Nov. 3, 2008

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - To read all three of Sausaman's blogs this season, visit http://gotigersgo.cstv.com/ot/blog-08-sausaman.html. Robert is the son of Jeff and Mary Sausaman. So far in his Memphis career, he has three goals and four assists. The native of Gainesville, Fla., was honored last week on the ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team, an honor bestowed on him for the second time. Sausaman was named to the all-district team in 2006 as a sophomore, as well. He will earn a degree in May of 2009 in business finance.

Robert Sausaman: The Emotions of Senior Night

It was an emotional weekend for myself and the rest of the seniors as we fell 2-1 to Marshall in what was in all likelihood the final home game of our Memphis careers. The weekend began on Friday night with the annual Tommy Smith banquet, which was held at south campus, which recognizes a member of the men's soccer team for performance in the classroom as well as being an outstanding member of the team. This years recipient, Thomas Hyland "Hylo", was well deserving. In addition to recognizing a member of the team with the Tommy Smith award, the coaching staff takes advantage of the evening to recognize the seniors.

As for myself, emotions were high on the night thinking back about all the memories, both good and bad from the past 3 1/2 years. As the coaches began to recognize the seniors I was fighting to hold back my tears. I have been known to be an emotional person in situations such as these. Sean was the first senior to be recognized, followed by Tripp, Hylo, Jordan, Scoby, and then me. After coach Grant finished up his description of me I was overwhelmed with emotion and the only thing that kept me from losing it was knowing that I had to give a speech. It was a strange night for the seniors, the feelings that we were experiencing. Coming to the realization that this chapter of our lives is coming to a close. All in all it was a great night, I will remember this night for the rest of my life, it will always be a special memory for us.

Saturday night it was time to get to business as we went up against a scrappy blue collar marshall squad. We were pumped up and ready to go, us seniors had no intention of losing our final home game. The locker room was relaxed, the warm-up was sharp, the team was focus and ready to play. As we lined up on the field for the announcement of the line ups and the national anthem, I took it all in. The field, my teammates, the score board, and the star spangled banner. As the song ended and we came together for the huddle, you could feel the focus and the love amongst each other. It was a feeling that we were all ready to go into a battle together and were prepared to fight and scrap for each other and do whatever was necessary to get a result. The game kicked off and as usual there was not much of a flow to the game in the opening five minutes. Then, off a harmless free kick from around mid-field, they drove the ball into our box and managed to get to the ball first. Their player flicked it toward our goal and it deflected off of one of our players and into the goal.

Despite going down a goal, our spirits remained high. The feeling in the team was that we were going to overcome this deficit and win the game. The remainder of the first half was back and forth but there were not other goals scored. The attitude in the locker room was positive and coming into the second half we made a few adjustments and knew we had plenty of time to get ourselves level. Marshall came out in the second half looking to hold on to their 1-0 lead. We pushed forward for the opening 15 minutes and were unable to tally a goal. Marshall took advantage of our inability to capitalize as they found a second goal about 18 minutes into the half. For the rest of the game we looked dangerous as we had multiple opportunities to score but could only manage to get one back off a header from Brad Jacobs.

When the official blew the whistle to signal the end of the match and the end of the seniors home careers, it hit me immediately. I dropped to the ground and my eyes filled with tears. I couldn't hold my emotions back despite my best efforts. I thought that we would never play on this field again, in front of our fans. I was comforted by my teamates as we prepared to begin the ceremony to honor the seniors. The six seniors were joined on the field by their families. One by one we were announced and walked out onto the field to shake the coaches hands. I was the last to go and as I started to walk I lost it. I could barely keep my head up as I passed my teammates and was greeted by the coaches. Then, as I hugged my fellow seniors and their families which I have gotten to know so well, the feeling really hit home for me. It was a special night, one the seniors will never forget. Even though we lost, we put everything we had into the game. We played with energy and passion and we left everything we had on the field. Unfortunately on the night I wasn't enough. In closing, I want to thank all the fan for their support over my time here, they make the atmosphere at Mike Rose a great one to play in and I am priviledged to have had the opportunity to do so for four years.