Considering again to Fall 2001 … it was an incredible starting to early August preseason as we travelled as a group on a global journey to Europe to play 5 video games in Germany, Holland and returned to campus unified and skilled from the journey. The group and employees had been excited concerning the fall 2001 season and started the yr 3-1 with an upcoming journey out west to Colorado for 2 video games the week of September eleventh.
Tuesday, September eleventh, that morning I used to be at a 9 a.m. coaches assembly at Tyser Tower on the soccer stadium.
I lived in regionally in Greenbelt, so I informed coaches Shannon (Cirovski) and Katherine (Remy) that I’d plan on going to employees assembly to characterize ladies’s soccer so they may are available just a little later if that they had different appointments, given we’d be touring as a group in two days to Colorado.
On the finish of the employees assembly round 9:45 a.m., I used to be strolling out of the soccer stadium again to Cole Subject Home and it was an incredible fall day on campus, clear blue sky, cool temperature. I used to be actually in awe of how good it was out, that’s after I observed off within the distance, path south towards D.C., little curls of brown and black smoke within the sky. I didn’t suppose a lot of it as a result of when the visibility is evident like that you could see stuff occurring in D.C. and across the space. So, I continued on to Cole Subject Home, the place our soccer places of work had been, and walked into our workplace suite simply earlier than 10 a.m. I greeted a hi there to our administrative assistant, ‘Linda B’ (Barbour) who was sitting at her desk glued to her little black and white TV (which was just a little humorous as she often solely watched her “exhibits” on her lunch break) and so I stated “Linda B what the heck are you watching this early at 10 a.m., I believed your “exhibits” come on later throughout lunch?
I used to be form of fooling around along with her, however she didn’t reply, didn’t transfer an inch, she continued to look at silently, that’s when she stated “oh my god.” I stated ‘what Linda B?’ I moved nearer and seemed on the display and wasn’t fairly positive what I used to be , it was a tall constructing on fireplace, a lot of smoke, extra smoke than fireplace after which watched along with her the constructing simply pancaked down inside seconds. Linda B. was nonetheless seated and I used to be standing subsequent to her and I stated, ‘What’s going on? The place is that?’ She informed me it was New York Metropolis and the World Commerce Heart, and he or she stated each had been hit with airplanes a short while in the past and he or she stated there was a report that the Pentagon was hit as effectively. That’s after I was like ‘OMG, the pentagon was hit, Linda B.?’
I simply walked throughout the car parking zone from the soccer stadium and informed her I noticed smoke within the path of D.C. Each us simply sat there in disbelief and requested out aloud, “what’s going on?”
Afterwards I known as Shannon, our head coach, to see if she had seen the information (cell telephones again then weren’t what they’re immediately). It took me some time to achieve her as a result of I stored getting ‘all circuits are busy.’
I instantly considered one among our current alums Jackie Mynarski who was attending regulation college in D.C., at Catholic College and tried to achieve her to see if she was okay as a result of there have been different stories of one other aircraft heading towards D.C., with the White Home and the Capitol as targets. Being acquainted with D.C., each targets weren’t removed from Catholic College. As soon as I reached Jackie, I bear in mind her saying it was ‘chaos in D.C., sirens, emergency autos, automobiles, folks on the streets simply attempting to get the hell out of D.C.’ Additionally, I do know she was actually frightened as a result of she is from the New York Metropolis space and had household working in Manhattan that morning, and consider she was not in a position to attain anybody. I informed Jackie to make her solution to Faculty Park if she may as we’d be right here and sure gathering the group at our observe time round 3 p.m., to test in with everybody.
From 10:30 a.m., on it was all a blur. Shannon needed to assemble with the group at our 3 p.m. coaching time to test in with everybody after which anybody that needed to get a quick session in on the observe discipline at Varsity Staff Home. On my manner from Cole Subject Home to VTH, I bear in mind strolling by Stamp Scholar Union and folks had been simply streaming out, hugging, crying, many, many astonished faces of disbelief.
As soon as I bought to the VTH, we met within the locker room with the group and Shannon spoke with the group about gathering, desirous to test in with everybody, ensuring they knew in the event that they wanted something to tell us, and the very best place to be at that second, was to be collectively. We then went outdoors to the grass fenced-in observe discipline subsequent to VTH, our plan was to simply heat up and play just a little. As we had been organising the sphere, the SOUND we heard approaching was unreal, it was deafening. We had been frozen in our tracks. Everybody seemed up and I consider it was two or three F-16 fighter jets actually simply above us. They actually seemed like they had been flying simply above the high-rise dorms subsequent to our discipline. Truthfully, after that I don’t bear in mind a rattling factor, besides we had been protected and collectively as a group.