Happy Thanksgiving!

Since Thanksgiving is tomorrow, I wanted to share some pictures of two people that I am extremely thankful for: Caroline and Jack O'Keeffe. Caroline and Jack, four and two respectively, are Coach Carrie's children. They often make late game appearances on the sidelines during home games.



Caroline playing with Jacqueline Kozak









Web Updates

Hollins Soccer's official web pages have been updated. Click on the following links to see them:

2010 Season Recap

Coaches

Hollins Traditions: Ring Night

Ring night is an ever-evolving tradition in which seniors secretly adopt junior ring "sisters." The seniors take it as their responsiblity to make the juniors earn their class rings, thus making them participate in skits and other silly antics from Thursday night until Saturday night. After 48 hours of tasks and demands, the junior sisters learn who their senior sister is and recieve one of their four bottles of champagne which are given during each of the big traditions that students go through on their way to graduation.

Writing Odes and Top 5/10 Lists is a common task for the juniors. Here is a list that one of the players made for Coach Carrie:

Best 5 Things About Carrie
1. She is a defender.
2. She played professional soccer.
3. When 9 months pregnant, she can still run faster than you.
4. She is the perfect mom to her kids and players.
5. She is competitive with anyone who dares to challenge her.

Green Squashes Yellow in Powder Puff Contest

Las Green-gas Locas were unstoppable. Loaded with talent and excellent coaching, Green defeated Yellow by a score of 47-42 in Saturday's powder puff football game. The green team included soccer players Ashlie Caldwell, Alicia Johns, Dani Franklin, Sarah Knox, and Kristen Norkus, while soccer player Kelly Hunt was the key factor for keeping Yellow in the game. Emily Plecker was either a no-show for Green or she was covered in camoflauge and was not visible to the naked eye.

Trick plays were in abundance for both teams as they treated the fans to gems like hidden ball tricks, misdirection runs, flea-flickers and the armadillo. "They certainly had some good plays, but our aggressive gameplan paid off in the end," said green team defensive coordinator and volleyball coach Jason Kozak. Touchdown celebrations were another highlight of the game as both teams showed creativity and originality after their scores. Offensive coordinator and soccer coach Landon Moore credited the win to his team taking advantage of their opportunities: "The turning point of the game was the 5-point dance-off that we won. We have been working hard all year and making sure that we are covering every detail in practice, and it showed during that dance-off." Lacrosse coach Randy Polito officiated the game and did a horrible job -- according to this reporter, that is the only reason the game was so close.

celebrating the win

Offseason Workout in Full Swing

Hollins Soccer is doing something new for its offseason workout. Sarah Otey, assistant athletic director, has implemented the Vegas Pro workout system. The system closely resembles adjustable gymnastics rings, and can be used for a full-body strength training workout.  Research has demonstrated that suspension training results in strength gains equivalent to those seen in traditional strength training, and core stability and balance gains that far exceed those seen in traditional strength training. Studies have shown that this form of exercise training improve balance, kicking velocity, and torso stabilization. See the video in the link to see one of the exercises in motion.

Video:Vegas Pro Lunges

The Hollins soccer team had it's end of season banquet on Friday night. In addition to celebrating the program's most wins since 1991, the following awards were given:

Most Improved - Hannah Smith
Best Rookie - Ashlie Caldwell, Dani Franklin, Sarah Knox, Becca Logan, and Morgan Wood
MVP - Erica Smith
Tally Cup - Becca Logan