We Were Hoping to Win Just One Game...Just One

This is another soccer post, and if you are not all that interested in hearing about our weekend soccer drama filled with slide tackles and harsh words, then you can stop reading. By now, you must realize that we eat, breathe, and dream about soccer. However, before we get into the weekend of sweltering heat and the run down of all four games, you might be interested in knowing that I found the missing frog from our Operation Hoppin' into Third Grade, and it should be no surprise that he did not make it out of our house alive.

Now for the soccer rundown. We went to Savannah to the U-8 Shamrock Cup hoping to win one game. We won the first game 2-0, and because this team is ranked 19th in the state, we were pretty pumped. Well, most of us were. One guy walked off the field in tears, and when we later learned he thought we lost, we had to reassure him that we had actually won a game. He was so used to losing that he had just assumed we had lost this one, too.

The second game was even easier, and we won 4-0. Winning one game was exciting, but to win two games, meant the angels must have been Gator fans. 

We won the third game rather easily as well. This time the score was 5-1. Evan let a goal get past him, but after stopping so many other goals, we turned a blind eye to it. I must explain that Evan usually plays up in the U-10 league, but because the U-8 team was short a player, Evan agreed to play for U-8 in this weekend's tournament. Evan is usually one of the biggest players on the field when he plays U-10, but in this tournament, he was so much larger that we affectionately called him "The Man Child." At one point we heard a dad from another team hollar, "Get on the big one!" He was referring to Evan.

With the third win, we were headed to the championship game. It was at this point, that my friend Maria and I agreed that the Gators before the game battle cry should not be "Praise the Lord" but "Praise the Lord and Let us Win!" We silently prayed this, but I guess it was not well received by the powers that be because we lost the championship game to the team we played in the very first game. 

We might have been disappointed for just a second, but we got second place! After hoping to win just one game, I couldn't believe that we were the runners-up. This little team has come a long way since March when we were decimated at the tournament in Charleston. 

Next weekend, U-8 wraps up its season with a round robin in Richmond Hill. We are hoping to win one game...just one.