Stickin' With Sam

Gabi Wiegand and I before a school social event.

We lost to Towson 23-12 on Saturday, which was a rough game, even though I scored a goal. I hit the post three times — I don’t think I’ve ever hit the post that many times in a row. Maybe once or twice, but not three times.

But today I want to talk about one of my teammates. Her name is Gabi Wiegand and she’s one of my best friends on the team, even though she stole the uniform No. 9, which I’ve always worn since volleyball as a freshman at Darien.

It’s definitely a new experience being a freshman all over again, back to the duties. It’s different going from being a senior to back to the bottom again, especially at a new school and so far away from home.

I think it’s awesome how all the freshmen came to school and clicked right away. I feel like we’ve known each other forever and not just met six months ago. We basically do everyting together, from lacrosse, to hanging out in down time, to going to the dining hall. We’re basically together 24/7.

Gabi is awesome. It’s really cool. It’s weird knowing I played her roommate’s team, Farmingdale, in high school, and now we’re such good friends at the same college. I think we both have very similar personalities. We mess around all the time, make jokes. We are weird and funny at the same time.

Gabi played in the Under Armour All-America game with my former Darien teammate Courtney Bennett. Finding out stuff like that after going to school now, it’s such a small world.

I love playing with her. We both see each other, but I need to pick my head up more when we play. Being from Long Island, she is very good with her stick skills, and it makes me want to pick up my game more.

There is never a moment where we don’t know what to say. It’s never awkward. And she is the person I trust most on the team, not just with lacrosse but on a personal level.

In fact, Gabi found out about my blog and wanted in on it, and is so excited to be a guest speaker that I am going to let her say a few words.

Gabi: I feel like I never call Sam by her name. We call her Stevie, because that’s her nickname. We have another Sam on the team so Anne Ryan, who is also from Darien, came up with the nickname and it just kind of stuck from there.

Me, Stevie and her roommmate Kara all became best friends at the beginning of the year. Stevie was the one who would always come home early at first, and so it was more at the end of first semester when she would hang out more and we became best friends.

I think we both feed off each other’s personalities. We are very similar. I’m always laughing and she’s always laughing and we’re like fools when we are with each other. She always carries positive energy about her so it’s something I’d want to be around.

Stevie’s great with lacrosse. We have different styles of play, which helps with our attack. Stevie is a really hard worker and she has a really sick roll. I love playing with her. You can tell she has such a passion for her sport but I really like her tenacity. She is very aggressive and always wants the ball on her stick.

We also hang out with the same group of guy friends, which makes it easier for us to hang out together. We also have the same relationship with the guys we hang out with. We are both like one of the guys.

Sam’s just awesome and I love her.

OK, I’m back. I’m looking forward to opening up conference play at home against Temple on Friday. I can’t wait.

I’ll tell you about the game, and I am sure you are going to get to meet more of my teammates in the weeks ahead.

We played Old Dominion on Wednesday and beat them 14-10. I scored the first goal of the game. Gabi Wiegand, one of my best friends and another freshman, scored three goals. I am going to tell you more about her next week.

We were excited by the warm weather. When we got there it was 65 degrees and it felt like Florida. We have had problems getting off to a slow start, talking about what we need to change but not really doing it. At halftime the coaches said re-evaulate what you need to do because it was not acceptable.

We were down 6-3 at halftime to a team we knew we were more talented then. When we came out to start the second half we were pumped, and knew we were so much better and needed to prove it to ourselves and to our coaches. We came together as a team, scored a lot and came out with a win. It was definitely the best half of lacrosse we have played so far.

I was pleased with how I played when I was in the game. The refs were high school level — one of them had worked one of my teammate’s high school games — and they made some unreasonable calls. I got called for two charges and I hadn’t been called yet in college for a charge.

One thing my father has said, because the level of play is much more aggressive in college than in high school, is to explore what it takes to get a charge, to see how far I can go without getting a penalty. It usually takes a lot more than what I did.

I was really bothered by the penalties because I got taken out of the game after the second one. I don’t like getting calls on me that I did not deserve.

The one thing I have noticed so far is, I am naturally a very aggressive person and like a physcial game. The college game is definitely more physcial than high school, but it all depends on the referees that you have. I’m still feeling my way about what you can and can’t do.

I’m just really happy we came out with the win and really stepped it up in the second half.

We are on spring break right now and it is weird being on campus with only three other teams here and no one else. It is kind of a little boring.

Our team has actually done a great job occupying our nights. Last night we did a scavenger hunt, which was a lot of fun. The juniors organized it — it is a tradition every spring break — and they pick teams and each team has to dress up, and we are given clues, and each clue leads to another clue. Then we have to take pictures of us doing certain acts — like being in a Taco Bell wearing the hat and apron and standing with the guy behind the counter — and you get points for how creative you are.

Our team was the Jersey Shore theme, so we dressed up like all the people on the show. We were wearing a lot of makeup and bronzer to look tan, and we all pouffed our hair. We mimicked what they look like. We drew on fake tattoos.

We play again tomorrow, so hopefully I’ll have another win to write about.

I’m excited that we got our first win under our belt, on Wednesday against American. Although it wasn’t a very good game, we know what to improve on and go from there.

It was nice to get that first win, although I wasn’t completely satisfied with the way I played. I just felt like I didn’t get the chance to show all that I have. Even though I scored a goal, I felt like I could have done more. My shooting wasn’t accurate and I need to be more creative and confident with my play.

My coach hasn’t specifically said anything to me about my play but I know she looks at me and the other freshmen to help lead the attack. She knows my ability and wants me to do as well as I can.

I know I am nervous about making mistakes and when I think about it, what happens, I make a mistake. I still need to be more confident in myself. I think in general I’m not always as confident as I should be in a lot of things.

I still think the team needs to improve on not being afraid when it is game time. We all kind of make stupid little mistakes when we start the game, little turnovers, and think it is because everyone is afraid to make a mistake.

We’re looking forward to our next game on Wednesday against Old Dominion and hopefully get a little winning streak going. I think we have the ability to do very well in our conference. It all depends if we show up on game day.

Now that games have started, I’m a little more tired at the end of the day and it is harder to get motivated to do my school work, though I always get it done. It has definitely hindered my social life. I haven’t gone out in a while.

Everyone is going away for spring break starting today and I really wish I could be joining them. The baseball and basketball teams are still here and so there will be people on campus, though it will be weird being the only freshman in the dorm. So it will be just me and my roommate Kara alone. And least I’ll get to sleep in and have some time to myself.

I’ll talk to you all next week, hopefully after another win!