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PenBay United Soccer Quarter Finals
This year instead of two league teams, we ended up with just one because we didn’t (a) have enough boys to field two full teams and (b) didn’t have coaches (volunteer!) for two teams. That meant for the first time there were cuts (SOB) to the roster. We really miss the other boys, but my goodness this combined team has really improved dramatically this year! They WON the Harvest Cup tournament in York over the Columbus Day weekend, a first for our area, and on October 30 they beat the PAYSA team to advance to the semi-finals and finals next weekend!
It's a big wide field to run; that's our son as goalie in the yellow shirt, far right
Sometimes it is terrifying for the goalie, but better when your team is there to help you defend the goal (Pen Bay is in blue)
The PAYSA team (red shirts) was by far the best team we have played all season. In honesty, the outplayed us the entire game, dominating the pace and direction of the game. But in the end, Pen Bay (short for Penobscot Bay, the large inlet halfway up the coast of Maine on whose shores you can find Lincolnville, Camden and Rockport, among other towns) United won by 3-2, holding off yet another surge by PAYSA at the last minute to hang on to the win.
Sometimes it is lonely being the goalie. And cold. It was so chilly--a high of about 50 with the wind blowing--that the refs let the goalies keep on their long pants! (In Eli's case, flannel holiday jammies!)
Another nail-biting moment as the other team attempts to score...notice how well placed the PAYSA kids are to receive the rebound
The ref just blew the game whistle--PenBay had held off PAYSA by 3 to 2!
A team of very happy 13 year old boys and very happy coaches, too!
The end-of-game shaking of hands of the teams and refs
As we were walking to the car, one of the PAYSA coaches was wonderful…congratulating our boys on a win. We allowed as how, frankly, they had outplayed us the entire game, but he said yes, but your boys were still able to make the points when it counted and win. Gracious, generous…and I agree: our teams would both improve if we could play each other more during the season.
But before we left the field, the boys surprised us (the parents walking across the field to the team bench) by stringing out in a line and racing across the field, bursting through and round us:
Team spirit--after the game, racing across their half of the field in unison (sorry about the overexposure, no idea what happened)
And racing back–yes, they covered the field!
And back...thatsa lotta boys!
We didn’t have a team photo of ALL the boys (one or another was always missing before), so we got a team photo….a line of kids and coaches, and a line of mostly moms armed with cameras snapping away madly…of the 12 or so shots I got, this was the best (no one making weird faces, blinking or looking down!)
A team photo--victory!