6th/7th grade soccer team shutout in championship

The 6th/7th grade soccer team picked a bad time to stop scoring goals, as they were shutout 3-0 in Saturday's championship game at Silver Terrace.

With the sun peeking through some of the rain clouds, the team was unable to find the back of the net and only scored one goal in their two post-season games.

Even the goal they scored was a fortunate break as Thomas' goal in the playoff game literally trickled in slowly past the other team's goalie, who misplayed the ball in the worst way.

On Saturday, it was the other way around as two of the three goals could not be explained, other than the fact they were careless and should not have happened.

Goal one really seemed to dampen the team's spirit, as only one player from the other team was in the box. Ryan K. angled him to the corner, but could not take the ball away as the opposing player just centered the ball towards the goal.

Out of position, the ball went off of Raymond and caromed into the net, and the 6th/7th graders never recovered.

A defensive breakdown led to the second goal, which put them behind 2-0 at the half.

But the backbreaker came in the first minute of the 3rd quarter. Off of a goal kick, a ball sailed towards midfield where a St. Mary's player had a chance to either let it drop, or field it, and play it. Instead, he ducked, looking like he was scared of the ball and the other team teed up and launched a pop-up towards Oscar.

Looking like he was fighting the sun, he misplayed it and the ball bounced into the net, and the game was pretty much over from there.

From top to bottom, the execution just wasn't there.

The other team did dominate the bulk of the attack zone time, but the 6th/7th graders did have their chances.

Their best came when they had a chance to take the leadearly in the first when Julian had a point blank shot in front of the goalie. But he didn't get all of the ball and his shot went right to the goalkeeper and it remained scoreless.

Alan had a nice chance in the first half off of a nice pass from Julian, but he hesitated and was unable to get off a shot.

Before the game, Andre rallied the team and in Hunter Pence like fashion got the team fired up in a huddle. Their energy and effort was there but unfortunately the execution was a little bit off.

And there are times, this being one of them, that you have to tip your hat to the other team, as they outplayed the 6th/7th grade in the biggest game of the year.

A lot of the problems that were apparent Saturday were reminiscent of their growing pains from year's past.

Many whiffs and inability to control the ball, rushing when they didn't have to, and taking their time when they had none. Those mistakes can be made during the season, but definitely not the title game.

Putting this game aside, the team had a very successful season and just missed the opportunity they had in the championship.

The bulk of this team was part of a squad that lost six times last season and tied twice. All of the St. Mary's players had never won a soccer game until the season opener earlier this season.

It was a season of firsts as Thomas, Alan and Jaime all scored their first CYO goals.

Everyone also got to see the progression of many of the players on the team such as both Ryans, Jason, Garrick and The Twins, who all brought their games to another level.

Unfortunately, the success of this season will be short lived as a championship appearance will almost but guarantee them a bump up into the second division for their 8th grade year, which will be a daunting task to say the least.

So the maturation process and progression will be key if they want to make their 8th grade year a memorable one.