October 5, 2010

I was forced to take some time off from blogging in order to resume my duties as the team barber, cutting hair for the likes of Korne Orne, Yung Keegs Balle, Jason "JR" Coon, Zach "Zovak" Kovacevic, Wojciech "Woj Woj" Wojcik, BryGuy Gaul, Ryno Ward, Jochen "Faustina's Finest" Graf and Pain Train Fritze.

We hit a bit of a slide since last time I blogged, and the team has seen some major changes following the East Coast trip. Mike "Little Guy" Hnat accidentally walked into our locker room while he was looking for the NFL combine, and he ended up playing his first game as a Brave - eventually becoming a major contributor for the squad. Rudy Garcia also saw his first action of the 2010 campaign, and his assist in overtime against Fort Wayne was exactly the type of clutch performance our team needed to get back on track.

Rudy, however, was not the most influential Garcia in last Friday's exciting victory.  Our strong play can be mostly attributed to the unbelievably amazing dinner that the team enjoyed Thursday night, courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. Garcia. The delicious tacos, chicken, and salsa provided the energy we needed to play a full ninety minutes plus some extra time.

Another noteworthy performer during Friday's game was Keith "Dynamite" Mach, who's great corner kick helped us to get our first goal. Far better than the service, though, was Mach's celebration - be on the lookout for the Braves on SportsCenter's "Not Top Ten" sometime soon.

After the dramatic win, we immediately boarded a Peoria Charter bus and drove through the night to St. Louis for a few hours of sleep. The team was up bright and early so we could head to the airport and catch our flight to Houston, Texas for a game against Houston Baptist, a newcomer to Division I soccer. The weather was nice, and the hotel was even better (it didn't hurt that the Miss Brazil-USA Competition for the state of Texas was being held at the same hotel).

Gaulo smoked a volley into the top corner midway through the first half against Houston Baptist, and we were able to weather a late flurry of shots for a solid 1-0 road win; this marked "Chilly Billy" Billington's first career shut out and the team's first clean sheet in a long time. 

This week we are preparing for the long road that is conference play, and the first stop along the way is a conference rookie, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. We are hoping to ride the momentum from the two-game winning streak into a strong conference season.

Bobby's Blog

Aug. 31:  Sight-seeing in New York City 

Sept. 1:  Braves Take Season-Opener

Sept. 4:  A Life-Changing Experience

Sept. 7:  The Final Report