Game 3-3-102: Women's Field Hockey exhibition vs. Quinnipaic

What: Field Hockey exhibition vs. Quinnipiac
Where: Sherman Family Sports Complex
When: Thursday August 16, 12:00 PM
Result: Win, 6-1

The players warming up
before the match.

From 10:00-11:35, I was in philosophy class for the last time before the final. Fortunately, my class was in the Classroom Building, a two minute walk from the Sherman Family Sports Complex. I stopped by the Student Union to have a quick lunch, then walked across the street to Sherman.

Field hockey exhibitions are a bit different from regular season games. They have three periods of 25 minutes, instead of two halves of 35 minutes. Also, the scoreboard reset the score after each period. We lost the first period 1-0, won the second period by the same score, and won the third period 5-0. The total above reflects the combined score.

There was a family sitting behind me, and their daughter was on the team, I guess. They were cheering really loudly when she scored a goal. Unfortunately, I don't know who "she" is, because there were no roster sheets and no P.A. system. However, the player was laughing about it, and about how vocal her family was. Reminds me of my family. :-)

Melissa Gonzalez (left, in white)
and an unknown fan (in blue).

Surprisingly, as I said, we were down 1-0 after the first period to a far lesser team in the Bobcats. But we evened the score in the second on a penalty stroke, and scored five goals in the third to win 6-1. One of those goals came on a penalty stroke. Strange to have two penalty strokes in the same game.

Early in the first period, UConn alumnus Melissa Gonzalez came into the stands, fresh off her Olympic performance. She was wearing her Team USA Warmup jersey. It's hard to tell in the photo, but there was a really big Nike Swoosh on there on the right side, as well as some bizarre lime green piping in the collar area. Seemed kind of weird. Lime green is not a national color, why is it on our USA warmups?

In any case, Gonzalez got a warm welcome from the fans, most of whom recalled her time as a player. In an otherwise ordinary exhibition, Gonzalez added some excitement to the fans in the seats. Even though USA finished last among 12 teams, it's still impressive that she made the team, went to London, and competed.