"Let your dreams be bigger than your fears and your actions be louder than your words. All day. Every day"-Unknown.

And that is exactly what our mentality is as we finish out this week of practice, headed into our first home game against Purdue on Friday, followed by playing on the road at The University of Illinois on Sunday. It's a return of the MAC in the Big Ten conference, and we're chomping at the bit to show them what we can bring.  

Our scrimmage against Detroit this past Sunday was beneficial to our team on multiple levels. Not only were we able to see how we compared against another opponent, but also how we did winning our individual battles and how we competed within ourselves.  Once again, due the phenomenal videotaping of Lauren Baker, we used Monday as a film day. Coach was ready to go with his new software, which allows us to pick apart the game piece-by-piece, on a microscopic level in order to better improve our performance individually and as a team. We used this to our full advantage, knowing there was a lot of room for growth before taking on Purdue in less than a week!  

Back to work we went on Tuesday morning. We started with a wonderful lift (courtesy of Coach Murray) in the morning and the freshmen were given a little taste of what weightlifting is like here at the University of Toledo. All in all, I think it went well as I saw some great Rocket reps as we walked in on them doing push-ups to finish out their session. The day had just begun for us Rockets, as we headed into Fetterman in the afternoon for training. The energy was high, excitement was building, and you knew it was going to be a fun practice! Individual battles were being won, head balls challenged, goals scored and saves made, as the continued drive toward excellence was in full throttle.  

We kick off our season in a day, and we are ready to take on the Boilermakers. We expect them to come out with some fire and force, but we are prepared to face the challenge head on and blast off our season with a victory! This team continues to show promise, as we progress each and every day. With our minds focused and bodies right, the Big Ten won't know what hit them. We are a team with a purpose and we have a lot to prove. It's another great day for a great day here in Rocket Country and we will See You At The Game on Friday at 5:30 p.m. at Scott Park!

Vicki Traven is a senior goalkeeper from St. Charles, IL who is majoring in exercise science. She ranks first in school history in career GAA (0.78), victories (37) and shutouts (26), as well as third in saves (231) and goalkeeper minutes played (5,167:07).

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