Bradley Soccer junior midfielder Bobby Smith (Springfied, Ill./Sacred Heart Griffin H.S.) is blogging throughout the team's season-opening trip to the East Coast. His first report recapping a day of travel and sight-seeing can be read below. The Braves will open the 2010 season Wednesday by visiting St. Peter's in a 3 p.m. (CT) kickoff.
Aug. 31, 2010
Only one day into this East Coast road trip and the Bradley soccer team is already having a blast. After a long, tiring preseason and a hectic first week of class, it was nice to relax on the bus ride up to Chicago. Kyle "Korn" Orne shocked everyone by winning an intense game of Hearts; and though rookie Keegan Balle may have scored a big time goal against Michigan State, he was less than impressive in this card game, reaching 100 before any other player hit 50 points. The other source of entertainment for the ride was Jochen Graf's riveting story about the struggle of going to huge Faustina High School.
We had an extremely early start today, waking at 4:30 a.m. in order to make our 6:50 flight into Long Island, N.Y. By noon we were seeing the sights of New York City, and first on the agenda was finding some authentic New York cuisine. After lunch the team made its way to Ground Zero. To be at the site of the most influential event of our generation was unbelievable. I think that actually being on the hallowed ground made all the selfless work we saw happening on TV by the police officers, fire fighters, and service men and women truly resonate; and after walking next to the construction taking place to resurrect a new World Trade Center, you couldn't help but be overcome with pride.
From Ground Zero we went straight to Times Square and were given some time to walk around and check out downtown NYC. Jochen, Keith Mach and Christian Meza even met reality TV stars Kaitlin and Tyler from MTV's hit series "Teen Mom."
After our time in the city we spent the rest of the day relaxing at our hotel in New Jersey and preparing for our opening game against St. Peter's. The team seems ready for our first real game of the year and everyone is anxious to start on a good note. With a solid core of returning players, headlined by preseason All-MVC pick Bryan Gaul, and a rambunctious group of newcomers who are eager to prove themselves, there is promise for a successful trip.
