Arrive back at Dewitt HS at 8:45 for Sunday’s games. We are seeded #2 out of 7 for the rest of the day; three teams went 3-0, the #1 seed (those damn girls!) didn’t give up a goal, we gave up one, and the other team gave up more than 1………
This is the only picture worth saving from Game 1, another 7-0 blasting of the Portland Punishers. The team started out really slow (it was early in the morning) but came around as the game went on…..
Game 2, against the Toros Locos, which is a bunch of kids from the other travel club in town. I know four(!) of them, either have coached them at one point or another or Matthew has played with them.
Not thrilled that they cheated…the five kids they had on Saturday aren’t the same five kids on Sunday…..I could have made a big deal about this but did not; if we didn’t beat them it’s because we stink, not because of them bringing in a ringer. And injuries (or life) happen, some kids can’t play, etc…..this happened to me two years ago with Cpher’s team. But I walked up to the other coach and told him that we had a different player so that there wasn’t even a suggestion of funny business…..I didn’t get that same consideration for this game.
Trying to intercept a ball/ Not sure what he’s doing here….
We score very quickly, it’s 1-0 and it stays that way through the half. Lots of opportunities, but, our shots are going just wide. One of my main coaching points with the team is to pass the ball when near the goal or make a move and then score….we aren’t going to score breaking in on the sweeper in front of the goal and shooting straight at him. In this game, in the first half, the boys repeatedly did not pass and bounced shot after shot off that guy…….
They score early in the 2nd half to tie it 1-1. A little afraid we’ll get down but we score again soon after that…and again, and again. It’s a 4-1 final and a good game…..but if we play like this in the final, we’re not going to do well……
A lot of photos like this from the early games, boys trotting to midfield after a goal. This might be after Matthew’s goal, who listened at halftime and when he had the ball right in front made a little move to make the sweeper move and then punched the ball into the goal for the score….
Matthew, playing against Team INCAZ….
So here we go, into the finals, again, against Isabelle, Nick, Camille, Abby, and Zane.
I told Suzanne two things earlier in the day. 1) I did not think we would win this game and 2) we certainly weren’t going to win if we played like we played this morning. Boys seem ready…they understand they have to do all of the little things we’ve talked about all weekend and above all…do not, do not treat the girls like girls. Treat them like boys.
I never would have guessed, even in my wildest dreams, that the game would have happened like it did in the first half. We dominated that possession; most of those ten minutes were spent in front of their goal and had to make some super saves to keep it scoreless. I think there was one stretch where we had five or six corner kicks in a row.
But it’s 0-0 as time runs out and they get a breakaway….Matthew tracks it down and I’m telling him “just kick it out of bounds”….the last thing we need to do is something cute and be down 1-0 after dominating the first half.
Second half starts….We score to make it 1-0. That’s big, confidence is high.
They score 30 seconds later and it’s 1-1.
We score again, 2-1. And damn it, they score again less than a minute later, it’s 2-2.
And that’s the way it ends. It’s the championship game, so, we’re off to penalty kicks.
I had to decide what order to put the kids in….and I basically went with who-would-deal-the-worst/best-with-missing-the-kick-and-losing-the-game. So Matthew, who tends to be level headed and deal with pressure pretty well, is last. Four kicks each. We are second.
They miss. We miss.
They make it. We make it.
They make it. We make it.
They make it. And Matthew is last…and must make it or the game is over. He knows this without anyone telling him. He sets up the ball, takes his steps backwards, looks at the goal, takes a very noticeable deep breath….and steps up and strikes it.
It rolls….it rolls…..it’s going to be close…..and it hits the right post, bounces across the goal to the left post, and bounces into the goal. The ref has to come over and check, it is clearly all the way across the line, we are on to sudden death.
I could have changed the order for the next kicks but at this point didn’t see how that would matter. Another coin flip, we are second again. And the first girl, who missed the first one, steps up again and misses again.
Henry, shown here, is about to step up for the kick to win the game. Suzanne really nailed these pictures…
After he hits it, watching it roll. Love this shot….
And after it rolls in. We win 2-2 (4-3) in penalty kicks. Lost of happiness, lots of relief, especially on the parent side. Suzanne said she’s never seen a game like that, and it’s been a while since we’ve had a happy ending in a stressful game. One other parent said that he could watch that high-level soccer for another hour or so….it really was a great game.
One other highlight from the weekend is that Cpher replaced Kevin at the video camera….and I didn’t realize he had switched over to play by play commentary during the last minute or two of the penalty kicks. Cpher, and Henry’s brother Sam, are in classic form during Henry’s final strike and afterwards.
You can click on the picture on the left for Matthew’s kick, the picture on the right for Henry’s kick.
“It’s all over!!!”
Helium, Krypton, Xenon , Argon (AJ), Neon (Cam), and Radon (Myles)….the Champs!
The Goofy Champs….
“I’m out….see you later!”
