The last week of regular season games has been a turning point for our program in which we realize this: We cannot be a "second-half team."

At North Georgia's field Wednesday night, we wait until we are down 3-0 because of a collective lack of effort. We wait for coach to have a reason to be frustrated with us at halftime and to motivate ourselves to raise the level of intensity we should have battled with from the first whistle.

We had moments of intensity from individual players, but that does not live up to our values. When just one person does not step hard into a tackle, that forces a teammate to step out of position and clean up the slack, which opens up a channel to the goal that someone else will have to leave her mark to cover … and the now-free attacker has nothing between her and the wide open goal.

The second half is a completely different game; for the next forty-five minutes we keep the 11th ranked team in the nation at 0-0. We win battles in the air, pressure their goal and finally have everyone on the same page. We still lose 3-0, but the loss itself is not as painful as the lesson we learned of what could have happened if we made up our minds to come out from the start swinging as hard as we did in the second half, but we are proud of ourselves for turning things around.

Coach Samar mandates that this non-conference match is a turning point in our program from here on out. We will never again wait until the second half to show up like it could be our last day to play.

Saturday's last regular-season home game against Wingate gives us the opportunity to make our new resolution a reality. The stadium and the athletic campus are packed with a number of activities and so many people. We are awed at all the activities going on for homecoming and our proud of what the institution has put together for homecoming. However, all these activities, including the mass number of our family members in the stands, the uncertainty of our conference rankings, and the bittersweet, potentially last home game for our three seniors Britta Widenhouse, Ashley Hollander, and Tori Danielson could also be distracting. We are encouraged by Coach Samar in our pregame speech to take what could easily be distractions and turn them into reasons we are motivated to play. The large number of people in the stands, the opportunity to play, the battle we're fighting to win and the home field advantage should also be reasons for us to feel 'at home'; and they are.

We remind ourselves in our huddle to come out hard in the first half, Wingate will not pull ahead before we decide to push ourselves even harder to beat them. Our resolve becomes a reality with the kickoff. Our defense and keeper form an impenetrable wall, throwing their bodies to smother shots before they leave Wingate's feet. The bench is just as into the game as the starting 11, yelling even louder than the cheerleaders in the stands. We clear balls off the line, follow shots all the way into the keeper's hands, and get slammed to the ground but pop back up again to win the second ball.

Even when Wingate scores a deafening blow and the lone goal of the game in the 82nd minute, we do not stop fighting. At the final whistle we lose 1-0, a loss that stings because we gave absolutely everything we had of ourselves and we cannot look to the final score to see the evidence of that hard work. But we have nothing to be ashamed of. Yes, we are disappointed with the loss, but we hold our heads high because we know each and every individual depleted themselves for our young team out on the field today and we cannot ask for anything more. We saw the result of deciding something together as a team, to not come out flat in the first half, and how much pride we have when we make it happen.

We will go into the first round of the SAC tournament at home Tuesday at 1p.m. against Tusculum with the same mentality, we no longer settle for "the second." We will have nothing left to give once those 90 minutes are up, regardless of the final score.

Sonia Johnson wisely said: "We must remember that one determined person can make a significant difference, and that a small group of determined people can change the course of history." The family of Anderson University Women's Soccer has already changed the record books this season, with our undoubtedly toughest schedule to date. We have re-written the shut out record, for the first time escalated in regional rankings, made it to the first South Atlantic Conference Tournament, and with a three-way tie for 3rd, will also be hosting the first round. We go into this coming week with the same mentality; the books aren't closed just yet.

We would like to thank the Uldrick family for our pregame meal on Saturday morning and our Anderson University women's soccer family for providing us with a delicious post game meal. We'd also like to thank all the fans and supporters that came out during our game on Saturday, it really was so amazing to fill those stands up and hear you cheering for us. Congratulations to our seniors, Tori Danielson, Ashley Hollander, and Britta Widenhouse for an amazing tenure with AUWS, we love you and better yet, it's not over!