On Tuesday night, we beat the second-best team in the Liberty League, RPI. I guess you could call it an upset because they are higher in the standings than we are, but really we just felt that we were the better all-around team and that is why we won the game. What really mattered was that it kept our playoff hopes alive heading into this weekend.
If you look in the box score of Tuesday night’s game, you will see that we won by a score of 59-55. You will see that Brittany Parks led us with 21 points and five steals, and you will see that Olivia Westbrook-Gold had 11 points and six boards off the bench to spark us as well. You’ll see that RPI was led by 19 points from graduate student Whitney Coleman. But the box score won’t tell you offer the most revealing glimpse into why we won because it was the unheralded, non-statistical contributions of freshman Anielle Fredman that made the difference.
According to the box score, Ani played just nine minutes in the contest, and contributed with just a foul and a turnover. The box score doesn’t tell you that Ani made all the difference in the game. After House picked up her fourth foul and headed to the bench, we went through a tough scoring drought, while RPI’s Coleman beginning to take over the game, hitting jumper after jumper in the lane. With about eight minutes left to play, our 12-point cushion had been whittled down to four as Coleman single-handedly brought RPI back into the game.
It was at this point, which about eight and half minutes left to play that Ani Subbed in, her first appearance of the game. We switched our defense to a box and 1, and Ani’s sole job was to faceguard Coleman at all times and keep her from getting the ball and scoring. This is exactly what Ani did. Ani was able to keep Coleman from getting the ball the majority of the time, and when she did get it she rarely scored. The intensity and pressure of Ani’s defense truly allowed us to win this game.
In the box score, Ani’s play seems insignificant, but everyone watching that game, my teammates and coaches in particular, knows that we don’t win that game without Ani on the court playing her “Big D” as she likes to call it. Sometimes, the box score can’t tell the story of the little things, and those really do make all the difference.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Beating Union: A Little Taste of Revenge
On Saturday, we beat Union for the first time EVER. And we didn’t just squeak by them. We built the lead up to as much as eighteen points, and ended up winning 59-46. I really don’t think winning has ever felt so good.
Sitting on the bench at the end of the game watching as we continued to outhustle, out-execute, and outplay our opponents, I thought about our Senior Day last year, which was against Union, who was at the top of the league standings while we were…well, we were not at the top. We got blown out that day, and they never really let down at any point during the game. It was one of my worst memories of the season last year, but it made this win even sweeter. Revenge feels great. For me and the few other returners that were around for that game last year, Saturday was a particularly satisfying win.
This might sound a little harsh, but honestly, this is collegiate basketball. It’s the Liberty League. There’s no room for sympathy. Someone asked me the other day who I thought our ‘rival’ was. I told them I didn’t think we had one, because I feel the same disdain for every team we play. I respect them all, but I want to beat each of them equally as bad as the others. Like I said, this is college basketball, and it’s the Liberty League.
That being said, Saturday’s revenge was nothing short of incredible. We couldn’t have asked for a better way to head into the most crucial part of our season: the second half of Liberty League, where our playoff fate will be decided. Here we go…
Sitting on the bench at the end of the game watching as we continued to outhustle, out-execute, and outplay our opponents, I thought about our Senior Day last year, which was against Union, who was at the top of the league standings while we were…well, we were not at the top. We got blown out that day, and they never really let down at any point during the game. It was one of my worst memories of the season last year, but it made this win even sweeter. Revenge feels great. For me and the few other returners that were around for that game last year, Saturday was a particularly satisfying win.
This might sound a little harsh, but honestly, this is collegiate basketball. It’s the Liberty League. There’s no room for sympathy. Someone asked me the other day who I thought our ‘rival’ was. I told them I didn’t think we had one, because I feel the same disdain for every team we play. I respect them all, but I want to beat each of them equally as bad as the others. Like I said, this is college basketball, and it’s the Liberty League.
That being said, Saturday’s revenge was nothing short of incredible. We couldn’t have asked for a better way to head into the most crucial part of our season: the second half of Liberty League, where our playoff fate will be decided. Here we go…
Thursday, January 21, 2010
No More Panic Mode
January 20
We lost. To RPI, the team picked first in the Preseason Coaches’ Poll of the Liberty League (RPI), by a total of seven points, after winning for the majority of the game. But really, the only thing that is taken away from the game is that we lost. The bottom line is, there’s a one in the loss column now, not a zero.
Losing is awful. I absolutely hate to lose. Every athlete competing at such a high, intense level hates to lose. I’m not kidding you when I say that I DREAMT about the game last night, thinking of what I should have done so that we could be 3-0 in league instead of 2-1. Losing literally haunts me. But while we all hate it, we must learn from it, and we must take away the positives of it as well. We played pretty well for the majority of the game and we held a high-scoring offense to only 47 points. Now, we need to learn to put the pieces together to finish a game. We need to learn to not break down in the final stretch. And we need to learn to not panic just because the game is tight. When we were watching film tonight after practice, Coach pointed out to us that we would be seeing a lot of close games this season, including this weekend when we travel to William Smith and Hamilton in search of two more league wins. That being said, we can’t afford to go into this ‘Panic Mode’ at the end of every close game we play. Because the panic will just lead to the result we got last night: a loss. 2-1, instead of 3-0. But knowing this now, we’ll be working hard in preparation for this weekend to make sure that we don’t hit ‘Panic Mode’ ever again.
We lost. To RPI, the team picked first in the Preseason Coaches’ Poll of the Liberty League (RPI), by a total of seven points, after winning for the majority of the game. But really, the only thing that is taken away from the game is that we lost. The bottom line is, there’s a one in the loss column now, not a zero.
Losing is awful. I absolutely hate to lose. Every athlete competing at such a high, intense level hates to lose. I’m not kidding you when I say that I DREAMT about the game last night, thinking of what I should have done so that we could be 3-0 in league instead of 2-1. Losing literally haunts me. But while we all hate it, we must learn from it, and we must take away the positives of it as well. We played pretty well for the majority of the game and we held a high-scoring offense to only 47 points. Now, we need to learn to put the pieces together to finish a game. We need to learn to not break down in the final stretch. And we need to learn to not panic just because the game is tight. When we were watching film tonight after practice, Coach pointed out to us that we would be seeing a lot of close games this season, including this weekend when we travel to William Smith and Hamilton in search of two more league wins. That being said, we can’t afford to go into this ‘Panic Mode’ at the end of every close game we play. Because the panic will just lead to the result we got last night: a loss. 2-1, instead of 3-0. But knowing this now, we’ll be working hard in preparation for this weekend to make sure that we don’t hit ‘Panic Mode’ ever again.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Starting Off 2010 By Making History
This weekend, we made history. It’s that simple. The women’s basketball program at Vassar has never, yes NEVER, had a 2-0 start in Liberty League play until this weekend. After a long trip north on Thursday night, we pulled out a 69-63 win at Clarkson University on Friday and held on for a tight 50-46 win over Saint Lawrence University the next day. It was the first time Vassar had beaten Saint Lawrence since 2001.
I can’t come up with a better word to describe the weekend other than incredible. Both games were an intense 40 minutes, both emotionally and physically. It certainly wasn’t perfect, we made our share of mistakes and had to overcome foul trouble in both games, but in the end we were able to stick it out and get the wins, and that’s really all that matters at the end of the day.
As a team, we’ve been discussing the idea of having expectations since we returned from winter break (which seems like forever ago) and we talked about it at length on Thursday night at the hotel as we prepped for Clarkson. The message was simple: expect to play well, and expect to win. Don’t sell yourself short with a ‘hopefully’ or a ‘maybe.’ Expect to do the things that you want to do in the game, and you will do them. Operate in confidence, not in fear. Expect the win and feel it before it has even happened. This was what we agreed upon on Thursday night in mental preparation, and we consistently reminded each other of it throughout the weekend.
I’m sure neither Clarkson nor Saint Lawrence expected the kind of play they got from us this weekend. Clarkson probably didn’t foresee a 26 point performance from Brittany or a double-double from Tori. Saint Lawrence probably wasn’t expecting a 21 point-10 rebound outing from House or the tenacious defense they felt the entire game. But all that mattered was that we expected it from ourselves. We saw all of it before it even happened. This didn’t mean we weren’t playing hard throughout the entirety of both games. It meant that we had confidence in ourselves and in each other that we WOULD play hard, and that doing so would lead us to victory. And it did. Twice.
So here we are, 3-0 in the year 2010 and 2-0 in the Liberty League, sitting at the top of the standings after weekend number one. But it is way too early to get comfortable. Tomorrow we go back to work to get ready for a tough RPI team. We’ll take it one game at a time, and we will continue to work as hard as we have all season. Most importantly, we’ll continue to expect things from ourselves; we will expect to win. Because what the mind can conceive, it can achieve. Just ask my teammates and coaches.
I can’t come up with a better word to describe the weekend other than incredible. Both games were an intense 40 minutes, both emotionally and physically. It certainly wasn’t perfect, we made our share of mistakes and had to overcome foul trouble in both games, but in the end we were able to stick it out and get the wins, and that’s really all that matters at the end of the day.
As a team, we’ve been discussing the idea of having expectations since we returned from winter break (which seems like forever ago) and we talked about it at length on Thursday night at the hotel as we prepped for Clarkson. The message was simple: expect to play well, and expect to win. Don’t sell yourself short with a ‘hopefully’ or a ‘maybe.’ Expect to do the things that you want to do in the game, and you will do them. Operate in confidence, not in fear. Expect the win and feel it before it has even happened. This was what we agreed upon on Thursday night in mental preparation, and we consistently reminded each other of it throughout the weekend.
I’m sure neither Clarkson nor Saint Lawrence expected the kind of play they got from us this weekend. Clarkson probably didn’t foresee a 26 point performance from Brittany or a double-double from Tori. Saint Lawrence probably wasn’t expecting a 21 point-10 rebound outing from House or the tenacious defense they felt the entire game. But all that mattered was that we expected it from ourselves. We saw all of it before it even happened. This didn’t mean we weren’t playing hard throughout the entirety of both games. It meant that we had confidence in ourselves and in each other that we WOULD play hard, and that doing so would lead us to victory. And it did. Twice.
So here we are, 3-0 in the year 2010 and 2-0 in the Liberty League, sitting at the top of the standings after weekend number one. But it is way too early to get comfortable. Tomorrow we go back to work to get ready for a tough RPI team. We’ll take it one game at a time, and we will continue to work as hard as we have all season. Most importantly, we’ll continue to expect things from ourselves; we will expect to win. Because what the mind can conceive, it can achieve. Just ask my teammates and coaches.
Friday, January 8, 2010
A New Year to Unleash "The Secret"
This week, Coach Brown gave each of my teammates and me a New Year’s present, a copy of a book entitled “The Secret”. I’m only two chapters in, but what I have learned so far is that ‘the secret’ is the law of attraction; the idea that if you have good, positive thoughts, good positive things will come to you. The things that you think about are attracted to you because that is what you are telling yourself you want. The idea is that by knowing this, we can exhibit some degree of control over our thoughts and therefore exert a much greater deal of control over the outcomes of our lives. By maintaining a positive ‘frequency’ of thought, our results will be positive as well. And while we cannot always control our thoughts, we can control our feelings and how we are feeling is how we communicate our thoughts openly. This, from what I’ve gathered thus far, is The Secret.
My teammates and I arrived back on campus on Sunday, January 3rd to rest up for double sessions that started on Monday. Practices have been tough; we’re working hard and trying to get back into basketball shape. But despite the seemingly endless sprints and defensive drills, we’ve also been having an incredible time together and really getting closer as a team, players and coaches alike. Team dinners (or really just meals in general), a practice of competitions only, and a swim workout that ended in chicken fights (Kristyn and I were unbeaten in that tournament by the way) are just a few of the things that we’ve done that have ended in some serious laughter. Despite being close to the only people on campus and despite the soreness and achiness that our muscles feel, we’ve been having a great time.
We play at John Jay on Monday and start CONFERENCE PLAY a week from tomorrow, and we are preparing ourselves physically as much as possible to win games. But mental preparation and team chemistry are also key components of winning, and we’ve been working on those, too. We will be more likely to win by applying our new knowledge, The Secret; by training our minds to think of good outcomes only and by training ourselves, as a group, to stay on the same positive ‘frequency’ as one another. We have only been back for about five days, but it is clear that we have approached 2010 with a new attitude. There is a renewed sense of energy within our team; and with the hard work that we have been putting in and the continual help of “The Secret”, we will reap the benefits of it very soon.
My teammates and I arrived back on campus on Sunday, January 3rd to rest up for double sessions that started on Monday. Practices have been tough; we’re working hard and trying to get back into basketball shape. But despite the seemingly endless sprints and defensive drills, we’ve also been having an incredible time together and really getting closer as a team, players and coaches alike. Team dinners (or really just meals in general), a practice of competitions only, and a swim workout that ended in chicken fights (Kristyn and I were unbeaten in that tournament by the way) are just a few of the things that we’ve done that have ended in some serious laughter. Despite being close to the only people on campus and despite the soreness and achiness that our muscles feel, we’ve been having a great time.
We play at John Jay on Monday and start CONFERENCE PLAY a week from tomorrow, and we are preparing ourselves physically as much as possible to win games. But mental preparation and team chemistry are also key components of winning, and we’ve been working on those, too. We will be more likely to win by applying our new knowledge, The Secret; by training our minds to think of good outcomes only and by training ourselves, as a group, to stay on the same positive ‘frequency’ as one another. We have only been back for about five days, but it is clear that we have approached 2010 with a new attitude. There is a renewed sense of energy within our team; and with the hard work that we have been putting in and the continual help of “The Secret”, we will reap the benefits of it very soon.
Monday, December 7, 2009
“A senior, from South Portland, Maine, # 21, Emily “The Big House” Haeuser”
December 6, 2009
I have had the privilege of playing college basketball with Emily Haeuser for nearly three years now. As teammates who both have shared and continue to share the hopes of turning around the women’s basketball program here at Vassar, we’ve had a lot of ups and downs together, a lot of late night conversations filled sometimes with frustration and angst, sometimes with excitement and pride. Together, we have lived through three different coaching staffs in three years, a lot of losses, and a good deal of disappointment.
The result of these shared experiences? An incredible friendship and an innumerable amount of great memories. I’ve come to respect our senior co-captain, “House” as we call her, more than just about any teammate I’ve ever had. For these reasons, watching her reach the milestone of 1,000 career points in our game against Brooklyn yesterday was a special experience.
House’s 1000th point came on the free throw of an old-fashioned three-point play (her second of three consecutive ‘and-1’s, no big deal). It seemed like a pretty typical play for us: we got the ball to House, she sunk her signature lefty baby-hook shot in the paint while getting fouled, and drained the free throw to finish off the play. I was so used to seeing this exact play that I had no clue what was going on when they stopped the game to announce the accomplishment. She’s just that automatic.
Eclipsing the 1,000 point milestone is just another of House’s many accomplishments in her career at Vassar. She currently sits 7th on the all-time scoring list at Vassar and will probably finish her career in the top five. She already holds the record for most career blocks and has a good chance of snatching the all-time rebounding record before she hangs up her VC uniform. She was All-League Honorable Mention her sophomore year and Second Team All-League her junior year. But statistics are just statistics. House has been the captain of our team for the past three years and has been a continuously reliable and dependable leader. Although she has dealt with more adversity in her Vassar career than anyone else I can think of, she is always the hardest worker every day in practice and consistently shows up to play. She has truly been the heart of this program for the past three years.
It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t pull out a win for House on this memorable day in her career, as we fell to Brooklyn College, 54-48 despite an intense, gritty effort. Knowing House, I’m confident she would have traded the milestone for a win, no questions asked. But instead we sit at 2-4 and will look to keep working hard and steal a win at Western Connecticut on Tuesday night. It won’t be easy, but we’ll have our fearless leader, our House, and that is always an advantage.
I have had the privilege of playing college basketball with Emily Haeuser for nearly three years now. As teammates who both have shared and continue to share the hopes of turning around the women’s basketball program here at Vassar, we’ve had a lot of ups and downs together, a lot of late night conversations filled sometimes with frustration and angst, sometimes with excitement and pride. Together, we have lived through three different coaching staffs in three years, a lot of losses, and a good deal of disappointment.
The result of these shared experiences? An incredible friendship and an innumerable amount of great memories. I’ve come to respect our senior co-captain, “House” as we call her, more than just about any teammate I’ve ever had. For these reasons, watching her reach the milestone of 1,000 career points in our game against Brooklyn yesterday was a special experience.
House’s 1000th point came on the free throw of an old-fashioned three-point play (her second of three consecutive ‘and-1’s, no big deal). It seemed like a pretty typical play for us: we got the ball to House, she sunk her signature lefty baby-hook shot in the paint while getting fouled, and drained the free throw to finish off the play. I was so used to seeing this exact play that I had no clue what was going on when they stopped the game to announce the accomplishment. She’s just that automatic.
Eclipsing the 1,000 point milestone is just another of House’s many accomplishments in her career at Vassar. She currently sits 7th on the all-time scoring list at Vassar and will probably finish her career in the top five. She already holds the record for most career blocks and has a good chance of snatching the all-time rebounding record before she hangs up her VC uniform. She was All-League Honorable Mention her sophomore year and Second Team All-League her junior year. But statistics are just statistics. House has been the captain of our team for the past three years and has been a continuously reliable and dependable leader. Although she has dealt with more adversity in her Vassar career than anyone else I can think of, she is always the hardest worker every day in practice and consistently shows up to play. She has truly been the heart of this program for the past three years.
It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t pull out a win for House on this memorable day in her career, as we fell to Brooklyn College, 54-48 despite an intense, gritty effort. Knowing House, I’m confident she would have traded the milestone for a win, no questions asked. But instead we sit at 2-4 and will look to keep working hard and steal a win at Western Connecticut on Tuesday night. It won’t be easy, but we’ll have our fearless leader, our House, and that is always an advantage.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Looking Back and Moving On
"While the win provided a lot of inspiration to work hard in the offseason, so did all the losses. We are too talented to have another losing record next year. We have scorers, defenders, and a lot of experience on this roster now. We will not be losing any players next year (although we will miss our student assistant coach, Shannon Fuhr) and we will surely benefit from a talented freshmen class. We definitely have the pieces to put together a better record next year and with some experienced leaders working hard this offseason, I feel confident that we will."
That was the last thing I wrote about my team and the Vassar College Women’s Basketball program. I wrote it as a conclusion to our 4-21 season which ended with an exciting double overtime win at Clarkson. Looking back on that last paragraph, I realize that all of this has held true. We are returning some serious talent to our roster. I truly believe that nobody can stop our sole senior, Second-Team All-Liberty League forward Emily “House” Haeuser. She’s the definition of the word solid. There also isn’t a quicker guard in the league than sophomore Brittany “BP3” Parks (yes like CP3, Candice Parker). Earning Rookie of the Year as well as Liberty League Honorable Mention was definitely just the beginning of Brittany’s success here at VC. She won’t be alone either, as classmate Kristyn “Temp” Tempora is sure to have a breakout season now that she’s healthy, as in, not playing on a broken foot.
All this being said, our freshmen (there’s a whopping six of them) will all be contributing. Tori, Olivia, Natalie, Ani, Sayre, and Sam all can seriously ball and it will be exciting to see the impact they have on the team as we begin our season.
While we began season officially on October 15th (I know, I know, why didn’t I write an update a month ago? I’m getting to that part), we began working out as a team regularly the first few weeks of school back in September. While all our open gyms, lifting regiments, and early morning conditioning workouts were optional, each one of us participated in all of it. When you come off a losing season, waiting around until October 15th to start preparing isn’t the answer to improving that record. So we didn’t. We’ve been working hard day in and day out and we fully plan on reaping the benefits.
It all starts on Sunday, as we host Centenary College at 1 p.m. for our first game of the season. It is one thing to want to win, but it is another to truly feel like you SHOULD win. To feel that there’s no way you’re opponent put in the hours, the sweat, and the tears that you and your teammates did. To feel that you owe it to yourself and to your teammates and coaches to win. That’s how we feel. We’ve used the past as motivation, and we know now that as we continue to work harder and harder, the future will be different. We will make sure of it.
That was the last thing I wrote about my team and the Vassar College Women’s Basketball program. I wrote it as a conclusion to our 4-21 season which ended with an exciting double overtime win at Clarkson. Looking back on that last paragraph, I realize that all of this has held true. We are returning some serious talent to our roster. I truly believe that nobody can stop our sole senior, Second-Team All-Liberty League forward Emily “House” Haeuser. She’s the definition of the word solid. There also isn’t a quicker guard in the league than sophomore Brittany “BP3” Parks (yes like CP3, Candice Parker). Earning Rookie of the Year as well as Liberty League Honorable Mention was definitely just the beginning of Brittany’s success here at VC. She won’t be alone either, as classmate Kristyn “Temp” Tempora is sure to have a breakout season now that she’s healthy, as in, not playing on a broken foot.
All this being said, our freshmen (there’s a whopping six of them) will all be contributing. Tori, Olivia, Natalie, Ani, Sayre, and Sam all can seriously ball and it will be exciting to see the impact they have on the team as we begin our season.
While we began season officially on October 15th (I know, I know, why didn’t I write an update a month ago? I’m getting to that part), we began working out as a team regularly the first few weeks of school back in September. While all our open gyms, lifting regiments, and early morning conditioning workouts were optional, each one of us participated in all of it. When you come off a losing season, waiting around until October 15th to start preparing isn’t the answer to improving that record. So we didn’t. We’ve been working hard day in and day out and we fully plan on reaping the benefits.
It all starts on Sunday, as we host Centenary College at 1 p.m. for our first game of the season. It is one thing to want to win, but it is another to truly feel like you SHOULD win. To feel that there’s no way you’re opponent put in the hours, the sweat, and the tears that you and your teammates did. To feel that you owe it to yourself and to your teammates and coaches to win. That’s how we feel. We’ve used the past as motivation, and we know now that as we continue to work harder and harder, the future will be different. We will make sure of it.
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