I Went To The Game 8/24/12 Edition - Women's Soccer: Houston Baptist vs UCR

Being as I am a UCR grad student, I went ahead and bought season tickets to support my team.  This new feature of the Big West Confidential is not a recap of the game, but rather a personal experience of the game.  Doing this, we will try to encourage you, the reader, to go support your local BWC team.  While most of my editions will be at UCR, I will try to get to other schools as well.  Brandon is kind of stuck being on the islands, so if/when he does this feature story, it'll most likely be at a Hawaii game.

It was a beautiful night, temperatures in the mid-90's.  The best part was that there was hardly any haze, so you got a picture like this:

On a clear day like this, the mountains behind the campus look extremely beautiful.  If you haven't been to UCR, the soccer complex borders the brand new Materials Science building (pictured right).  The introductions took place about 10 minutes before the game.  One thing I love about soccer matches as opposed to other sporting events is that the players are led out in a presentation format.  The referees lead the teams, who are lined up behind, side-by-side.  The Highlanders played in white, while Houston Baptist played in their orange, with blue stripes.

During Warmups

Team Introductions

At the complex, there's only one large set of bleachers, and on this particular night, there was probably almost one thousand people.  That being said, there was plenty of noise in the atmosphere.  UCR throughout the game was dominating on TOP, Shots and SOG, but they couldn't break through.  

After HBU struck with the only goal of the game in the 78th minute, the stadium got even louder with more supporters cheering on.  There were at least 3 more shots, but nothing went through.  The game ended with a Husky victory, though there was a standing ovation for the players performances.  There is not a huge Highlander fan base, but they are vocal about their team, and that's a great thing to see.

Now it's your turn: Do you go to Big West games frequently? Do you take pictures at the game?  Here's what you do: Take pictures at the game, post them to our Facebook page or our Google+ page, or if you're truly a social media guru; tweet me @greekpadre. Once every so often, I'll post a collage of pictures on this site from our viewers for our viewers.  Future Big West members SDSU and BSU are welcome as well, as is associate members (Sac State).  So grab your camera and get out there!