My nephew, Braden or B-Mac as my sister calls him, has played soccer pretty much his whole life. Unfortunately, due to him being a senior, this will most likely be his last year to play soccer (unless he joins an intramural team while at college). He is ending his high school soccer career with a bang and it has been soooo fun to watch he and his teammates.
His team did so well they made it to district playoffs. Our whole family was able to go Friday, March 26th which was the first round of playoffs to watch him play. His team did great and won their game 4-1, so they were headed to round two.
His second playoff game was on March 30th, which was a Tuesday night, so only I went so the boys would not be out too late. I rode to the game with Melissa and Shawn and that evening B would be playing right back in stead of his normal center back. Apparently the Woodlands coach, who by the way his team was undefeated in district, had apparently scouted one of Bridgeland's games and the right back kept getting beat so B's coach moved him into that position. Melissa was worried and already had in her head that this would be the last time she would see B play. Much to our surprise, Bridgeland won 1-0 in a very exciting and stressful game!!
Their next game was on Saturday, April 3rd and unfortunately due to our own sports schedule we could not go and cheer him on. Luckily, his team beat MacArthur 3-1.
The fourth round playoff game which was the Regional Semi-Finals was scheduled for Tuesday, April 6th against Sachse and was in Mexia. That was definitely too far on a school night. It was live streamed on the internet, but I could not get it to work. So instead, Melissa sent me updates. Want to talk about a stressful game? This was the one!!! We started out down 1-0 in the first 15 minutes, however within another 5 minutes we scored, so we were tied 1-1. Then we were up 2-1 going into the half. Then the other team got a penalty kick and tied it 2-2 and then scored again within the next 4 minutes and was 2-3. Then in the next 4 minutes we scored and ended up tied at the end of regulation. So they played two 10 minute halves, with no one scoring. So that meant penalty kicks to end the game.
The way this works is each team picks 5 players to kick and whoever has the most goals after their 5 kick wins. So, their guy kicks first, gets it, our guy kicks and misses. Then, they miss, and then we miss. Then they got theirs and we got ours. Next, their guy gets it and our guy gets it. They are on their 5th guy and if he makes it they win. Luckily, he missed and we got it. So again we are tied. So now we send out another 5 and the same thing happens. Braden is the 3rd guy in this round. Talk about stress, THIS is stress!!! I was just sitting in my recliner sweating and nauseated. I can only imagine how stressed Melissa was! So, their first guy got it as did our guy. Their second guy got theirs, we got ours. Now their guy came up and missed. Next up is B. If he can get his, we win. The next text I received "He just won the game."
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The team swarming
Braden after the
winning goal! |
Talk about a proud aunt!!! OMG!!!! Can you imagine the excitement in that stadium?!?!?!?!!? What a great night for B. It was late and I went to bed, but when I woke up the next morning and went to Twitter the first thing I saw was a replay of B making the final shot and then his team surrounding him in loud cheers and lifting him up. I just cried. What an awesome experience for him. Being the proud aunt I am, I showed the video to anyone that would watch it. It still gives me chills to watch it!!!
Their next game was April 9th for the Regional Finals and was in Waco against Rockwall-Heath. Fortunately. I finally got the live stream to work, so we watched the game from the comfort of our own home. They were tied 1-1 at the end and had to go into extra time and ultimately penalty kicks. This time, Braden was number 5 in the first group. Unfortunately, Braden did not have to kick as his team lost before it was his turn to kick. I hate that this championship game came down to penalty kicks, but I guess that is how it goes. Unfortunately, this was their final game as they lost 2-1. As Braden said, "It was a good run." Yes it was and how awesome it was to be able to watch him play!
