The Winning Goal

If this image looks dark on your screen, that is the way it should look. Games at this level normally go for just under an hour and this one went an hour and a half. Sunset here is around 7:15 and this game went about 20 minutes after that. It is conincidental that this should be against the first team that we played against at the beginning of the season and it should end up in a battle for first place with this team.
We took a 2 to nothing lead in the first half, and then they tied it up. The game went into a 10 minute overtime, and then another 10 minute overtime after that. We then had a shootout with 5 players on either side taking a shot on net from close range ... it was tied after that. Finally it was sudden death shootout and one of the smallest players on our team scored the winning goal.
The game was intense all the way through. They had 2 great players who we were very aware of - cousins, terrific athletes and it was the defence's job to stop them early. One of them had played on Aiden's team last year. Standing next to Aiden - Aiden would just come even with his shoulders. Nevertheless, the boys on defence were very effective at shutting those aces down. On one occasion, there was a penalty kick on our net. Their best striker took the shot. Our guys formed a human wall, but Aiden took a step back from the wall toward the net. The shot was hard and high, over the heads of our wall. Aiden jumped up and did a header to deflect the shot over the crossbar. He later told me that one hurt a bit, but it saved the game. We are very proud of his play as a sweeper. It has been a very good season for him in learning how to play the game and where to position himself. Click here for a few more pictures.