Champions Once Again! (A HUGE Soccer Update)

This is going to be a SUPER LOADED post! It's going to be a long one (and quite detailed)!

I haven't blog about soccer in weeks, and the girls just finished their season. Their team party is this Saturday.

I have so much to fill you in on.

As you can see ~ the girls walked away CHAMPIONS once again!!! Go Golden Eagles!!

Ok, let's see. I left you last when we were taking off a few weeks from soccer due to spring break. For some reason, we weren't scheduled to play the Saturday before Easter. We had a team that kept rescheduling games for one lame reason after another. Because of all that (and some rain outs), a number of our games ended up being lumped into just a couple of weekends - meaning the girls were playing sometimes 2 to 3 times in a weekend to get it all in before the tournament. It was a bit rough.

Our 4th game of the season (the 1st game we played after spring break - 4/22) was against our toughest competitor in the league - the Cheetahs. This was the team we tied our first game...

The girls were definitely ready to play after all that time off...

It was a hard fought game, and the GE won 4-2.

Even though the girls were winning their games, they still needed lots of practice. Coach Javier has a lot of good drills for them to work on...

The next game (Game 5) the girls played was on a Friday evening (4/28). The girls played 3 games that weekend to try to catch up - Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Bri was so excited when her friend Caitlin came to watch her play that Friday...

We always appreciate when friends take time out of their busy schedules to catch a game!

Bri was happy because Caitlin got to see the Golden Eagles win their game (2-0)...

The next game (Game 6) was scheduled for the following Saturday morning (4/29) against the Georgia Knights. Bri was tired but all smiles luckily...

Bri was showing me some of her goal kicks to warm up...


The game was fast-paced and it was quite warm that day. Being a mid-fielder, Bri ran back and forth all over that field.

Here she is giving some direction...

She was completely exhausted after that game (2-0 win). Doug said she worked so hard that she earned the right to be carried off the field...

 The girls played their 3rd game of that weekend (Game 7) on that Sunday afternoon (4/30) against Bayern Munich. I was not able to attend this game because I was heading to see Neil Diamond (Doug brought Bri to the field)...

Unfortunately, it was not a good match up. I had noticed that this team had not won a single game the entire season. There is no doubt in my mind that this team was placed in the wrong bracket. Our girls easily beat them 8-0...

The following weekend, the Golden Eagles were scheduled to play two games (one Saturday and one Sunday). The Saturday game (5/6) was a game we were invited to play in.

As you probably know, our girls are a recreational team. There is no doubt the Golden Eagles are good enough for academy, but for varying reasons, the girls are playing rec (for now at least). Since the Golden Eagles are the top rec team at our Y, the girls were asked to play in a friendly game against an academy team for a different league (SSA).

Unfortunately, our team started out with 10 girls this season. Three girls quit the team over the course of the season, leaving only 7 girls - which means we had no subs. We obviously needed more girls to play against this SSA team, so we invited some of the Cheetahs to play with us. It was the first time these girls ever played together...

Our girls did amazing! The SSA team was a bit more technical and experienced, but the Golden Eagles/Cheetahs (they called themselves the "Cheegles" - ha, ha!) played strong and aggressively. We lost 4-3, but it was a close game for sure. Not too shabby...

The only thing about that game though was that Bri got a bit upset during it. She was in the wrong place during a corner kick and the ball ended up bouncing off her shoulder and into the goal. The other team scored. I could tell she was upset for a while after that. She rarely makes a mistake and she took it hard. She took a break on the bench, pulled herself together and kept playing...

Sunday of that weekend (5/7), the Golden Eagles were scheduled to play their last game (Game 8) of the regular season. We were actually supposed to play on Friday evening of that weekend, but it got moved to Sunday because of rain. We all showed up at 12:30PM for a 1PM game. About a half an hour before we all started arriving, the coach for Bayern Munich (the team we beat 8-0 the weekend before) called the Y and said they weren't coming. The team didn't feel it was a fair match up, so they were forfeiting.

We were all stunned. Not only did they quit, they quit at the very last minute. I had brought my good camera to take pics of the very last regular season U10 game, but there was no game to play. Very disappointing.

Bri was all ready to play...

I took some team photos...

We started to just have a practice instead...

But then our assistant coach noticed something. A U12 boys team had an opponent "no show" as well...

Basically, the girls weren't allowed to have a "real" game against these boys. They were in an older bracket and they were, well, boys. But, a friendly scrimmage was ok. The ref took off his official arm band and offered to ref the game for fun.

Girls against boys...

A big disadvantage the girls had were they weren't allowed to do headers (U10 you can't), but the boys were allowed (U12 you can). They also had a bit more experience and were pretty aggressive.

I'll tell you what though. These girls may not have scored while the boys scored a bit, but they didn't make it easy on them at all. Our girls were very aggressive and made those boys work for it. I didn't keep score, but I know it wasn't a total blowout.

You can see the girls didn't let up at all...

Briana was defending against this boy...

She was on him the whole time...

At one point, Briana used some creative footwork to get the ball around him. When a player does some "fancy" footwork to get the ball away from someone, it's called "juking." Well, Bri did it to this kid. His teammate razzed him and said, "Dude, she kept juking you! She juked you like three times!" It was really funny.

My girl and her "throw-ins"...

Still smiling...

At one point toward the end of the game, the ball was kicked into her stomach and it knocked the wind out of her. She started to cry and I yelled to her to "go down" if she needed to leave the field. When a player goes down, the game stops. Coach walked her off the field...

After a few minutes, she got back in the game again and finished it out.

I couldn't have been prouder of our girls. They played hard and I think surprised those boys! I think that was the most fun game I've ever watched the girls play - and they didn't even win!

After the game, Bri wanted some frozen yogurt. One of the boys from the other team came into the froyo place with his dad. His dad walked over to our table and told us that our girls were really good and super tough. No doubt he was very surprised at how strong they were!!!

 So even with Bayern Munich forfeiting, the Golden Eagles were the champs of our U10 division!!

At the practice following the scrimmage with the boys, Coach gave the girls "army hats" because they basically fought in a "war." LOL!!! He was so proud of them...

Finally, tournament weekend rolled around. Our first game was supposed to be on a Friday, but it was moved to a Thursday (5/11) - once again because of rain. Again, we were playing the Cheetahs in the tournament...

The girls got out there and played ok. They were a little off that day. Maybe because it was a Thursday evening. I could tell Bri's heart was half in it. And remember, the Golden Eagles went into the tournament with no subs.

Even though it was a rougher game, the Golden Eagles won (I can't remember the score - it may have been 3-2)...

The next game of the tournament was on a Saturday at 4PM (5/13). The team we played, East Germany, was from a different Y. They had been undefeated. They had about 14 girls on their team, so basically they could swap the entire team several times during the game. Our girls got no breaks - they would just run to the side of the field to grab water once in a while. And it was super hot that afternoon.

It was a 1-1 tie game until a penalty was called against East Germany at the very end of the game. Bri and Maddie did their little indirect kick trick and scored the winning goal. Golden Eagles won 2-1...

The girls had their next game against the Owls (a team from another Y again) at 6PM. They needed to rest and refuel. Coach was giving Bri a little pep talk...

Smiling even though it was hot...

These girls are rock stars!!!!

6PM rolled around. No team. AGAIN no team. The Owls had played their 4PM game, lost it, left to go home and didn't tell anyone. They had lost their two tournament games and I guess realized they had no chance of going to the final, so they blew us off. I guess it was good that the girls didn't have to play again that day, but they waited around for over an hour for no reason. It was just insane.

Hot, hungry and tired - we stopped for some BBQ on the way home...

Then it was time for the final game. Sunday at 4PM on Mother's Day (5/14). We were against the Cheetahs again. We had tied them once and beat them twice, but we only had 7 girls (no subs again) and we just didn't know what would happen. The Cheetahs had several subs. It was very hot once again.

The girls squeezed in under an umbrella to try to beat the heat...

The ref had the girls line up before the game...

And wave to the audience...



Then it was game time. The girls played their hearts out...

Here is Bri stopping the ball...



 Here are our girls (Josie, assisting and Ella, kicking it in) making a goal...



The Golden Eagles WON!! 3-0!! With no subs!!

They were a little beat up after the game...

Coach squatted down in front of them and told them how proud he was. He just kept saying "You won with 7 girls. You won with just 7 girls." He was amazed. We were all amazed. They are warriors!!!

It was finally time for the medal ceremony...

Happy team...

Amazing girls; wonderful coaches...

A little "dab" celebration...

Posing with Coach and the trophy...

A few of the girls went out for some celebratory frozen yogurt...

Wow - what a season.

So that is the update. If you got this far, thank you for sticking with me! It was a super long post. It was such an amazing season (the last U10 season) and I wanted to record it all.

We are going to lose a few of our girls next season, but we are going to merge with some of the Cheetah players for U12. The Cheetahs have some really strong girls and they were a tough opponent. I am really excited about that.

I'll be talking all about soccer again in the fall. To be continued...