After finishing a morning basketball game, after a morning U-14 soccer game, we headed to Shawnee for the final game of the season. Our opponent is an undefeated juggernaut that has not been scored on all season. Before the game, I asked the head referee how long the halves were. He told me (35 minutes). He also added that we were going to have a tough time against this team, which won every game it had played by at least 7 goals and won one of them 17-0.
Emi played well and got loose a couple of times.
Seven minutes in, Emi got fouled in the box and took a penalty kick that he delivered with force off the top cross bar. After the game, Emilio pointed out that the top bar on the Shawnee goals are a little lower than the top bar on the goals in Ada. He's right. In Ada, that penalty kick would have been indefensible.
Six minutes later, we are down 1-0 when Emi gets loose on a breakaway. Teammates and Coach Brock start yelling at Emilio to shoot, but Emi has his own plans. He crosses over one defender, and then crosses over another, while the yelling gets more insistent: "Shoot! Shoot!" Emi is calm under pressure, turns the corner one more time, lines up his shot and delivers a stunner: the first goal Shawnee has allowed this season. The score is now tied 1-1, and we immediately hear Luke, the Shawnee goalkeeper, tell his dad, the coach, that he needs a sub. Those who were yelling at Emilio to shoot before he was ready are silent. That's Emilio's 30th goal of the ten-game season, and probably my favorite of them all.
Though this was his third sporting event of the day and we fell behind the strongest team in the league, Emi played as hard as I've seen him play, as evident in this charge on the goalkeeper.
After the game, Coach Underwood gave Blake some much deserved praise for the energy that he gave the team throughout the season playing box to box from his position at center mid. He also singled out Gage for some stellar work as goalkeeper. Finally, he praised the team for scoring the only goal that the Shawnee Juggernaut had allowed all season. All season, Coach Brock has been urging the team to pass the ball. He is not a fan of dribbling and every game he repeatedly yells "Get it off your foot!" He thanked the team for trusting his advice and improving so much over the course of the season.
After winning our first four, we lost out last four to finish with a 4-4 record. We allowed 34 goals and scored 45. Emi scored 30 and though I don't think Emi's coaches cared much for his game, Emi felt appreciated by his teammates, enjoyed playing with Blake especially, and I am well pleased that we decided to play him in his assigned age group instead of playing with older kids all season.
