Read freshman Michael Harris' blog about the Fullerton trip this past weekend.

Sept. 10th

Wake up call was at 8:35 a.m. and everyone went down for breakfast at 9 a.m. For breakfast they had personally made omelette's with ham, cheese, onions, mushrooms, peppers, and salsa. There were also waffles, cereal, fresh cut fruit, hot oatmeal and bacon, sausage and potatoes.

After breakfast we went to Fullerton to check out the field for a couple minutes. First impressions were that it was a huge stadium with seating on both sides. The field is long and narrow and the grass is very short.

11:10 a.m. - Had a team meeting in preparation for the game this afternoon. Talked about our strategy for the team and what we need to do to become successful. We are adjusting our formation for this team to allow us to be in a better position to stop their chances of scoring.

2:30 p.m. - Departed for the game and had our pre-game speech from coach Dean and our own routine. Most people enjoy listening to their IPods alone concentrating. Some players had to get taped from the trainer. Forty minutes before kickoff we get out on the field and start our warm-up. Five minutes before game time all the players return to the locker room and put on the game jerseys and get ready for walk out.

4:00 p.m. - Kickoff and the beginning of the game against CSUN. The game went to overtime and finished in a 0-0 tie. Overall a disappointing result because we were dominating play and had tons of chances, just could not finish.

After the game we ordered pizzas to share between two of us while we watched the following game between San Jose State and CSUF.

Sept. 11th

Wake up call at 8 o'clock this morning to get up and enjoy another great breakfast at the hotel before heading off to a short practice session.

9:00 a.m. - At Fullerton we had a practice session that had lots of skill work to get our feet moving, small possession games to get the heart rate up, and 4 v 3 attacking towards goal to work on finishing and defending.

11:45 a.m. - The team met downstairs in the lobby to go out to lunch. The choices were Chipotle, Subway, or Quizno's; just a light lunch to help recover and get ready for the game tomorrow. After lunch we returned to the hotel and had a nice break and enjoyed the college football games being played.

5:45 p.m. - Buca De Beppo! The team departed for dinner and we were all excited to enjoy a huge carbo-filled meal with chicken, spaghetti, lettuce, bread and lemonade. Everyone enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere.

8:00 p.m. - Defenders had a short video session to talk about points from the previous game to work on. Some points were defenders having to communicate to one another, forcing a forward out instead of in and clearances going up and away instead of down the middle.

8:30 p.m. - Forwards had a video session to help improve and help them with runs, working off of the ball and putting themselves in better positions to score a goal. These video sessions are a great way for the players to see what they did and how to improve while the previous game is still fresh in our minds.

Sept. 12th

9:00 a.m. - Wakeup call before our game. All of the players had to wear their UW polo because it was a pre-game meal and try to look like a team and start being unified off the field before the game.

10:30 a.m. - The team tried something new and we went on a short walk together to get on our feet instead of lying in our hotel rooms all day. During the walk the coaches talked about their idea of confidence and how each player needs to try showing this in their life on the field as well as off.

Noon - Checked out of the hotel and left for Fullerton for our final game of the tournament against the host CSUF Titans.

2:00 p.m. - Kick off to the game and through the first half of play we were down 1-0, but had many opportunities and pressured the other team since giving up the goal midway through the first half. Second half comes around and it was a completely different UW team playing. Our guys were all over the place, winning tackles, connecting passes and getting many dangerous goal opportunities. We were playing so well that in the second half we caused a PK and connected two great passes to our forwards for goals and won the game 3-1.

5:00 p.m. - After the game Dean talked about how well we came out in the second half, kept our heads up and fought and deserved to get a win that afternoon. Then we all packed the vans and headed to LAX to catch our flight home.

11:00 p.m. - Plane lands in SeaTac airport. The mood was very happy during the flight and it was a great way to end a positive weekend for the UW men's soccer team.