Two of the 7th/8th grade players were looking forward to Saturday's game because they thought they could replicate their 5-0 win the last time these two teams met.
But the other team wasn't going to oblige.
A questionable call late in the game set up a penalty kick by the other team, which resulted in the game tying goal, and the 7th/8th graders played to a 2-2 draw in one of their most disappointing showings of the year.
Even before the game started, it was bad news. Only 10 of the 13 players were at the field when the teams huddled at midfield for the opening player. Two showed up late in the first half, and one never appeared.
Brendan was forced into goal duties, and surrendered a goal midway through the first quarter. It wasn't all his fault as the defense was unable to clear the ball when they had several chances to do so. Brendan overran the ball a little bit, and the other team slipped it the opposite direction past him to take a 1-0 lead.
Minutes later, the 7th/8th graders answered back, as Moises set up Khaliq nicely right atop the penalty box, where he boomed a kick into the corner of the net evening the score at 1-1.
With Christian and Julian inserted into the lineup to start the second half, the offense came alive as Christian took the ball strong at an angle to the right side of the net. He then curled the ball to the front of the goal where Matthew kicked the ball into the net for his first goal of the year off of a messy scrum, giving the boys a 2-1 lead.
They had numerous opportunities the rest of the way to pad their one goal lead, but failed to do so and it cost them in the end.
While the 7th/8th graders had control of the ball in their own zone, a member of the other team was injured and the referee signaled for a stoppage in play.
Instead of giving the possession back to the 7th/8th graders, the referee awarded the other team the ball.
Off that costly call, the other team took a shot in the box, which hit one of the St. Mary's defenders in the stomach. The referee piled it on and then called the 7th/8th graders for a handball, setting up a penalty kick.
The rest was history as the penalty kick evened the scored at 2-2, which was the eventual final.
It would be easy to point a finger at the officiating blunders as to why this game ended in a tie, but the first place the team needs to look is at themselves.
On paper, this was a victory, an easy one. In their previous meeting, the 7th/8th graders played their best game to date and dominated. Saturday was a complete 180 and in some ways, they were lucky to escape with a tie.
What the 7th/8th grade did was nothing new as so many teams take their opponents likely after beating them the first time.
They fail to realize that when a team gets beat, they want revenge and don't want to be beaten the same way the second time around.
The 7th/8th graders (2-2-2) need to bring their best to every single game and play each game at a high level or else they'll be kicking themselves for their inability to win the games that should be theirs.
Alfonso, who did not get on the scoresheet, did play his best game of the year, as he was very good in the offensive attack zone, filling in for missing players.
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