Agony for the 5th/6th graders

It was set up perfectly for the 5th and 6th graders. They were the aggressor, they were dictating the pace of the game and they were in control. Yet in the end, they came up a bit short.

One counter attack was all it took for the other team to win this afternoon's game by a final of 1-0. For St. Mary's, it was a bittersweet defeat, because there were so many good things that the team did.

The ball was in the 5th/6th graders control for pretty much the entire game. The action was constantly in the mid-field or right in front of the other team's net. But still, they couldn't come up with a way to score.

There were golden opportunities, most notably in the second half when both Justin and Brandon K. raced in towards the goal, but their shots never got airborne and rolled right into the hands of the goalie.

Aaron played an incredible game, outracing defenders and maneuvering his way through the defense, setting up great scoring chances. Aaron is probably the best soccer player overall we've had at St. Mary's in these three years. He just has that feel for the game and the instinct that cannot be taught.

Defensively, Brendan played pretty well also, getting his strong leg on many balls to start the attack.

In the end, it was still a defeat. The team in its years had never controlled a game like they had today and they were probably not used to being on the attack. There were many times when they could've passed the ball to a teammate, but were unable to. If they made that one extra pass, the goals would've came in a hurry.

With that being said, it's still great strides for a team that was picking and throwing grass less than a week ago at practice. Hopefully this game could be a stepping stone for some good things to come for the rest of the year.

Celebrity Sightings: Former coach Apollo Rojas attended this afternoon's game. He coached the team last year when they were in 4th/5th grade...Jamie and Emily also attended today's game, but that's because they have brothers on the team...Jim Chiu was also there.