We fell behind 2-0 in the night game. Then Sam scored.
Late in the game, Sam and Emilio ran a one-two that led to Emilio's second goal of the day. It also led to a scary collision between Emilio and the Nitro keeper. According to Emilio, when the keeper got up, he said, "You f--in' deserved that." Yuck. Emilio stayed down for a while before he hobbled off. Three hours later, he was still in pain, and his injury remained undiagnosed.
After falling behind 0-2 to Stillwater, Emilio moves to forward and guides this ball to his crashing teammate Augie, and we pull within one.
Three minutes later, Augie returns the favor, getting the ball to Emilio on a free release, and we go into halftime tied 2-2.
Earlier in the day, Durant beat Noble 8-0 (we beat Noble 6-1), and Durant tied Ardmore 2-2 (we beat Ardmore 1-0), so the final match of the day might has well have been the tournament championship.
Durant plays rough. But Emilio won't be deterred.
This foul led to a free kick. Emi says that after he went down, #15 intentionally hit him in the head with his leg as he was walking by.
At halftime, the score was tied, nil-nil.
Five minutes into the second half, this kick changed the game.
Racing to the endline after a well-threaded lead pass by Sam, Emilio fires a left crosser that glances off the keeper's mitts onto Blake's chest and rebounds into the goal, to put us up 1-0.
And that was the score for the next 20 minutes, until a foul was called in our defensive box with no time left on the clock. A penalty kick tied the game 1-1.
I'd call us the winners of the tournament, since we had 2 wins and a tie, while Durant at 1 win and 2 ties.
Emi says Coach Jones told the team he was proud of the effort they gave, they performed better than he thought they would, and he is excited about the season.
Last year, we beat Durant 1-0 during the regular season and 3-1 in the second round of the Rose Rock tournament. We play Durant again in a couple of weeks.
Our second scrimmage match up at the Tiger Den Shootout was Noble. We beat them last year during the regular season, but we are not the same team.
Emilio creates an opportunity for Blake.
Two minutes later, Emilio falls twice but demonstrates some of his game's fidget-spinning relentlessness.
This corner kick play almost works.
Emilio briefly loses the ball here, but just as quickly regains possession and helps manage the ball forward to create an opportunity for Sam.
Two minutes later, Emilio calmly manages the ball along the sideline, and after Sam knifes through the defense, Emilio ends up launching a shot on frame. Granddaddy couldn't stop himself from cheering, though he knows we're not supposed to do that when we're standing on the endline.
One minute later, Emilio escapes down the endline to create an opportunity for Caden.
Two minutes later, Emilio creates an opportunity for Sam, who delivers a goal that puts us up 2-0.
In the second half, Emilio gets his second assist when he feeds Carlos down the sideline, and Carlos hits an amazing shot that puts us up 6-0.
At long last, varsity soccer is back. In the photo above, Emilio launches the Cougars' first shot on goal, a moonshot volley that the keeper caught.
I took my usual position on the endline at the offensive end and took video throughout the game, assuming that someone in the press box would be filming that angle as they did last year. They did, but apparently, they were rookies and the filming was inexpert, so some plays were not captured. Fortunately, though, the Ada Soccer Booster Club has a lot of photographers, and many photos were posted after the game.
On Saturday, Ardmore High School hosted the Tiger Den Shootout, which started with a match between the host Tigers and our visiting Cougars at 8 a.m. Emilio attracted a cheering section from north Texas (EmiNation?) led by Dad, Melissa, Norah and Aunt Carolyn, who all managed to arrive in time for a cold 8 a.m. kickoff.
Each scrimmage featured two 25-minute halves, with 5-minute halftimes and 5-minute breaks between games. We have games scheduled 12 noon (against Noble) and 4 pm (against Durant). We will play each of these teams again during the regular season. But first: this 8 a.m. game against Ardmore.
The most dedicated members of EmiNation will remember that when 4A Ada played 5A Ardmore in last year's pre-season Tiger Den shootout, they whupped us by many goals. We played them again, though, in a tournament at Noble, and shocked the world by producing on overtime nil-nil draw that ended with a PK-shootout for the championship. Freshman Emilio volunteered to take the first PK. He nailed it. Sophomore Sam was put in goal (for the first and only time all season) and blocked three kicks to bring home the trophy.
We lost six starters from the last year's team. Today, the first 11 to take the field in our new 4-1-4-1 (last year we ran a 4-3-3) formation are:
Keeper: Colton Scull (Sophomore; who started the first-half of the season last year) Right fullback: A. J. Revels (Senior)
Right centerback: Saul Palma (Senior)
Left centerback: Augi Palma (Sophomore, returning starter)
Left fullback: Carlos Morales (Sophomore)
Holding midfielder: Minh Nguyen (Senior)
Right midfielder: Blake Vick (Sophomore)
Right centermid: Caden Mitchell (Sophomore)
Left centermid: Emilio (Sophomore, returning starter)
Left midfielder: Sam Rhynes (Junior, 2-year returning starter)
The purpose of running a 4-1-4-1 is to increase possession. Emilio is excited about it.
In the video above, Emi gets the attack started from the midfield. Several players share the ball, Emi chases down a crosser from Jonah (you can hear him getting praise from Coach Vaughn) and passes the ball back to the midfield to create an opportunity.
Two minutes later, our Human Fidget Spinner makes a nifty move before creating another opportunity for Oscar and Sam.
Emilio says jerseys were distributed on a random basis, and his #4 is just a pre-season thing.
The play above was both Emilio's best play of the game and the most controversial play of the game.
Sam starts us off with a great opportunity created for Blake, whose on-target shot is blocked by the keeper.
Caden takes the ball back from the defense and sets up Emilio in the midfield.
Emi slaloms past three defenders and then passes to the right foot of an open Jonah, who has an open Blake behind him.
Should Emilio have passed up the open pass to take the shot? That's what Coach Jones suggested, but Emi says he'd do it again.
Dad stood by me throughout the game. That's his chuckle of disappointment at the end.
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Coach Jones lets Emilio and Sam decide who will take free kicks. After Emilio got fouled on the left side of the field, he told Sam he wanted this one. And he almost sneaked it in. Apparently, the cameras behind him were active.
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We won this 50-minute match 1-0. Ardmore will be our first game of the regular season.
Emi says Coach Jones told the team he was proud of the effort they gave, they performed better than he thought they would, and he is excited about the season.
