NCAA Here We Come!

Field hockey sticks are going in our travel bags as the Michigan State Spartans are heading to the University of Virginia for the first round of the 2010 NCAA Division I Field Hockey Tournament. We will play No. 3 University of Virginia (16-3) on November 13th at 11:30a.m. Virginia will be one of the hosting teams for the first round of the tournament as Wake Forest, Princeton, and us will be traveling there. The complete NCAA bracket for the tournament also designates the hosting sites. Though my prediction for our first game was either Princeton University or the University of Connecticut, Princeton is in our bracket but will have to beat Wake Forest University. Head Coach Rolf shared his feelings on getting into the tournament this year and first game against Virginia with a State News reporter after the show via podcast.  The UVA Cavaliers are very excited and surprised to be hosting the tournament, but are going to take it one game at a time according to the UVA field hockey website. Last year after beating Delaware in the first round of the tournament, we fell to Virginia in the Elite 8 (2-1) in an intense overtime game. UVA has returned many strong scorers and a high caliber goalkeeper. At Michigan State we lost about 70 percent of our scoring, but we've made it this far and it only takes one shot to make a difference. Before we leave probably early Thursday morning on an airplane, a few of us are trying to get ahead on some late night studying. As we get some studying done and prepare for a  very important practice tomorrow Junior defender Holly Sherman for the Spartans gives her two cents on the tournament and approaching game above.