7th/8th grade soccer team settles for second

The 7th/8th grade soccer team picked a bad day to not have anything in the gas tank, as the team fell 7-1 in the first St. Mary's soccer championship in school history.

It was scoreless until later in the first when the other team off of a thrown in was able to get their first goal. And that opened the floodgates.

By halftime it was 3-0, and soon it was 5-0 going into the fourth.

St. Mary's struck back early in the fourth when Sebastian booted in his first goal of the playoffs off of a nice feed from Pablo. But aside from that, there wasn't too much offense.

As a whole, from goalie, to the defense, to the mid-field and to the forwards, everybody had an off game.

They were matched up against a team that was easily faster, stronger, and flat-out better.

The lack of depth on the 7th/8th grade was apparent, and the size difference between the two teams was also drastic and too much to overcome.

For portions of the second and fourth quarter, they were also playing with only 10 players, as Jon Jett was injured for most of the second quarter, and Eloy for parts of the fourth.

Being the opportunist, the other team scored three goals when they had a man advantage which pretty much sealed the game before halftime.

The team they were up against was much more physical, and borderline dirty. Frustrated by the lack of calls from the officials, the 7th/8th graders weren't able to play their game and it showed throughout the course of the game.

Physically, the other team was imposing, with several players twice the size of the 7th/8th graders. They were able to muscle their way to spots on the field the St. Mary's team just couldn't.

All that led to their worst performance of the season.

Coming into this game, they had given up a combined 10 goals on the entire season. Today, 7.

But despite the lopsided loss, the 7th/8th graders should be proud of their accomplishments throughout the year. All the 7th graders had never won a single game coming into the season, and this year they were playing in the championship.

And what seems to be the theme of the fall sports this year, this team was put together at the last second with players who didn't know each other before the month of September.

They were able to put together a run that the school had never seen before in this sport, and they'll forever be linked with St. Mary's soccer history.