A Very Good Day for the UAA

Waiting for the NCAA tournament field at Washington University.

The NCAA announced tournament selections Monday in men's and women's soccer and volleyball, and once again the University Athletic Association came out very well.

Five of eight women's soccer teams  made the D3 field of 64, a record for the conference. The teams are Chicago (conference champion), Emory, Washington, Rochester and Brandeis.

In men's soccer, four UAA teams made the field, including conference champion NYU and Emory, Washington, and Rochester.

In volleyball, another record for the UAA, as five teams were selected: UAA champ Emory, defending national champion Washington, NYU, Chicago and Case Western Reserve. The bids are the first ever for Chicago and Case Western Reserve. It shows how far the conference has come after the recent dominance of Emory, Washington and NYU.

In St. Louis this morning, Washington's women's soccer team showed up early at the athletics complex to watch the scheduled webcast, but they ended up having to wait and wait and wait.
The Bears, who finished second nationally last year,  were on the bubble.
The team, coaches and Athletics Director John Schael gathered in the lobby of the athletics complex for what was supposed to be an 8 am CST live webcast. After waiting a half hour, they were informed that the webcast was canceled and that the field would be released at 9, St. Louis time. They filled the time studying, joking, braiding hair, drinking orange juice and chocolate milk and eating bagels and muffins provided by the athletics department.
No one seemed surprised that the announcement was delayed.

When the field was finally announced, just after 9, I could hear their cheers all the way from the basement office of women's basketball coach Nancy Fahey, whom I was interviewing. (Her team won the national championship last year and in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001. They reached the Final Four in four other seasons, and nine trophies crowd the top of a cabinet on the wall behind her desk.)

Now it's time for the Wash U women's team to schedule practices and make travel plans, something every UAA team is used to.

The volleyball team, ranked No. 1 nationally for much of the season, knew they would make the tournament and would have to travel for the regionals because they are hosting the national championship meet this year.

And the men's soccer team earned a bye and will play at home, at least for the first round.

It will make for a busy weekend around the UAA, with seven of eight schools competing in regional tournaments.

Atlanta to Chicago. Check.

Parents line up to take pictures of their girls gathered in the goal mouth Sunday.

I have always believed that if you can't write, you should make lists.
Here is a recounting of my 723 mile trip in Honey from Williams Mill Road in Atlanta to the intersection of 56th Street and South Drexel in Chicago.
Honey is pointed east, and in front of me are the University of Chicago's athletic fields, nearly a city block of healthy grass with aluminum stands and goal posts. A calming sight in a big, flat city.
I left Atlanta at 8 a.m. Saturday and arrived at the Chicago-Brandeis women's soccer match at noon (CDT) Sunday.


Saturday, 09:33:01 - Cartersville, Ga. - 23.394 gallons - $65.48
Saturday, 3:22 p.m. - Unknown - 33.716 gallons - $91.00
Saturday, 10:28 p.m. - Crothersville, Ind. - 26.795 gallons - $75.00
Saturday, 10:34 p.m. - Crothersville, Ind. - 3.713 gallons - $10.39
Sunday, 08:53:24 - Demotte, Ind. - 21.315 gallons - $60.94

Although this list is lean on narrative tension, it does reveal certain information, such as: I bought more gas in Indiana than Georgia; this trip is an incredible drain on finite oil reserves; I don't know where I was at 3:22 Saturday afternoon; what I have "saved" by traveling in a 1984 RV I have spent several times over in gas; I can't write a lick.

It was a very long haul. The longest stretch in a limited time  -- Atlanta to Chicago in 29 hours. Along the way I also had to dump Honey's holding tanks (never a pretty scene). As a person new to RVing, I am just learning the importance of finding an appropriate dump station in advance. There are Web sites that keep track of such things. What they don't tell you is that some dump stations are constructed in a way to prevent Honey from back her behind close enough to the pit. Wasted an hour and a half at that place -- stood in line for 10 minutes to buy the dump token, tried for 20 minutes to get Honey within dump range, tried for 20 minutes to borrow a longer hose, stood in line for 10 minutes to return unused token, pouted and swore for 30 minutes.

But by noon I had arrived, just in time to see the end of the first half of the soccer match.
About an hour later, the University of Chicago women had beaten Brandeis 2-0 and clinched the 2010 UAA women's soccer championship.