Sharks' Tale: The Semi Finals

On Wednesday, the Sharks met up with the Eagles at an IIAAG Girls Soccer semifinal match.

I must say--that was one of the scariest and happiest games of my soccer career.

Two of our starters could not make it to the game because their Confirmation was scheduled for that day. Especially with our already-low numbers, that was a blow to our confidence.

We started the game at a "low point", with a "sad attitude" as Coach Canos put it. Obviously, that meant that we played at a low level.

Harvest scored first this time. Heather Thompson knocked one in from a breakaway. It severely damaged our confidence. For me, it increased my anger and desire to score.

We got Harvest back when I received a cross from Asha. I pushed the ball past the goalie and crossed it to Virlynn. She was all alone near the opposite side of the goal. In the nanoseconds watching my cross, I hoped with all my heart that she would touch it in.

She did. We all started screaming, and the crowd went wild. The goal had given us hope. At that moment, I knew we were going to win. We had just needed a little push.

Sadly, Harvest scored again. Our team wasn't looking too good after that. We were falling apart. It was a good thing that it was halftime.

The coaches and captains had their talks. It was all about our attitudes. We were afraid. We were afraid that we wouldn't be playing that 6:30 game on Saturday. (The third place game is at 4:30, and Coach Lunod hates 4:30 games.) Our coaches and captains calmed our fears. We had nothing to be afraid of. We had beaten Harvest before. We knew we were the better team. Everyone knew. We just had to play our game.

We did exactly that.

After a mishap in Harvest's box, I vollied a shot into the top right corner. We got our momentum going. Later, I headed in a beautiful cross from Regina. We kept our momentum going. If you're keepin track, the Sharks were up 3-2 at this point.

After I made that last goal, Coach Canos put me back at defense. We needed speed to match the opposing team's stryker.

The rest of the game was a breeze. The ball rarely came on our half.

Well, that's that game. Now, we are headed to our Championship (notice how I said OUR Championship :). We're ready for ND. I stand by what I said in the first chapter of this tale: I believe in my team. We'll take it all the way.


P.S.-Justine was having a bad day with the referee. He was missing all the fouls that Heather (opposing team's stryker) was making on her. When the ref. finally made a good call, she did somethings stupid. She raised up her hands (like the way someone does when they ask someone else to fight) and said, "Thank you!". The referee had blown his whistle when Justine said, "thank". He only heard her say "you" and had inferred that she said, "F*ck you". Well, that was obviously yellow-card material. She was out for the rest of the game. That was sad, but when you look back at the situation, it's crack-ass funny :D.

Sharks' Tale: One Down, Two to go

Amazing--that is the word that most people might use to describe how the Sharks played tonight. 

Our coach always stressed that it was the playoffs that were the real deal. "A new season begins with the quarter-finals (our first playoff game)," he says.

We learned from the mistakes we made in our regular-season/practice games. Today, we began a new. The Sharks are in a frenzy, and nothing can stop us now. 

We drew blood first when I placed a side shot into the goal. Everything else just came along once we got our momentum going. Red scored from a breakaway. Laura scored a tough shot in the box. Asha received a nice cross from Red and touched it in. 

Our coach felt comfortable with the score, so he switched up the line. The strykers played fullbacks (I was sweeper), and the fullbacks played up top. It was a simply splendid game. 

At last, I was awarded a game ball. (The coaches give one out after each game.) "Finally!" I said. "I love it so much I could make out with it." Coach Lunod just looked at me like I was crazy. I was obviously exaggerating, but I did lick Piglet--my ball--to claim it as my own. 

Coach Canos implanted into our heads that we are now in a one-game season. We only get one chance to win a game. If we fail, then our season is over. That's a lot of pressure on us.

Obviously, this is just the beginning. But like I said before, I have the utmost confidence in the Sharks. We're going all the way to the 'ship. 

Next game, I believe we face the Harvest Christian Academy Eagles. They're a good team, but we'll see who's best on Wednesday. The Sharks just have to come in fearless and finish strong.