Aug. 22, 2007

DAYTON, Ohio - Senior midfielder Kristen Persichini recaps the days leading up to the Flyers big 5-0 win last Saturday against the London City Supernova in her third journal update of the preseason. Stay tuned for more updates this week leading into Dayton's final exhibition match of the season at Michigan on Saturday, August 25 at 1 p.m. ET.

Friday, August 17, 2007
Again we had early morning breakfast and then a 9 a.m. practice, but we were hoping practice would be a little easier since we had a game the next day. We worked on free kicks and corner kicks. These are always my favorite drills because I love to get in on them and finish. Our team used to be famous for finishing on free kicks, and I hope that we can get back to that.

Our afternoon practice was on our famous Baujan field. It was hot, but it felt so nice to be able to play again on such a nice surface. We practiced our game warm-up and also played a little. That night we had team dinner at Nothing but Noodles. It is a great pasta joint right by campus. And the best thing about it was that Coach Tucker bought! (Our team loves Tucker bucks). We had lifting that night, but we just practiced our 40 and 20 yard sprints. It was a nice break. Then we were all off to bed early, because we had our first game to look forward to.

Saturday, August 18, 2007
Today is game day. We went to Bob Evans for breakfast, always one of my favorite places. We ate as a team and then went home. Everyone rested up for the big scrimmage. We were playing London City Supernova from Canada. They are a club team and much younger then most of us, so we hoped to beat them.

We play three thirty minute periods. In the first period we didn't play that well. We worked hard but needed to capitalize. Our defense was barely tested though which was nice. By the time we got to the third period we were picking up the intensity. We made runs off the ball and finished. The final score was 5-0 and it was nice to start the season off with a win. Scrimmages are always nice to give everyone a chance to play and show the coaches what we can do on the field. I can't wait for the next game against Michigan. It is going to be a true test!

Fans can continue to follow the UD women's soccer preseason on www.DaytonFlyers.com.