One thing that has been different about playing competitive soccer has been the number of tournaments we’ve played. I have played three tournaments in about four months with my new team, with another one coming up this month. On my old rec team, we played two tournaments in two years.
We played a tournament near Santa Cruz, CA, recently where a lot of interesting things happened. I played goalkeeper and midfield, but mostly defender, my favorite position.
We won two out of three games and ended up playing a game for third and fourth place. Unfortunately, I gave an own goal to the other team and so did one of my other teammates. This is the first time this has happened, and I felt really bad. Then my coach put me in midfield and I was really nervous because I never play mid, but I felt like I should score a goal and get one back for my team and I did it! It was my first goal with this team. Another teammate, Samantha, really wanted to score a goal and also scored one, which was really cool. Unfortunately, we still lost 3-2, because we gave the other team two goals. I was still happy anyway because I scored and we got a fourth place medal, which was nice.
Two of the teams we played were the most aggressive teams we have played so far. The first team’s coach was actually yelling, “PLAY DIRTY”! The coach of the other team actually got a red card and was ejected from the game. Nobody heard what the coach said, but we saw the linesman run over to the ref, and the ref went straight to the coach and ejected him. The ref was British, and didn’t allow ANY dirty moves, which was a relief. I think I like British refs.
So far this year we have a third place, no place, and fourth place in three tournaments.
Not only did I score my first goal with this team this month, I also got my first yellow card.
We were winning when our defense broke down and there was a break away. I ran as fast as I could to catch up and tried to kick the ball away and accidentally tripped her. AND that was a free kick for them. A wall was made and the ref walked up to me and told me to come out of the wall. Instantly I knew I was going to get a card. I was really scared but I heard parents yelling, “Shake it off Eva, you’re OK”. The free kick was taken, I got to block it from going in and passed it up the line to our left mid. Phew! One of the Dads tried to make me feel better and said, “Hey Eva! That was our team’s first yellow card ever.” Ha ha. Very funny.
BRONCO REPORT: Tonight we are going to see our favorite college team, the Santa Clara Broncos, play Portland. Both teams are going to be fighting hard to win this one because there is a lot to win and a lot to lose. We know the Broncos can do it, so we’re expecting a win!
Here’s a little secret that I’m very excited about… One of the Broncos agreed to let me interview her soon and hopefully it will be in my next blog.