By Terry Lee
When spring soccer opened on March 19, and the 4th-8th grade teams had completed their season opening games, it didn’t look good for Coach Terry Lee and the PC Express team. After a loss to the American Family Insurance team 14-2, the players were hanging their heads pretty low, anticipating a very long season.
The next two games proved to be a confidence booster as the very young PC Express team practiced hard and collected two wins making their record 2-1.
Here it was the fourth week of play and Coach Lee’s team was facing American Family Insurance again. With their confidence level at a low, the players were hesitant about taking the field to face the team that had beaten them so bad that first week of play. The game went on as scheduled and the PC Express team walked away with a loss, as the score was 6-3.
With disappointment in their step, the PC Express team went back to practicing hard and improving their skills, both offensively and defensively. Coach Lee was proud of her teams’ desire to play and learn. Week five added a win for PC Express.
Saturday, April 30th was tournament day. PC Express was ranked #2 heading into the first round of play as they faced Jean’s Healthway. It was an exciting game as both teams played their hearts out. The game ended in a tie and five more minutes of overtime were played. After five minutes the game was still tied. The teams were forced to a kick off, which involves five players from each team kicking individually at the opposing goalie. As it came down to the last kick for Jean’s Healthway, PC Express was the winner, moving on to the championship game.
At this point, PC Express knew that they had to face American Family Insurance for yet another game. Coach Lee told her players to go out and have fun, play good soccer, and play like a team that wants to win. The game was filled with exciting plays from both teams. To everyone’s surprise the game ended in a tie. PC Express wanted to go directly to a kickoff but American Family Insurance wanted to play five minutes of overtime. A coin toss was implemented and American Family Insurance won the toss forcing five minutes of overtime.
After five minutes of play the score remained tied and it was off to a kickoff. Amazingly enough, after five players from each team kicked at their opposing goalie the score was tied. Another kickoff was required and the coach’s picked their five players to kick. How did that kickoff end? Yes, another tie!
Here it was the 3rd kick off and anticipation was running rampant across the soccer field, as the kick off continued. Car horns were honking from family and friends, as their children would score goals.
As for the team who hung their heads so low after that season opener, they were now jumping up and down with excitement as they just realized they beat the team that had haunted them all season.
Congratulations to all the teams in the 4th thru 8th grade league: PC Express, American Family Insurance, Jim’s Body Shop, and Jean’s Healthway.
