Allison Schultz: A Visit to the Golden Dome
We departed for South Bend, IN last Friday to compete in the Lady Irish Invitational at the University of Notre Dame's Warren Golf Course. We loaded up the van full of golf clubs and bags and set off for the turnpike (I-80/90). The two-and-a-half hour drive went smoothly as we listened to the great sounds of Hairspray and NSYNC. Before we knew it, we could see the famous Golden Dome and Touchdown Jesus (the original one). We headed straight for the course and played the practice round in beautiful weather, sunny skies and 75 degrees. We were all pumped to play great the next day.
After we completed the round, Coach informed us she had a surprise and we were to head straight to the van. I had a feeling we were about to go on campus, but no idea of the real magnitude of what we were about to do. We start walking onto campus, right by the football field and we were all so excited to just be there. We of course take a hundred pictures with the various statues and all the photographic landmarks. As we are standing outside the main gates to the football field, the team convinced me to break out some of my old Irish dancing steps. For those that do not know, I was a competitive Irish dancer for 10 years and my teammates love to make me show my moves in public places. After my mini-performance was over, a man approaches us with keys and starts unlocking the gates to the stadium. Before we knew it, we were inside the Fighting Irish stadium. Then, he unlocks another door, and all of a sudden, we were in the locker room! We took more pictures, then ran down the stairs, jumped and slapped the "Play like a champion today" sign. Now, it was time for the real movie moment. We ran onto the field, just like in the movie Rudy. When I stepped on the field, there were chills as I looked up into the thousands of seats and felt the real grass beneath my feet, knowing all of the great history that had happened right here. After playing some 3 vs. 4 football, ending in a touchdown pass from Coach to Erica Rivard, it was time for us to leave the field. Our tour continued through the rest of campus, seeing the beautiful campus church and the Main Building, which the Golden Dome sits on top of. As we were in the church, I ran into some familiar faces, my parents! Coincidentally, they were touring the campus, the same as us. It was finally time for this amazing tour to end and we headed to Chili's for dinner. The waitress, named Jarvis (our very own Kim Kester's middle name) was not the most efficient server, but nonetheless the food was good and we had a long time to talk about the gameplan for the course. We checked into our hotel, avoiding disaster with freshman Tasha Gobey setting off the fire alarm when turning on the heat. But, everything was okay and we got a good night's sleep.
We headed down to breakfast on Saturday morning, and watched as much of the Ryder Cup as we could before setting out for the course. We certainly have different loyalties on this team, with Erica and Tasha rooting for the European team and Coach, Kim, Emily and I cheering on the Americans. We arrived at the course and put on several layers, ready to brave the cold, windy weather. We did our stretches in the parking lot in the dark and continued to watch the sun rise as we hit balls on the range. We had a solid group of fans, including our amazing athletic trainer Sara McGriff and her fiancé Andrew. Round 1 concluded with senior Erica Rivard tied for the lead, shooting a tremendous even-par 72 and a team score of 307. The afternoon continued with the cold, windy conditions and the Rockets kept fighting. Erica kept up her strong play, shooting a 73, placing her in second. The team found itself at 615, 12 strokes behind host Notre Dame and just three shots out of third place. After some post-round practicing, we headed to the Joyce Center (ND's basketball arena) and ate dinner, hosted by the tournament. We all had great feelings about the next day, ready to play our best and make a name for Toledo golf.
Sunday started off even colder than the previous day, with a brisk 25-degree wind chill. Kim blared "Party in the USA" in the van to get us pumped up and we were ready to go. The third round ended with a spectacular round by senior Michelle Hui, shooting a one-over 73, a round including six birdies. The Rockets shot a team score of 315, which left us in eighth place, only five shots out of fourth. It was not quite the finish we were hoping for at the beginning of the day, but we battled tough conditions and learned lessons to help us the next time. We now take a two-week break before our last tournament of the fall season, the MAC Preview. Wish us luck! Go Rockets!
Allison Schultz is a sophomore from Cincinnati, OH and is majoring in athletic training.
