Army West Point Athletics
Tuesday, Oct. 12
October 12, 2010 | General
Welcome to today's blog with Mady Salvani at the keyboard. Fall is in the air and one of the most scenic areas in New York State is the Hudson Valley along with West Point. The color is just starting and we need a few cold nights but when it hits, it is majestic. To look up the Hudson River from Trophy Point is spectacular with the color bouncing off the mountains and the Hudson River. Another great spot to take in the panorama view is from the top of the Library.
Sometimes you miss catching the little things like the change of seasons when you are running around from one athletic event to the other, but I got a chance to catch some of it this weekend. Friday night women's soccer hosted Navy and I moved to Clinton Field earlier than I usually do because the game was televised on Fox Soccer Channel. I needed to be there for any last minute stuff. Tracy Nelson was the Red Hat for the game and as always did a great job, while Christian Anderson was helping me with spotting. Night games are a bit tougher seeing the numbers on the uniforms and having an extra set of eyes always help.
The only problem all night was the printer, it worked before the game but halftime stats were held up when I could not get it to work. Luckily I took a spare printer and everything was fine after that.
The best part was a 1-0 win over Navy, our first Patriot League regular-season victory since 2005 and first at home since 2004. I have seen a lot of Army-Navy women's soccer games but the hardest for me to swallow was a 4-0 defeat at home in 2006, so Friday's win on national TV was great. We almost were on TV in 2006 but the logistics were too hard to handle at that time which was a bit of luck of for us.
Sunday was another gorgeous day and I was able to be outside once again for Senior Day. I was hoping for a win against American, which would have been just the second in the series. Most of the games have been overtime draws and this year was no different. When the dust cleared it was a 0-0 double overtime tie, the fifth in the series.
Monday was a holiday and in the fall it is tough to take them because of deadlines, so everyone was in. In the afternoon, Shak, Tracy and I took a quick trip to Woodbury Commons for a shopping spree. We stick together because we would never find each other with the throng of folks out and about. Shak is a great shopper; he knows what he wants and is in and out. I take longer but I observe what Tracy likes as I have nieces just a couple of years younger, and I ask her opinion before I buy it as I will be putting it away for Christmas.
We hit Target for a few food items (for me it was dog food) then headed back to West Point. It was a nice break and gets you in the mood for the rest of the week when you look at the sports calendar as we have a whole slew of things this weekend. Volleyball has a pair of matches hosting Bucknell Friday night and Colgate on Saturday. Sprint football hosts Princeton Friday night while on Saturday a few of us will travel to the Meadowlands for the Rutgers football game. Cross country is at Navy and women's soccer is at Lafayette while golf is in Rhode Island for the Northeast Invitational. On Sunday, hockey makes its home debut hosting Holy Cross. It is hard to believe that the winter sports have started and this is just the middle of October.
