From Isabella McCullough–Special for longwoodlancers.com

Day 4: Italy

I woke up early that morning. Around 6am I went upstairs, went for a short bike ride and did about 30 minutes of flexibility and stretching. When I was done I went downstairs for breakfast with my team. After breakfast I went back to my room, got dressed and went downstairs to go to the fields.

We arrived on the pitch and went to the dressing room, ready to warm up and beat Italy. As we were preparing to leave the dressing room, lightning struck the area and we had an hour rain delay.

When we finally started warming up, there was another rain stoppage. When we finally started playing, we were ahead after our third rain stoppage, but unfortunately we lost by four points in a tough 15-11 loss (Editor’s note: McCullough made 10 saves). We all went to dinner frustrated, but determined to win the next game.

Day 5: Scotland

After a tough loss to Italy, I woke up ready to beat Scotland. Because of the rain, my team would be going through the usual performances for the first time. I wanted to make sure I set a strong example for the younger generation. I wanted to show them the pride and joy we should feel when playing for and representing our country.

When we went to our walkthrough, we were determined to work and push ourselves and get ready to beat Scotland. We were getting ready to pass on the “Big Dawg” – our player of the day chain. And I received the chain as a token of the pride and joy I feel for this team. As I trained, planned and learned during our walkthrough, I felt prepared and ready to beat Scotland.

When we got on the field, I did some stretches, scraping my knee, and went over the game plan with my coaches and fellow captains Elena and Angelina. I felt focused, ready and hungry for a win. When we got on the field, I warmed up with Camila and focused on goal. The captains were called for the coin toss and the starting lineups were announced. We lined up in numerical order, entered the field, swapped cones and prepared to beat Scotland.

I entered the goal, got ready and fought with my team for the win. When the game ended, I sprinted to my teammates and celebrated our victory (17-11). The pride and joy I felt in that victory was indescribable. We played as a team, wild and passionate, and that was something we could be immensely proud of. When we lined up to thank the other team, I gave the speech for Team Mexico and thanked Scotland for a wild and hard-fought game.

Day 6: Disneyland

When I wake up, I get dressed and go to breakfast. My teammates and I are all excited because we are so looking forward to our day off. It is a chance to rest and spend time with our teammates outside of lacrosse. About six of my teammates and I decided that we wanted to go to Hong Kong Disneyland.

We skip breakfast to get dressed and pack our bags for the trip. We go to 7/11 to get water and umbrellas, go to the bank to get spending money, and head to the subway to go to Hong Kong Disneyland.

The subway ride was smooth. When we reached Sunny Bay, we saw the special train heading to Disneyland. It had character statues inside and the windows and handrails were decorated in Mickey’s style.

The entrance to the park was beautiful. The Disney music was playing and my teammates and I were excited to explore the park. We go through security and get our tickets scanned. Now we are in one of the happiest places on earth.

We grab coffee, snacks, and fun treats. While checking out some shops, my teammates and I buy some Mickey ears and head to Tomorrowland. We ride Space Mountain, the Iron Man ride, and the Ant Man and the Wasp ride. We all get popcorn and then head to Fantasy Land to ride It’s A Small World and head towards the world of Frozen.

When we entered the world of Frozen – the newest area of ​​the park – we were shocked and awed by the beauty there. We rode the Wandering Oakens Bobsled and the new Frozen boat ride. After that, we had lunch and planned the rest of our day. For lunch, I had pork buns and fruit, and my teammates chose dim sum.

We decided to go to the Toy Story area to do RC Racers and the Slinky ride. I was too big to ride RC Racers so I bought a Fastpass to use all the other rides. While that was a bummer, I remembered there was a cultural difference.

Then we went to my favorite attraction: Mystic Manor. The haunted house at HK Disneyland was my personal favorite and I decided to get a keychain from the gift shop. Then we headed to Grizzly Gulch to ride their version of Big Thunder Mountain. We had so much fun we rode it twice. As our day came to a close, we did the Frozen boat ride one more time before heading to the shops to get things we were looking for.

I went to the Duffy and Friends items. I bought a few items for my friends, family and myself. After that, we were all ready to go back to the hotel and rest after our exciting day.

After the tube ride back we all met downstairs and had dinner at the hotel. Then I went upstairs and finished the day, ready to conquer New Zealand.

Day 7: New Zealand

When I wake up, I’m confident, ready and overjoyed knowing I’m going to play against New Zealand. I go down to breakfast with my teammates and we talk about what we did on our day off. We also said goodbye to one of our team managers who had to go home. We decided to play this game for her.

When we went upstairs, we got our uniforms and equipment and got ready for the game. When we went back downstairs, we did mobility, stretching and visualization exercises to get ready for this game. I am prepared, focused and ready to win.

We went to the locker room where I got dressed, scraped my knees and stretched my hips. I went over the game plan with my fellow team captains. Because of the weather, we couldn’t do any team introductions or sing any anthems, so we got ready to play right away.

I met up with the other captains and officials, led the celebrations and entered the field, ready for an exciting game.

Our team played fluidly and as a unit our defense held them to nine total goals (in a 15-9 win). We came together afterward to celebrate and honor our player of the game, Kendall.

We went back to the hotel to have lunch and shower. Then we went upstairs to meet up, do flexibility exercises and a stretching session. After that we went to dinner and made friendship bracelets together with other teams and our coaches. Angelina and I decided to get some sweets after dinner.

Finally, I went to my room, got ready for bed and fell asleep, dreaming of beating Australia.