Imagine having to play a soccer match at Duke or North Carolina, with hostile crowds and heavy implications for the ACC regular season championship. Now imagine traveling to another continent, representing the United States of America and playing the best teams in the world with a gold medal at stake.
That is what five members of the Virginia women's soccer team experienced this past fall. Junior Becky Sauerbrunn, sophomores Laura Comeau and Jen Redmond and freshmen Nikki Krzysik and Jess Rostedt were part of the U.S. U-19 women's soccer team that played in the U-19 World Championships in Thailand. The team finished third, which is impressive considering the competition they faced.
"Every single game was a challenge," Sauerbrunn said. "We got placed in the hardest bracket because we placed second in the qualifying tournament. We were playing against the first team out of Europe (Spain), the third team out of Europe (Russia) and the first team out of Asia (South Korea)."
However, the United States won all three matches, beating Spain 1-0, Russia 4-1, and South Korea 3-0. After defeating Australia 2-0 in the quarterfinals, the Americans suffered a 3-1 defeat to gold-medalist Germany. However, they bounced back nicely in a 3-0 victory over Brazil to gain the bronze medal.
However, it was the experience of the whole trip that the members said they will remember the most. One experience was the atmosphere of the crowds during the tournament.
"The games were awesome," Krzysik said. "They filled the stadium almost. They had kids coming in from schools -- boarding schools. In Chiang Mai, we had the United States chancellor there. We had a bunch of kids that were from the U.S. that actually lived in Thailand there, so we had a huge crowd."
There was also the more physical international style of soccer displayed at the tournament.
"The international level -- it's physical, it's faster," Krzysik said. "It was a good level and a great experience to play there."
Also, the experience of being in a different nation was unique in itself.
"When we were in Phuket, it was right on the beach, so it was very pretty," Sauerbrunn said. "We went to the Fifi Islands where 'The Beach' was filmed with Leonardo DiCaprio. It's a beautiful country."
For players such as Krzysik and Rostedt who were in high school at the time, however, there was the conflict between soccer and academics.
"I missed 65 days of high school, and I basically just got my work," Krzysik said. "Since the kids in college took that semester off, they really didn't have work, but there [were] five or six of us that were still in high school we had to just tutor on the road. But it was all worth it in the end."
The experience that these players had last year will serve them well as the Cavaliers compete for an ACC and a National Championship. The team is scheduled to play at Duke Sept. 24 and at North Carolina Oct. 6.
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