In her fourth year of eligibility, Humber Hawks Captain, Joanna Alexopulos, and her teammates have found their way back to the CCAA National Championship tournament for the first time since the 2001-02 season. This season was a stellar one for Joanna on the pitch and was subsequently recognized as a CCAA All-Canadian.

Her soccer resume is impressive, spending time as member of the Canadian Under-17 National Team and at the University of Memphis as a member of the Tigers squad. She has also spent time as a member of the Toronto Lynx of the W-League prior to Humber. Last season she was named to the OCAA Championship All-Star team as a defender and this season in BC, will look to add some CCAA national championship hardware to her collection.

Follow Joanna as she blogs about her time out west and her team’s “GO BIG OR GO HOME” run at a National Championship title.

HUMBER HAWKS - GO BIG OR GO HOME

November 3, 2008

Before we boarded the plane the anticipation to play soccer began in the hallways at Toronto Pearson airport. We arrived in BC around 2:30 pm. The combination of the 4 and a half hour flight and 2 hour winding bus ride to our hotel definitely took a toll on all of us. Once we arrived at the hotel we had a couple hours to relax and eat before our first scheduled soccer practice. When we got to the field everyone was overwhelmed by the view. As a team we had never played with such amazing scenery. The energy level from each member of our team from players to athletic director was awesome. Our practice today was relaxed and was mainly just to get used to the altitude and get our legs moving after the flight.

Since we do not play until Thursday we were able to have some fun in the pool and the hotel water slide. We took some time in the evening to walk around and see what Kamloops has to offer. It has been a long day and everyone is exhausted. We all fell asleep at 11:00pm Vancouver time.

November 4th, 2008

This morning everyone woke up around 6:30am. Due to the time difference we clearly had not adjusted. Never in our right minds would we voluntarily wake up at 6:30am. No one knew if they should try going back to sleep, watch TV or eat breakfast. Once 8:45am rolled around some girls were getting antsy to do something. We decided on shopping at the local mall “Aberdene Mall.” We were at the mall 20 minutes before the stores opened. After walking around and shopping for just over an hour we suited up and made our way back to the beautiful turf field at Thompson Rivers University.

Today our practice started off on the same relaxed pace as yesterday. As a team we came back and re-evaluated why we are here and knew we had to pick up the intensity level and seriousness. GO BIG OR GO HOME.

The awards and opening ceremonies were held this evening at Thompson Rivers University. We would like to congratulate all of the award winners this evening including the men’s Algonquin winner and a special congrats to our own Humber Hawk Andrew DaSilva in winning the CCAA All-Canadian award and for making the trip out to cheer us on. Thanks to everyone on our Humber team for cheering on the winners from Ontario.

Everyone is going to try and stay up a bit later today so hopefully we will be able to sleep in a bit later than 6:30am. Tomorrow is our last day off before regular pool play begins.

Wednesday November 5, 2008

I don’t think that anyone really favours this 3 hour time difference. You’d think we’d like it because we get an extra 3 hours of sleep but everyone has been waking up at 6:30 am each day. The good thing was that as a team we slipped in a study hall period where everyone got to do a little bit of homework. I’m sure our teachers will appreciate that!

We had a great practice at 2:30 pm today. The intensity that we continue to talk about was definitely there. I think that the combination of the music and the on-going game in the background (Kings vs. FX Garneau) without doubt got everyone in the mind set for tomorrow’s game. Everyone came focused and ready to practice and you could tell in everyone’s eyes how badly they want it.

After practice we watched the girls TRU vs. MacEwan game. As a team we wanted to get a feel of our opponents seeing as though we’ve never seen them play before. Let me tell you, what a battle. Both sides showed great intensity and you can tell that when we play TRU tomorrow it’s going to be a war and its going to come down to who wants it more. But I can say that our girls are defiantly ready for it. We’ve come all this way, there is no stopping here. “Go big or Go home!”

We also thought that it would be good to stay and support the men’s Algonquin team. There’s nothing better than a little bit of provincial support. Congrats to the Algonquin men’s team for their 2-1 victory over TRU. That definitely was a battle!
Our girls would also like to give a big thanks to their coaches for those nachos and cheese!

We ended off the night with our traditional team meeting. Like always, we read out our inspirational quotes which, as a team, get us all pumped up. You can tell that everyone can’t wait to play tomorrow. Just sitting in the meeting and listening to our coach talk you can see the passion, desire and fire in everyone’s eyes about game day tomorrow! So now it’s time to have a good nights sleep and prepare for our game vs. TRU tomorrow.

Let’s go ladies, I know we can do it!

HAWKS ON 3 – 1…..2…..3…..HAWKS WOOOOO!

November 6, 2008

This morning it was obvious game day had arrived. Nikki Carvalho continued our new tradition this season of waking everyone up screaming “Game Day!!!”. You could see the excitement and anticipation on everyone’s face at breakfast. Everything has a different tone on game day and you could tell everyone was very focused on the task at hand. After having a few nice days to enjoy BC we were definitely ready to hit the pitch.

The game itself was very exciting. The intensity was like none other we had seen all year. We came out strong and tried to stick to playing our game. While our effort and desire was there, we were not able to achieve the result we wanted.

Following the game we had a team meeting. It was obviously very disappointing to know we would not be playing for a gold medal this weekend. Therefore it was very important to try to raise the girl’s spirits and realize we still have a chance to bring home a medal. This was the first loss of the year and we definitely never want to feel like this again. Yet another quote often heard in our locker room really hit home today, “We hate losing, more then we love winning.”

November 7th, 2008

Today was one of the toughest days mentally for us. After such a heartbreaking loss it was difficult for some to keep our focus. As a team we had to come together, put our last game behind us, pick up our socks and win our next game to qualify for the bronze medal match. The best way to do this was to stick with what got us here. We used the same traditions of emphasizing positive talk and teamwork that we had relied on this season. Nikki was sure to let everyone know that it was time for game day again. We were able to rally around each other and get focused for our next challenge.

The first half proved to be another challenge in this difficult tournament. The pressure again was relentless but we were able to hang on and go into the locker room all tied up. From that point on we were able to come out and start playing real Hawk soccer. We began to maintain possession which in turn led to more chances. In the end despite all the bumps and bruises we realized how much we wanted to play for a medal the next day. We were able to tough it out and secure the win.

After this big win we were in good spirits. We had a new focus and our goal was to bring home a medal. We realized that we had worked so hard to get here and would need to push as hard as ever to accomplish our goals. With our renewed focus I have no doubt we will come out with our strongest effort yet.

“Go Big or Go Home!!!”

November 8th, 2008

As per usual, we all woke up and had a good breakfast and continued to prepare for our Bronze medal game. We were surprised that for once the weather was actually on our side, unlike all our other games we’ve played up until now. Nikki yet again, reminded everyone on the team what day it was, “GAME DAY!” With our first game behind us, we came together and told each other that we weren’t leaving BC without a medal. Without a doubt everyone was prepared mentally and physically, despite all our bumps and bruises, to bring home the Bronze.

We got to the field nice and early today to get in a good warm up. Starting from the change room our coaches reminded us what we had to do today. We’ve accomplished so much over the year to get to this point and there was no turning back now. Once we got on the pitch we knew there was nothing else that matter than the task at hand. The beginning of the game started off a little rocky, but we were able to pick it up and show everyone what Humber soccer was all about. The level of intensity from both sides today was tremendous. You could definitely tell how much both teams wanted it. Without a doubt it was a battle! Through all the hard work, fight and determination we continued to play until the last whistle blew coming out with a 3-1 victory over our opponents. A special congratulations goes out to our centre back Nikki Carvalho for scoring her first ever goal with the Humber Hawks (what a goal!).

Despite a very long week the closing ceremonies finally arrived. There, we were presented with our deserving Bronze medals as well as two tournament all star awards given to Brittany Szcerbakow and Keyla Moreno. Congrats girls, well deserved!

So now it’s all come to an end and its back to school again! I just want to say congratulations to all the girls on Humber. I know we had our hearts set on gold, but let me tell you 3rd in all of Canada isn’t too bad ladies! All of the sacrifices we made, all the hard work we put into this definitely paid off. I’d also like to thank all of our coaches, Mo, Vince, Steph, Fil and Adg. None of this would have happened without you guys! Most over look everything you have all sacrificed for us, we all appreciate it more than we can say. THANK YOU :D!

One more time for the road ladies:

“HAWKS ON 3 – 1…2…3….HAWKS WOOOOO!”

-JA-