Sept. 27, 2004
Welcome to BaylorBears.com's newest feature, "The 91st Minute with April Robertson," a weekly journal throughout the soccer conference season by the senior midfielder. Join Robertson each week as she takes fans behind the scenes of the 2004 Baylor soccer team and shares her take on last week's game, this week's opponent and more.
Robertson, a senior from Round Rock, Texas, has played in every game for Baylor this throughout her career and is a two-time academic all-conference selection. During her career, she has scored nine goals, three for game-winners and has also added seven assists.
Check back often on BaylorBears.com for all of the latest news and stats on Baylor soccer and look for "The 91st Minute with April Robertson."
Entry #1: Texas A&M and Texas
Hello Everyone! This is the first of my 2004 conference season journal, and what a great weekend to start! We were excited last spring with the direction the team was moving and we were anxiously anticipating a strong freshman class. We worked so hard throughout pre-season and were quite optimistic about the upcoming conference year. Finally, the conference season was here and it began with a bang as we played two of our biggest rivals: Texas A&M on Friday night, followed by Texas on Sunday.
In order to get pumped up and put the importance of conference play in perspective for all the new players, the night before the game against the Aggies we had a team spaghetti dinner. Tiffany (Boshers), Katie (Chicoine) and Brittany (Kukendall) decorated their apartment with A&M napkins that had been blacked out and re-written with Sic 'Em. We got to share spaghetti as well as stories from the past and emphasize the importance of pre-game preparation and just stress the importance of the A&M rivalry to the newcomers on the team. It was good for the team and we were all ready to play.
Adrenaline was running high from the start of the match. Unfortunately, as has happened in some of our games this season, the Aggies scored an early goal off a shot that got a couple of lucky bounces. It was frustrating; but, we knew we were far from out of the game. We fought hard the last 75 minutes; and, we had multiple scoring opportunities, but we just couldn't quite connect. It was hard to swallow when that final whistle blew; but, we all knew if we happen to meet them in the Big XII Tournament, we would have a great shot at winning.
We parted Friday night and met back for a short time on Saturday morning with the last game behind us, completely focused on the game ahead. We watched film and ran through some different formations, knowing that nothing would taste better than knocking off Texas. In my three seasons we have never beaten the Longhorns; but, we felt like we had a great shot at winning the game this year.
It was a hot day; but, we were ready to attack from the start. As it has seemed all season, an early goal left us down by one; but, we fought back as Tiffany (Boshers) put in a great shot from within the box. The heat affected both teams as the second half stretched out scoreless; but, we took control and grasped the win 18 seconds into overtime when Anna (Schuch) finished a golden goal after poking it from the keepers reach.
We rushed the field and celebrated as we thanked our fans and sang "That Good Ol' Baylor Line." What a great feeling as I hugged Ginny (Rosario-Tull), my fellow senior and said, "We did it! We finally beat Texas our senior year!" I'm still glowing and excited that we finally have shown everyone else what we knew we could do all along. Thanks for all of the support because we could not have done it without the help of our great fans!
I can't wait for next weekend when we play Iowa State and Kansas. Sic 'Em Bears!
