We're waking up on Sunday having had the long journey back from Queens last night. Sundays are always a lot brighter and easier to wake up following a victory the night before. We've had a mixed week with the poor defeat at home to Mars Hill on Wednesday night at home, but we picked ourselves up, made a few changes, and put out an extremely efficient performance last night.

The game on Wednesday was disappointing to say the least. Mars Hill are riding high in the conference, and following Wingate's loss to Anderson last night, they have a real shout at the conference title this year. Once again, it was a game that was fairly even, with us probably edging the game in terms of possession and chances. Mars Hill were an organized team, with so much pace offensively, so they were great on the counter – and we all know that's one area we have really struggled this year defensively. We had a number of good chances in the first 30 minutes of the first half, and then in the space of 8 minutes, we were 3-0 down and shell-shocked. We pulled one back through Lucas Siquiera, but we were unable to break down the stubborn Mars Hill defense, and the game finished 4-1.\

Nonetheless, we had a few good days practice Thursday and Friday, as we went back to basics in training, and had a few team building games, trying to pick ourselves up. We travelled to Queens on Friday to stay the night prior to the game, and had the last of our initiation songs on the way down. When a new player rides his first away game, they have to give a 30 second rendition of a song of their choice. We've had some good, some bad, and some pretty ugly in my time here at Carson-Newman. Personally, I got mine out the way as fast as I could last year, as I stepped up to murder 'Backstreet Boys – I want it that way', which is always a popular choice. If I had the chance to do it again, I would give it a bit more energy, but having just joined a new team, nerves severely affected my performance. We have such a mix of songs come out, from Oasis, to Darius Rucker, to songs in people's native languages. It's always a good laugh, and a good way to initiate new players.

To the game last night, we came out of the blocks flying and Lucas Siquiera won us a penalty after 4 minutes, which he stepped up and converted. We continued to press and created a number of chances. There was a brilliant fluidity to our offensive performance, with players interchanging positions and causing all kinds of problems for the Queens defense. Our second goal was special. Wade Collins sprayed a beautiful cross-field ball from the center circle of our half, to the right corner, where fullback Jalen Goddard latched onto it, and set a pass back to Stuart Oliver, who caressed the ball from a good 20-25 yards, over the goalkeeper into the top corner. It was a great strike, which sparked huge celebrations from the entire squad just outside our bench. It was brilliant to see everyone come together so well, and such a positive vibe in the team following Wednesdays defeat. It was a solid defensive performance across the entire pitch, and always nice to grab a win and a shutout.

There is still so much to play for this season. We have two games this week, away at Alabama-Huntsville on Wednesday, and then home to Anderson on Saturday for our Senior night. We have many seniors graduating this year, including myself, so I encourage everyone to brave the cold, bring comforters, and come down to support us and make it a special night for everyone.

We have the conference tournament after the end of the regular season, and after last year, we all know anything can happen once you're in a tournament…

Have a great week, and see you on Saturday.

Duncan