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Sykes and Sounds Senior captain Kim Sykes leads the 2009 UC women's soccer team on and off the field. A Cincinnati native, Kim will keep Bearcats fans up to date on the UC soccer program throughout the 2008-09 season. Fans can email Kim here! Be sure to include your name and hometown.
A Hard Goodbye Honey Bees......in New Jersey After our win last Sunday against Connecticut, it looks like we are right on track toward getting into the Big East Conference Tournament, and that is why we are trying to get two more wins this weekend so we can secure a spot. Right now I'm in our hotel room in New Jersey with my roommate, Sydney Barker. We were excited to room together because we have already become really good friends since we play next to each other on the field, and we also lift together during the week. As far as the Connecticut game goes, we had to deal with a lot of things that we did not have control over - injuries ranging from a prolific goal scorer to an outside back before the game had even started, as well as in-game injuries that left us having two forwards playing in our back line. But we knew we didn't have control over these things, and our team is really positive and we know that we don't just depend on one or two people. Still, we remained composed the entire game against UConn... which really seemed to make a big difference in our finishing of opportunities. Specifically, I think of when Biggie scored - she just looked like she knew she was going to, and was so calm as she shot the ball and it hit the back of the net.....after all, what better way is there to score, but coolly and confidently, like you knew you were all along, anyway? We are not cocky, but when we step on the field, we come to win, and we don't just hope that we will. After the win it was nice because we had a team cookout, with all the parents and family that had come in to watch the game, as well as some of the fans. We had so much food and so we all were excited to eat with family and teammates and celebrate the win. After the cookout, we all headed back to our apartments and houses. For me, it was time to do my homework. Besides the tie and the win this past weekend, we found out at practice on Tuesday that Kristin May had been honored for her weekend performance by being named to the BIG EAST honor roll. It was nice to see her get some acknowledgement considering a lot of our goals and opportunities lately have been because of her play. She really deserves it because she has been such a great leader for us this year and really gives our offense its momentum. I can't believe I'm almost done playing with awesome players like her forever! Anyway, right now Syd and I are just doing some homework in the hotel. We are also watching some ESPN, of course. Yesterday we actually left Cincinnati in the morning and got to New Jersey in the afternoon. The flight was not that bad, especially considering I was sitting next to Kay Young, a.k.a. the Amish Assassin. If you don't know what I'm talking about, maybe you will get lucky if you ask her and she will tell you. Anyway, when we were on the flight, we started to get a little hungry, and we knew the team lunch was still in a few hours. "I'm kinda hungry, I wonder if we get snacks on the plane," I said to Kay. She turned to me and said, "OH, don't worry, because I have plenty of snacks!" And she was not lying! She got out granola bars, some trail mix, and then finally she pulled out a bag with what looked like little graham crackers in it. "Oh, nice!" I said, thinking they were Teddy Grahams. Then Kay told me how actually, they were Honey Maid Bees... "Oh, Honey Maid Bees?" I asked. I had never heard of them before and I was questioning whether I would like them. She told me that they were, actually, to her surprise. She explained how her mom had come last weekend to see our games and she had gotten Kay some groceries to take home to the dorm. When Kay saw what her mom got her, she was excited about everything, and then got to the Honey Maid Bees. "Mom, what ARE these?" Kay had asked, suspiciously. She said that she got mad at her mom for getting her the bees, and not something else that she knew she would like, like Teddy Grahams, instead of the unknown bees... Well, later in the week, though, Kay eventually got around to trying the bees and realized they were delicious....and quite addictive! Anyway, the story ends with Kay calling her mom and apologizing .... and telling her mom how good they really were. I'm sure her mom forgave her...what would we do without our moms - they are so good to us sometimes! Needless to say, me and Kay munched on some of the honey bees the rest of the flight. Later in the day, after arriving, we had a light practice at the Seton Hall field. After we saw the field we are playing on today, we went out for another meal at UNO's. I know a lot of the parents are coming in this weekend and they are on their way now as we speak. Heather Neiser just texted me and told me she has just arrived at the hotel! I have also heard a rumor that the parents set up a day of sight-seeing and pizza tomorrow - so who knows what is true, but I'm sure we will be having some fun tomorrow as well. Anyway, I'm off to our pre-game meal. Check in later to see what we really end up doing tomorrow and how we do against Seton Hall. #5 Go `Cats, Kim Sykes
Rival Tonight, Rival Next Week September 12, 2008
Tonight we play one of UC's oldest rivalries, Xavier University. I just got back from our pre-game meal and pretty soon I'll be heading to the locker room, and then head off to XU because the game is at their place.
So far today it has been a bit rainy.... but considering how we have played a couple of games in the rain this season, our team is ready to play no matter the conditions. That is one thing about our team - while the other team may whine about the field, the weather, or anything else, we don't whine, complain, or let it affect our mentality.
Speaking of rainy weather, when we beat Miami University last week it had been a little rainy right before the game as well...so needless to say, as the game went on, the field got a bit torn up. Despite how the game got pretty ugly at times, we still won in overtime. It was one of those games that despite having the other team score on us, I knew we were going to win - it was just that instinctual feeling we had when we looked at each other and came together in our huddle.
After Kendall Loggins scored the goal for us off a cross into the box during the overtime period, she had landed on the ground. Immediately we all ran over to her to congratulate her and to just celebrate our victory. Before I knew it, we were all on top of Kendall and she was still on the ground, pretty much unable to even stand up... it was funny to see, and once I realized I was basically holding her down on the ground, I helped her up and we celebrated some more.
Anyway, this week we have been preparing for the BIG EAST schedule that lies ahead, meaning the Friday-Sunday game schedule that we will be following starting next week against Louisville. I'm sure you are aware, but they are another rivalry, except this one being within our conference, which ups the stakes.
In my down time during the week I have been settling down in my new apartment, finally able to get my Internet connection set up and write this blog. Also during all my free time, since we aren't in school yet, I watched the movie 300 and I thought it was pretty good...
Even though this week we have had the BIG EAST games in the back of our mind, for now we are of course focused on tonight's game, where we will give XU nothing, and take from them everything. (A quote adapted from the movie 300!) Tonight we will be just like the Spartans in the movie 300...united as one against our opponent. If you haven't seen it, just come to our game and you'll understand.
Come cheer us on this weekend or next,
Kim Sykes #5
Bearcats Soccer This Week... So far this week we have been preparing for our next game this Friday. After our game Sunday, we had a day off on Monday. The game was a disappointing loss, especially since we dominated. As for our off-days, usually that means people who have minor (or major) injuries come in for treatment, and the rest of the team goes to the cold pool so that their legs recover. It is also important for us after games to get a good meal in us, as well as to stay hydrated after our games and into the next day, which is often an off-day for us. Heather Neiser: Rock of Love?
August 23, 2008 Thursday morning our team ate some breakfast together while watching the US Women's National team beat Brazil in the finals of the Olympics. We got to watch it on a movie theatre size screen in Lindner so that was a pretty awesome way to watch history take place. It was quite a game and we know we can never watch too much soccer since it only means we simply keep learning more about tactics and the game in general. After that, it was time for our last practice of preseason! We changed in the locker room and headed to Gettler Stadium, and had a great practice before our first season game on Friday against BGSU. Then we had a little down time to relax and do our own thing, and then headed to Coach Kouns' house for a team dinner and a team bonding activity. As soon as we arrived, we had a feast. Our buffet-style meal included turkey, mashed potatoes, spaghetti and meatballs, bread, salad, stuffing and some dessert - and I may even be forgetting some! We always get a wide variety of food so we can just pick and choose what we want. Then it was time for the team activity which involved trusting our teammates, communication and the frustrations that can come with it, and of course just some intense competition between teammates. The activity is a little complicated to explain, but in the end my team consisting of Kay, Deja, Hebbeler, Lisa Clark and Smo actually won! Apparently we have some Cheesecake Factory cheesecake heading our way because of our victory.... Friday morning came fast, and we had a light walk-through in the morning. My mom has asked what exactly a walk-through is before...so let me explain. Basically, after we get a light jog in, as well as a stretch, we'll hit the ball around a bit and then the main part of the "walk through" takes place. We set up in our usual formation and then go through a couple of tactical situations, usually offensive, since we are a team that attacks going forward - all of which takes place without any defenders. It's like having a game plan, at the same time as loosening up for the game and starting to reign in your focus on what you are going to be doing that night. And, of course, then we may do some shooting in a drill we named "Maple" in honor of the Canadians on the team. Later that day, it was time for our pre-game meal where we all get food we individually pre-ordered. We are pretty spoiled, I'll admit! I sat next to Andrea Bouldin, a keeper in my grade who has battled injuries throughout her career at UC. Bo, as we call her (or Princess Bo), is such a positive person on our team. Despite her setbacks and injuries, she is always looking out for the team, and helping out at practice. Let me tell you, that is not an easy thing to do! If I get a minor injury or if someone is a little hurt at practice, she is always very thoughtful about them and just pays attention to little details about people. Even though she can't play in goal right now, she still makes a difference on our team! After we finished eating together, most people usually go back to their rooms and do whatever they want with the remaining time before we go to our locker room and get ready. Once we are in the locker room, we played music to pump us up, of course, just like always. When game time came around, I could tell our team was excited to play and was ready to set it off, as me and Neiser like to say. In other words, we were ready to dominate and to get our official first win of the season. I get so pumped up when putting on the Bearcats jersey and coming out to play, and this game was no exception. At one point in the game, I turned to Boomer and just said, "Wow, we are dominating." We ended up winning 3-1, the best part being that we had even more chances than that score reflected and also some other statistics that mean a lot to our team that I won't really go into. I loved how in the game Heather Neiser, aka Neisaaaa, scored our first goal....I say that not because I am surprised - because I know she will score many this year - but because she is representing for the back line. Now let me tell you something about Neiser going into this story...she is a very light-hearted person, who is quite simply one of the most charismatic people you will ever meet and someone who is always smiling. She also has a sense of humor about herself and has no problem laughing at herself... So anyway, some time last year we were hanging out, as always, and we were looking through some pictures that Logan Ballinger's mom had taken of our team. I didn't notice it at first, but after awhile Heather showed me how in every picture her hand was doing what can best be described as that signal people make at rock concerts when they are screaming out "ROCK ON" or something like that. Another way to describe it is that hand motion that someone on the reality show called Rock of Love would make when they saw Bret Michaels while simultaneously screaming ... If you have not see the show, then refer back to the image of someone shouting and getting excited at a rock concert. But, needless to say, in every picture, her hands are in this funny position where her ring finger, her pinky, and her thumb are extended and her other fingers are down, hidden behind the palm of her hand. But why is this funny, you ask? I will tell you why this is in fact very, very funny. What makes it humorous is that the fact that Heather never looks like this in the game, or mid-action, for those of us who have seen her play countless times. Not just in games, but also in practice, I can honestly say I have never seen her making a signal meant for Bret Michaels. Never. Ever. And I have played next to her for two-plus years. So the fact that me, as well as no one else, have seen her doing this signal, yet in EVERY picture she consistently has her hands that way, we just can't get over! Naturally, on some of our marketing posters that show our season schedule with picture of players on the team, Heather, Jo Jo and Boomer are shown. When these posters were first revealed about two weeks ago, here is a sample of my mental responses to each of the girls' pictures. Boomer: "Wow, she looks pretty intense there. I think she is about to set it off on the player she is about to dribble by. I almost feel bad for them." Jo Jo: "I bet Jo Bird just stole that ball from her mark, in a scrappy situation that she made for herself, and is now dribbling down field. Also, I think she will like this picture of her." Neisa: "HER HANDS!" We laughed for so long when we saw them, perfectly in the Bret-Michaels-Rock-of-Love weird hand gesture. How does this relate to the game? After Heather scored her first goal, she looked so shocked and so ecstatic, rightfully so... She started running back toward midfield, and at the same time we are all running toward her to congratulate her. As soon as I start to approach her, I see her hands making the rock-on gesture!!! In fact, we all did! It was hilarious because we figure that there is no time more likely than after scoring a goal when a photographer will take your picture, and once again, she was making the gesture that we thought she never really makes....good times, good times. On a more serious note, after the game, a ball girl for the game told me that she was number 5, like me, and that I was her favorite player. She actually currently plays on my old club team, and she said that while she loves that club (Ohio Elite Soccer Academy), she likes UC even more. I love this girl, I thought! I told her that one day she can play for UC, too, which I do believe is possible. Of course I signed her t-shirt when she asked and it once again made me proud to play for Cincinnati and made me appreciate being able to wear my jersey. We all are so lucky to be able to say we are athletes representing Cincinnati, and UC. Tomorrow we will play Wright State University, and the game is at 1 p.m. I hope the RallyCats show up because I really love when they come to our games - I saw them at our last game and I hope they know how much we love our fan base! Come see another exciting game tomorrow or just to see Heather Neiser's Rock of Love goal celebration, and check back in soon to the blog, Kim Sykes #5
August 11, 2008 Today is our first exhibition game of the season -- an away match at Western Carolina. Yesterday we drove down, stopping in Knoxville for lunch, and arriving here in North Carolina at 5 p.m. We hit the field, had a light practice and went over some of our game plan. Then it was once again time to eat. We had a laid-back team dinner at a local restaurant called Bogart's and by the time we were done we were ready to go to sleep. Before we left the restaurant, though, the waitress told Coach Michelle that we were the best-mannered team she had ever served! We are professional, but that was a nice compliment. After we traveled through what seemed like an entire mountain range, we arrived at our hotel. The team showered, had a meeting, watched Michael Phelps and his teammates win Gold, and hit the sheets. This morning we woke up in our little cabins we are staying in (really more like hotel rooms that look like cabins) and we had some breakfast. While we were eating, someone asked Emac and Biggie where Canada was at the Olympics, of course teasing the two Canadians, since they felt Canada hadn't been winning much. Erin's response was that since we are in the US, they don't like to show Canadian athletes as much, of course. It was a good laugh. Coach Amanda said that when she went to the store to get us the breakfast food she saw someone who said they were a graduate of UC in the 1960's...pretty cool seeing UC grads cheering us on everywhere we go, even in Cashiers, North Carolina. It is really beautiful and serene where we are staying which is nice when you are on the road and away from home... We are about to go on a short jog and stretch through the walking trail at our hotel! Then we will have some down time where we will likely continue to watch the Olympics and hydrate for the game this evening. Western Carolina has Bermuda grass, which is awesome, so we are excited and ready to win. Come back to read more about the UC women's team,
So Far in Preseason.... August 8, 2008 So far, we have already been on campus for four days. Our first day, we all got to meet each other and we got some of the meetings out of the way. All around, it is a really exciting preseason this year. After all the meetings we had, I feel like we have a really close-knit, goal-driven family at UC, and I don't mean just the players, I mean our support staff as well. Speaking of staff, we have a new assistant coach, Amanda Martin, who actually came in during the summer, but some of the players are just getting to know her. She is going to be working with the keepers and helping them be their best so that we can win a Big East Championship. Other news is that we will be having a former professional soccer player helping us get better, Kyle Swords. Besides these additions, we just have a ton of people working around us, like our manager Erica, the equipment room personnel, our weight lifting coaches, our trainers... the list goes on! Come back to the blog soon for more stories,
Kim Sykes #5
Jo.....Bird August 4, 2008 Today is the day before preseason officially starts. For those that don't know, before our first game ever year, all the college soccer teams across the nation have practices, often consisting of two-a-days, as well as exhibition games, to get ready for the season that follows. Tonight we are having what we call a "captain's practice," where basically anyone who is able comes out to our home field, Gettler Stadium, and we have a light practice. It is a really good way for freshpersons (as Michelle likes to call the newcomers) to get to know some of the upperclassmen. It also gives us an opportunity to talk to teammates we haven't seen all summer. I know I've personally seen a lot of my teammates this summer, in part due to how I played on a summer team with Boomer, JoJo, Emac and Neiser. We actually ended up being runners-up at regionals, which means we almost got to go compete at Nationals but unfortunately in the final game we lost in a shootout, despite being up 2-0 at one point. Anyway, since we have been playing together this summer we have seen each other pretty consistently throughout the break. In fact, late in the summer, some of those same players (JoJo, Boomer and I) traveled east to play with Dre and Biggie on their summer team in West Virginia. We were really excited that they invited us to play with them because they had been practicing on a W-League team called the West Virginia Illusion so we were honored to play at that level, and of course see some of our teammates we hadn't seen for awhile. On the way back after our second game, it was dark out and Lindsey was driving. I was next to her in the front seat being a navigator, and Smo - who is injured but came along to cheer us on - and JoJo were in the back seat of the car. About a third of the way through the trip, we were driving along when we see something small in the road, right in front of us. Turns out it was a skunk, which we learned you don't have to hit in order for them to smell. But minutes later, there was an even more dangerous obstacle in the way. As we were almost driving what seemed to be downhill on the highway, we all see a deer in our lane, point blank in front of us, just standing in the road not moving. We all saw it at the same time, staring at us, about to die. We were so close to the deer and there was nothing we could really do in that little amount of time to react....well I guess, I didn't do anything.... Boomer, with her cat-like reflexes, started to swerve the car to avoid hitting the animal. Then, behind me in the back seat, I hear JoJo yell out "BIIIIIIIIIRDDDD!!!!!!!" It was the only thing she could yell out in that quick of time to try to warn Boomer, even though Boomer had seen it at pretty much the same time. All within a second of this, mind you, Boomer's instincts kicked in and she honked the horn to try to get the deer to move instead of just staying there in our path, with us inevitably hitting it. Meanwhile, as we are still swerving to get out of the way of the deer, Smo says in a cool, matter-of-fact tone: "You know, Boomer, you really aren't supposed to honk your horn when the deer is in front of you like that." By the time Smo said her words of wisdom, we had actually just avoided the deer. And right as we did avoid it, we all couldn't stop laughing. First off, JoJo had reacted to seeing the deer by yelling what had came to her mind first - and yelled bird. Who yells bird when they see a deer? JO BIRD does. And the way she yelled it was hilarious - a long, drawn out BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRD, despite the fact that it was clearly a four-legged animal standing in the road. Then, what was possibly even funnier was how Smo had so calmly instructed Boomer that ACTUALLY, honking her horn at the deer was not what was right to do, while we were still heading toward the deer, not even after we had avoided it, but while we still looked like we might hit it! Smo's comment was hilarious. All in all, we were lucky to avoid hitting the deer and we also learned from Smo an important lesson about deer and honking your horn. Also, Jo Jo - for the time being -- is now simply Jo Bird. Come back soon, #5 May 19, 2008 It all came down to hand ball. I don't remember who did it, but maybe if my team hadn't stopped playing once someone on the team we had played hand-balled it, we could have won that fateful game last Friday in the first annual UC Women's Soccer Cookie Cup. But instead, we stopped for a moment, and the other team scored their winning goal. Unfortunately for my team, comprised of Melissa "Biggie" Bigg, Kristin May, Ellen Parker, Kendall Loggins, and myself, that hand ball resulted in us being eliminated from the first annual tournament held between our team in the spring....or at least we like to use that as our excuse. The prize for the winner of this three-day tournament: a large, chocolate chip cookie. For our team, that makes the stakes pretty high. The rumor is that it is made by Coach Salmon herself, but I don't know if that is entirely true. (It has yet to be eaten.) What happened with the hand ball incident is probably not even remembered by the two other teams that day, but it is remembered by my team...trust me. To put the whole thing in perspective, by day three my team had somehow found itself in third place behind team one -- Brindle, Camille, Neiser, EMac, and Chelsea, and team two -- Ballinger, Clark, Noteboom, JoJo, and Coach Kouns. Well, Friday was the day we knew we could make a comeback. Biggie tried inspiring the team by telling us how much she wanted the cookie. "If we don't win, I'm gonna go buy a cookie," she was heard telling her teammates during their warm-up. Maybe it was this type of hypothetical talk - just thinking about if we lost -- that lead to our eventual third place...I'll never know. But even though we may not sound like we were positive, we actually were a really positive team. We had a good warm-up. We won our first game. And we knew that a comeback was clearly possible, since it had happened to team one a day earlier, who had been called "terrible" and "out of it" by sources close to the team. Needless to say, in two games out of three, we lost two, despite having won the first game. Like I said, perhaps the referee was at fault because of a miscalled hand ball, that was clearly a hand ball. But you can't really blame the outcome of the game on the referee.... In the end, one thing could not be denied for team three: we were eliminated first. I was not happy on the sideline. And neither were my teammates. Even if we didn't get the cookie, we just wanted to play. We decided to cheer for the other teams, though, since we had no other option. In the end, team one actually came away with the victory, despite Logan Ballinger's impressive tournament performance (on team two) which I think had her scoring all of her team's goals! The day after the Cookie Cup ended, we had our alumni game, which reminds me of how much I miss all the graduates. I love seeing the alumnae and seeing what they have been up to. They are all so busy and are doing such great things these days. It was nice for them to be able to see our team play and afterward we got to chat with them for a bit at the cookout. The next game we play will be in our season next fall and we couldn't be more excited. Come back soon to the blog! Kim Sykes #5 May 5, 2008 It has been awhile since I have written and many things have happened on our team since I last wrote...all good of course. The weekend before last we had a game against Xavier and we won 2-1. Logan Ballinger was playing defensive center mid and scored one of the goals with her "club" as we now call it since her left-footed shot hurts very much if you are in the way. It is also funny because her left-footed shot is kind of a curve ball that literally swerves in the air and is impossible to predict/stop. Our second goal was by my twin (not really) Kendall Loggins who is also my lifting partner, which probably has nothing to do with her goal, but it was still a nice goal right in front of the net. Heebeler Elf (Emily Hebbeler) also had a good game at defense, as did Stephanie Brindle. Even though we had been scored on first, we didn't put our heads down and we reacted positively to the goal and found a way to get two goals to come back and win. Since then we have had some team activities that have gotten a little crazy, and I am actually quite disappointed in my team's results, as I know Coach Chris is, too. What I mean is that last week we played some touch football - even though Dre wanted to play real football, crazy keeper - and when I arrived late from class my team was already down 21-0. Mind you, I arrived at most twenty minutes late so I was pretty worried about what was going on...Was it our team chemistry? Was it a break-down on defense? Was Chris launching throws like he thought we had Chad Johnson on our team? The way it b broke down was that basically, half the team was on the team Chris was quarterbacking, and the other half of the team was on the team Michelle was quarterbacking. Secretly, I was a little intimidated during the whole game because apparently my text message to Heather Neiser saying "Bring out my turfs because I have shoes on I can't run in" meant very little and I was marking Vanessa Hardin. If you aren't understanding why this was a problem, maybe you should come to one of our games and see. Anyway, thanks to team manager Ken Stuff, we ended up intercepting like three throws and came back. All of a sudden the score changed to 4-3 which I found confusing, but I guess for others who didn't really understand the game of football it was simpler. I could tell Chris' competitive side was coming out. He was not happy that our team had one problem....marking up. I'm not gonna lie, it was kind of frustrating. Like the time he yelled out twice "Who has Lindsey Noteboom?" to which no one replied and then Michelle threw her a fifty yard pass that she caught and ran in for a touchdown with no one near her... besides Ken, of course. We had a chance near the end but who knows what went wrong...needless to say, I was not happy when Coach Michelle's team somehow won despite how we clearly had the advantage with Ken and Chris on our team. But I didn't fear because, as Ken would remind me, we had a game on Friday to make it up. All day Friday I was wondering what the competition would be. Rumors were going around the locker room that it was a scavenger hunt. Interesting, I thought. After Coach Salmon showed up five minutes late, which is very un-Salmon-like, we decided to give her a call. Personally, I knew it was because she was scared of my team because we were about to dominate her team...and, it was double or nothing so that meant we could really come back and have the title of champions. In the end, it was a game of kickball. I won't go into details of how my team lost by more than twenty runs... it wasn't pretty. Logan Ballinger catches the ball funny, though, and this time, Chris wasn't on the team so he couldn't become frustrated with our poor skills. All I know is that our team, specifically Kristin May, tended to kick the ball back when we were on defense instead of the traditional catch and throw to the bases method, which seemed to work for the other team. I would say MVP for the other team would have gone to Lindsey Noteboom because she hit a home run like every time. Out of pity, I would give Ellen Parker some sort of award like fair-play award because everyone kept hitting her hard with the ball as she was running the bases. I told our trainer, Amanda, to start giving everyone really bad, fast and bouncy pitches, but she was just too kind of a person to do it. Well, check back in soon because there are more fun stories to come. #5 Kim Sykes
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