Monday, October 24
On Friday, I left work early and headed downtown to catch a soccer game. About two months ago I'd been poking around the internet and saw that my high school soccer team would be playing a game in Manhattan in late October. I'm marked the calendar and when the time came, shoved off to see the event. It took a while to find the right game, including a stop of about 10 minutes watching the wrong teams play, but I showed up just after halftime. The game, I quickly learned, was still scoreless.
I knew from looking at the websites for the schools that this would be a tough test. My team's opponent had lost only one game leading up to this match and that was against my alma mater (4-3 no less). The play was tough and chances were turned aside at both ends. Finally, with about 15 minutes remaining, my team's forward split two defensemen and made his way to the top of the box. At the last second, one of the defenders recovered and toe-poked the ball away towards the end line. Bad news for him was that his very nice, goal-saving play turned into a particularly nasty shot on goal. The forceful, low-driven "clearance" skipped just by the outstretched arms of the goalie as he dove to his right. The ball, now past the keeper, bounced off the bottom end of the left post, hit off the back of the keeper's head, and trickled into the net. 1-0.
The game would remain that way thanks to some solid defense from the good guys and due to a terrible offsides call that went against them (would have been a clear break and a rather easy second goal).
After the victory I strolled across the field to shake hands with my old coach. I hadn't seen him in ten years so needless to say he was a little shocked. And he couldn't believe the game I chose to attend. It turned out that this was not only the clinching game for their League Championship, but it guaranteed them a spot in the state tournament. Oh, and it was also his 300th career coaching victory, no small feat for a tiny high school with a coach who never even played the game.
I knew from looking at the websites for the schools that this would be a tough test. My team's opponent had lost only one game leading up to this match and that was against my alma mater (4-3 no less). The play was tough and chances were turned aside at both ends. Finally, with about 15 minutes remaining, my team's forward split two defensemen and made his way to the top of the box. At the last second, one of the defenders recovered and toe-poked the ball away towards the end line. Bad news for him was that his very nice, goal-saving play turned into a particularly nasty shot on goal. The forceful, low-driven "clearance" skipped just by the outstretched arms of the goalie as he dove to his right. The ball, now past the keeper, bounced off the bottom end of the left post, hit off the back of the keeper's head, and trickled into the net. 1-0.
The game would remain that way thanks to some solid defense from the good guys and due to a terrible offsides call that went against them (would have been a clear break and a rather easy second goal).
After the victory I strolled across the field to shake hands with my old coach. I hadn't seen him in ten years so needless to say he was a little shocked. And he couldn't believe the game I chose to attend. It turned out that this was not only the clinching game for their League Championship, but it guaranteed them a spot in the state tournament. Oh, and it was also his 300th career coaching victory, no small feat for a tiny high school with a coach who never even played the game.
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