I can’t express how much I hate penalty shootouts. They don’t mean anything. They don’t prove who actually was the better team. They don’t prove who played better. They’re just stupid. Ugh
First tournament playing together and our team won the for our age bracket. Great job girls. We won in pks 5-4. I nearly had one of the shots and our girls did a great job putting the ball in the back of the net.
Today’s game was probably the most nerve-wracking game of my life….so far. It was the quarter final game and we played against Notre Dame. We had not played them during the regular season so we were unsure of what to expect. We were in for a big surprise.
The Irish came out gunning for us. We scored first but then they put one in on a breakaway, tying the game up 1-1. The score stayed this way until the second half. We managed to score first but then on one of our corner kicks they transitioned quicker than us and made us pay the price. They scored and the game was 2-2.
We went into overtime and had plenty of chances to score and end the game then and there. It didn’t happen though. With about three minutes left in the second overtime period my coach told me to start warming up for penalty kicks incase it got to them…and of course it did.
Since I split time with a sophomore (that’s a whole other story) I was extremely happy to be in goal for the pks. Was it ideal? No, but I didn’t care. My team’s future rested in my and my teammates hands. We elected to go first which would put the pressure on them to make the shots.
My sweeper made her shot. The ND girl made her’s. Then another one of my defenders made her shot. The ND girl missed wide. 2-1 us so far. One of my forwards stepped up and buried her shot. The ND girl hit her’s to the far corner. 3-2 us. One of my center mids made her’s. She’s a lefty and it looked like she took the shot with her right foot at first. The fourth ND girl went low to my right. I dove and just missed the ball. Our last girl was up. Another forward who has always been clutch for us. And guess what, she made her shot! All five of my girls made their pks!
My team ran forward and we all ended up in a dog pile in front of the goal. It was a great win and a huge wake-up call for us. Next up in the semis on Wednesday.
