We lost to our neighborhood rivals, Penn Charter, on Friday, 3-2, in a very sloppy and rough game. It had rained pretty steadily for 2 days and the field was quite wet, affecting footing for all the players all game long. But PC put home 3 goals in the first half to build a cushion that they held on to for the rest of the game.
The first goal came about 10 minutes in when we tried to clear a ball from our defensive area and it ricocheted off a PC player, bouncing towards our goal. The PC player took the ball in stride, took a dribble or 2 and beat goalie Zach Porges to the far post, a fine shot and finish off of an unfortunate play. We equalized about 5 minutes later when Caleb Mactavish fed a perfect through ball to Teo Zuares, who went in on the goalie alone and finished beautifully at the far post.
A few minutes later, PC got a direct kick just outside of our penalty box. We set up a 6-man wall and were ready for a strike, but the PC player hit an amazing shot that went over the wall and dipped into the near corner. The players in the wall assured me that the ball went over the wall--they didn't duck. When a player hits a shot like that, all you can do is shake your head. Then, about 30 minutes in, PC got a quick break off of our corner kick and took advantage of a man advantage to advance the ball quickly and get off a bullet of a shot from about 20 yards. That made the score 3-1 at halftime.
At the 60 minute mark, we scored again when Tommy West hit a fine ball that Tucker Wood skimmed off his head to an onrushing Matt Berson, who blasted the ball past the PC goalie. That made the score 3-2, but PC, playing an aggressive offsides trap that kept us off-balance all day, denied us the equalizer in the final 20 minutes.
The silver lining to losing is that it reminds us that we still have lots of things to work on. Our goal is to win the Friends League, and if we gain valuable perspective from a tough loss, that's ok. Let's see if this brings out our character. I think it will.