Soccer, Soccer, and More Soccer

As promised yesterday, I wanted to get the grandparents up-to-date on Matt's soccer season.  I am flabbergasted that it is nearly over, but I am also excited about the upcoming state tournament.  I will be pleasantly surprised if they repeat as state champions--all the teams seem so closely matched this year--but I know they will play hard and compete well.  It will simply be fun to cheer him on for a few more games.

Senior Night

About ten days ago it was senior night at Centennial.  This is a nice tradition where the boys are honored for their time in the program.  The coach says some laudatory things about them, and they are given a gift bag with a photo collage of them and a few other little goodies.  The parents are also asked to come up and be recognized, and the son presents his mom with a small bouquet of roses.  Very tasteful, not too over-the-top. 

What I didn't realize was how choked up I would get during the pregame festivities.  I have watched Matt play soccer for about twelve years now, and I can't believe that this season of his life is coming to an end.  I don't think he can either.  We were talking about it the other day, and he lamented, "Man, this is the last real soccer I'm ever going to play."  I told him it was still okay to play once the season was over, but he said, "But it won't be the same."  No, son, it won't, but do look back and enjoy what you've accomplished and the fun you've had.  (The above picture is of Danny and Sofia.  Matt has been friends with Danny since middle school.  Sofia is the star player on the girls' team and is a huge supporter of the boys team.  They are our superfans.)

When the seniors were posing together for a group shot, I realized how grateful I am that Matt has gotten to associate with these young men.  I've sat on the sidelines with some of the parents for years and literally watched our little boys grow into men.  They are a good group and have been great friends and teammates for Matt.  I will miss cheering for all of them.  Here they are:

From left to right, they are Chris, Matt, Marco, Aaron, Louis, Derek, Will, John, and Dylan.  Tyler had a sinus infection that night and wasn't there.  As you can see, they have a lot of seniors on this team, so they will be fighting hard in their last tournament together.

District Tournament--Win Some, Lose Some

The district tournament may have shaved about ten years off of my life.  Although Centennial entered the tourney as the number one seed, all of the games were nailbitingly close.  I seriously thought my heart would pound right out of my chest a few times.

They played Capital first.  Capital had kind of tough year, but Capital came to play that Saturday afternoon.  Our team was a little flat, and while we had many, many opportunities to score, we just couldn't seem to get the ball in the back of the net.  We did net one goal, but at the end of regulation, it was tied 1-1.  It was also tied 1-1 at the end of two overtime periods.  We're going to a shootout?!  Are you kidding me?!  

Luckily, our goalie, Marco, manned up and came through in the clutch.  (Aren't sports cliches great?)  Somehow, he managed to stop two of their four penalty shots--they didn't take the last one since Centennial had already made their first four--and the Patriots were victorious.  Wow!  Close game.  My nerves were frayed.

The next game was on Monday against Timberline.  They have a reasonably good team.  They have an AMAZING goalie.  He was on fire and made scintillating stop after scintillating stop.  Props to him because he was simply sensational.  We had a few great chances to score but just couldn't get the ball in the back of the net.  Fortunately, our defense (Matt included) was solid, and regulation ended in a scoreless tie.  Two more overtimes, no more goals.  Another shootout.  (Can this be good for my health?!)

It was in this game that I realized that in life you truly do win some and you lose some.  Centennial lost the shootout, 5-4, and Timberline was headed to the district championship game.  Bummer.  Centennial was relegated to the third place game against Eagle.

I know the team was exhausted, but I think the parents were all a little spent as well.  We had a hard time summoning much emotion when the game started last night.  Eagle jumped on us about eight minutes in and scored when the defense got uncharacteristically disorganized.  Super deflating.  No more scores the rest of the first half.

I'm sitting there at halftime wondering if the boys had it in them to actually pull this thing out.  I'm happy to report that they came out of their halftime chat--where Coach Reynolds told them, among other things, to be men--focused and fired up.  Eagle is a good team, so it took a while to break them down.  However, the Patriots managed to head one in off of a corner kick and knot the score.  I'm preparing myself for another shootout and wishing I had some Tums in my pocket.

I think the boys were looking forward to a shootout about as much as I was because they just continued to play with passion and patience.  Soccer truly can be a beautiful game.  They had many opportunities to score, and Eagle had a few of their own.  About three minutes before the end of regulation, Will made a beautiful pass to Louis in the box, and Louis calmly poked it in for the second goal.  The Centennial crowd went nuts. 

I was particularly pleased that it was Louis who scored.  It was his first goal of the season.  He tore his ACL in club soccer many months ago and has been rehabbing like crazy, trying to make it back for at least part of his senior season.  He's only been back a few games, but his courage and tenacity have been amazing.  He has looked like he wanted to cough up a lung on a few occasions, but he has continued to push himself like a madman.  It was a nice reward for so much hard work.  (And he also got the yellow jersey!)

So, there you have it.  Centennial is headed to the state tournament in Idaho Falls as the third seed from the district.  It is the same seed they had in last year's tourney.  Hopefully, that's a good omen.  It should be fun to watch.

 

P.S.  Special thanks to Will's dad, Rich, who takes such great soccer pictures and then makes his albums public so that we can all download his amazing shots.  I feel blessed!

ESPN's COLLEGE GAMEDAY

Adam is probably the biggest sports fans I know.  Seriously, he is close to being addicted to all things sports.  He loves Duke basketball and BSU football, and I believe that if there were no parental controls placed upon him, he may well have ESPN blaring every waking moment.  So, when he found out that ESPN was going to be broadcasting College GameDay from Boise a few weeks ago, he was beyond excited.  I cannot think of an adjective to accurately and completely describe his joy.  Although he had a big cross country meet (Bob Firman) the very same day, he KNEW he had to find a way to get there.  

Of course, he persuaded Mike to get up early with him on Saturday and make the trek down to the smurf turf, along with 13,000+ other Bronco fans, and they waited in line for a time until they were allowed to enter the stadium.  He wanted go up to the desk and start chatting with Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit, but security was understandably tight.  Mike said they actually couldn't hear a whole lot, but Adam just enjoyed watching how the whole thing was produced.  It's fun when your kids get to do something they never thought they'd have the opportunity to do, but it somehow works out.  (Matt also went with one of his soccer buddies, but he actually slept over at his friend's house the night before and left way early in the morning.)  Fun times!


Knock Knock, Who's There?

Mike went on a nine-day trip to India recently.  He left on a Friday morning, and by evening I was already feeling lonely.  Adam was in Cascade the night before a cross country race, and Matt went out for a few hours with friends.  He came back, and we were just chatting when we heard a little knock on the door.  It was close to 10:00 p.m., so we had no idea who it could be.  Matt went to the door, opened it, and I had the sheer joy of hearing Rachel's voice.  What?!

Rachel had this trip planned for a few weeks.  Even though Mike was going to be out of town, it was about the only time during her semester that she could sneak away for a couple of days.  Surprise, surprise, surprise!  Matt, Adam, and I didn't know about it, but Karen and Mike did.  Karen had texted me earlier, and when I revealed that I was already lonely, I guess she was giggling and looking forward to the surprise that awaited me.

It was fun to go up to Cascade the next morning for Adam's race and surprise him.  I wish I could have gotten a picture of Adam's face when he saw her.  Confusion.  Bewilderment.  Excitement.  Happiness.  Once he figured out that she wasn't a figment of his imagination, he was super stoked to have her there.  I enjoyed seeing the three of them together, goofing around like they always do.  It's always a gift to feel the nest fill up again just a little.  Having Rachel there also gave us one more person to cheer our guts out for Adam.

Adam ran well in his race.  No, he did not finish fourth.  Oh, wait.  He was fourth on his varsity team, so I guess four remains the lucky number.  He finished 11th overall and was thrilled to get a medal.  He called it a "legit medal" because it was won in a varsity race.  I called it "legit" because the race was cross country in its truest form--up and down mountains and in and out of the forest.  It was a TOUGH course.  He may kill me for posting this picture, but I think it shows just how hard he was working.

He has one more regular-season race on Thursday.  Then it's on to the district race the following Friday.  It would be super cool if Centennial could make it to state.

I have a little time tomorrow, so I'll get the grandparents updated on Matt's soccer season then.  Here's the teaser:  They will be going to state in about ten days, but all the parents will need that long to recover from their three district games.  I'm exhausted from the strain.  More tomorrow. . .