soccer

Sports Saturday

It was a little like old times today: the Girl had a volleyball tournament; the Boy had a soccer game. L is playing on something like a rec team at UF. They travel to various universities and play other rec teams, and this weekend they’re in Clemson, just down the highway from us.

The Boy had his first spring-season soccer game today. We had some worries that he wouldn’t be on the same team as the previous three or four seasons, but with some polite asking and a little string-pulling, we managed to get him back on that team. It’s a good coach with a good group of boys, and they should have a strong showing this season.

And so, as we so often did in the past, we had split duty today: K went to cheer on L while E and I stayed behind for soccer and youth orchestra make-up practice.

The Boy’s team dominated in the early minutes, quickly going up 2-0. After that initial surge, though, their dominance waned a bit, and they even allowed a goal. “We got too comfortable after that,” he explained as we were leaving after the first half to head to rehearsal. When I picked him up three hours later after rehearsal (“Oh, I forgot how awful those long rehearsals are,” he moaned as he got in the car), he told me that he’d gotten a text about the game: 5-2. An overall dominant performance.

The Girl’s team also had a dominant performance, not losing a single game and losing only one set. K said the Girl played as well as she’s played in a long time, with some really strong kills and overall aggressive play. They walked away with the tournament victory and big smiles.

Afterward, just like old times, the Boy and I went out for Mexican at our favorite restaurant. “We’ve tried other places,” I told the owner, “but we just keep coming back here.”

Return to 5 v 5

After a short break for the holidays, the boys are back at it, playing five versus five soccer on a quarter-sized field. It’s such a different version of the game: with a smaller field, it’s much faster, and since there’s no off-sides, it changes the overall dynamic a bit. Plus, everyone plays offense and defense.

They played an academy team, which means a team that practices more frequently and travels for tournaments. The soccer version of travel volleyball. During the regular season, playing a travel team during our Saturday matches is a rarity, and if they do play, the academy/travel team usually has to play up an age group.

It’s not that way during the less formal five-versus-five season. They boys got taken apart by an academy team just before the Christmas break, and I worried it would happen today. It started that way: within a few short moments, we were down 0-2. It went 1-2 before the academy team scored again.

By the half, though, our boys had tied it at three apiece. Two of the boys had written a silly motivational speech, which they delivered to the team during halftime, and it must have worked.

Soon, the boys were up 4-3. Then it was 4-4. “We might end up tying this, or better!” I thought. It was the latter: our boys soon scored two unanswered goals, adding a third before the end of the match to win 7-4.

Winter 5v5 Game 1

The Boy’s first five-versus-five soccer game was tonight. It’s a wild variation: no off-sides, no throw-ins on a field a quarter of the size of a regular field. It was a good start for the short season: our boys won 9-3, with the Boy scoring two goals, including a ripper from almost the midfield.

Champions

The boys pulled it off: a perfect season, without a single loss. They outscored their opponents 37-6 culminating in a sweep at the season-ending tournament.

Soccer Saturday

The Boy’s team finished the regular season undefeated this evening. It’s the best soccer season he’s ever experienced, and K and I are relieved he is finally having a great season like L did in volleyball and track.

Soccer Saturday

The Boy’s team has had quite the season this year: up to today’s game, they had allowed only a single goal. They beat most of their opponents handily. Today was different. They were up 3-0 by the first half, so the coach put in a new goalie. Someone who’d never played goalie before. I suppose the reasoning was that if the other team started scoring, he could make adjustments and put back one of the two boys who usually play in the goal. That seemed unnecessary, though: the boys added three more to the score, invoking the mercy rule, which means they were no longer allowed to score. In the final minutes, though, the goalie made a mistake that left too much room and allowed a shot into a virtually open goal. The boys still won 6-1, but E was a little disappointed: “I wanted to finish the season with only one goal scored against us.”

Soccer Practice

The Boy’s team notched a significant win this weekend, beating a previously-unbeaten team, and that decidedly. What does a wise coach do on Monday practice? Run drills? Work them silly? Burpees and suicides? Of course not — he just let them play.

And the sun did a little playing with the clouds as well. That photo looks excessively edited, but I did my best to make it look just as it did when I took it — some of the most brilliant and rich colors I’ve ever seen. Only the ground is too dark…

Goal!

It’s not often Emil scores a goal: he plays left back most of the time, so defending is his thing. But the coach put him up front in the second half of today’s game, and he got a free kick.

End of Break Saturday

Today was the day everything went back to normal. The Christmas lights came down (though the tree is still up — whatever K wants to do is fine with me in that regard). The Boy’s 5v5 soccer season resumed: E’s team won 4:3, with the Boy scoring the winning goal.

But some things were still holiday-esque: I made farsz for pierogi again. And this time, I remembered how much grease the sautéed mushrooms spit out as they go through the grinder.

“Do we a fartuszek of any kind I can use?” I asked K.

“But of course…”

Sunday