SPU was a great team and beat us 3-0, but our team never gave up.

Seattle Pacific worked well as a team and was ahead by three goals at the beginning of the second half.

When I looked at the game clock during the final minutes of the match, I knew that we were going to lose the game, but we did not stop fighting. And in my eyes that says a lot about our character.

Even though my season came to an end, I wasn't upset with the effort we put in against Seattle Pacific.

And I have had a tremendous four years of college soccer and have made beautiful friendships and memories that will last forever.

Life without college soccer brings tears to my eyes, but it has been a pleasure playing with my teammates and playing against some of the best players in the nation.

I will now look forward to what the rest of my life has in store for me.

Thank you for reading my blog posts. It has been fun!

And as always, GO TOROS!

Corrie Hirokawa, #9