Boston College Athletics
BC Weekly Diary With Guy Melamed
November 07, 2002 | Men's Soccer
Nov. 7, 2002
We are the Big East regular season champions!
That sentence means a great deal, but it also means nothing. You might ask why. If we pause and look back, there is no doubt we would be able to smile in great satisfaction. But if we look in the wrong direction and lose our focus, we might miss out on the limitless possibilities that await us.
The beginning of the week gave us no indication of what lay ahead. We played our second-to-last game at Villanova, knowing that a win would secure home-field advantage in the Big East Quarterfinals this Saturday. We knew the game wouldn't be an easy one; we just weren't aware of how tough it was going to be. We won the game 2-1 after being behind 1-0 at halftime. It was a great feeling knowing that we accomplished one of our goals we set at the start of the season. But we have many more!
Usually, the best surprises in life come when you least expect them. That is what happened just after the Villanova game. We were told that St. John's, which was leading us by one point, tied Georgetown, giving us the chance to finish first if we won our last game against Rutgers. I think our team was ready to play that game right then and there, despite the fact that we had just got done playing one. Instead, we went back to the hotel, had a good night sleep and took advantage of two things: we were in New Jersey, and we had a day off. So, the next day we drove to New York City and had an amazing time. We toured the city, saw the major sites, took some funny pictures and, in general, just had a blast.
The next day we played Rutgers. We started the game well, and it ended well for us, but what happened in between was a learning experience for us. They dominated most of the game. After we went ahead 3-0, they were able to come back and make it 3-2. Still, we gave everything we had, and when the referee ended the game, we were happy that chapter could be closed and a new one opened.
The quarterfinal game against Providence is Saturday. I can't wait to see how this chapter is going to end.
