Entry tags:
Weekend o' Soccer
Pretty much all that I did this weekend was play soccer and sleep. I'm trying to cram it in before I start rehearsals for Pirates, so I played Saturday morning in Long Island City and came home and crashed, then got up and played a full-field game down in the West Village. Sunday, more of the same--soccer in Long Island City, this time with a different group (the Meetup/international guys with whom I play full-field on Saturday nights). The guy who runs the group, EF, was "yelling" at me in mock frustration at one point about how "you always do that, you find these weird places to get into [i.e., as a wing] and then you shoot!" I said "well, that's one advantage of being small." We played small-sided soccer, 4 on 4, and I did VERY well, scoring 3 goals and pulling off 2 textbooks assists. I think the final score was 6-6? Great exercise, really good practice at working the ball.
I was kind of worn out so I went home and took a hot bath (I felt I might've pulled something, heat helps) and then rested for a bit. My Dolphman team had playoffs last night so I had to be as fresh as possible--which turned out to be crucial. A lot of people couldn't be at the game last night and we had only just enough players. As in, NO SUBS. OH MY GOD. NO SUBS. And it got even worse, because the team we were playing was last winter's red team (they're playing under a different color now, they're forest green). The main guy on this team is the biggest fucking hypocrite--he plays a VERY rough game but is the first to whine to the ref if anyone touches him*. Look dude, if you're gonna play a rough game, then own it. I will admit, I can be rough (mainly as a tactic, it's a way of signaling to the other team to back off) but I do not complain to the ref when I get hit from behind--I just go after that person. I'm also quick to apologize--it's a rough game, but I sure don't want to hurt anyone. Anyway this asshole ended up nearly taking out one of our players, Nikki, who is a tiny little wall of awesome at midfield. She was okay after a bit, but still.
Our goalie had the VERY SMART idea of using delaying tactics--whenever he saved the ball or had a goal kick he would streeeetch it out, to give us a little time to rest. We did the same for throw-ins. Very quickly Asshole Team saw through this and started screaming at us to speed it up. At one point another guy on the team THREW the ball at Nikki, right in her stomach. Did I whine to the ref (who didn't see it or he would have yellow-carded the guy)? Hell no--I looked right at him and said "chill the fuck out" (which was also risking a yellow card, you're really not supposed to use profanity on the field). He was one of those super-angry, crunched-faces players, I love getting under their skin, so I started going after him every. chance. I got.
Then one of our players went down for good, with what sounded like the same injury I had back in February. So she was out of the game and now we were DOWN a man. Oh my effing Lord. Poor Alyssa, she seemed to be in a lot of pain. I gave her lots of Advil and water. She cheered us on, swathed on jackets and tape. And what do you know, we scored three goals in the second half and ended up winning the quarterfinal! We were all thrilled--a player down, no subs and we won!
What made it even better was that they were the only team to beat us during the regular season :)
So we had some time to rest, while the other quarterfinal played, and we all surrounded Alyssa and ate birthday cupcakes--yesterday was our captain's birthday, but the captain was one of the teammates who wasn't at the game! Oh well, we enjoyed your cupcakes! So then we had another game, the semi-final--this was against the #1 team who hadn't lost a game during the season although when we played them, we tied. This is when exhaustion really started kicking in, as this was now my THIRD soccer game of the day. At halftime I said "I'll be honest, I'm really annoyed at everyone who isn't here unless they have a good reason. I am completely tapped." I had to play deep since I just couldn't run as much. The game ended in a 1-1 tie, so we played sudden death overtime for 5 minutes. No additional goals. So it went to a shootout, which I'd been hoping for, because the playing is leveled (it wouldn't matter that we had fewer players). And we won the shootout! WE WON THE SEMIFINAL AGAINST THE BEST TEAM WHO HAD TONS OF SUBS AND WE HAD NO SUBS AND WERE ACTUALLY DOWN A PLAYER. WE ARE PLAYING IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP NEXT SUNDAY. I almost started crying I was so...relieved, and exhausted and overwhelmed. We all played amazingly well--I speculated that it was because our backs were to the wall and we had to play well or else.
How awesome are we!
Afterward we all went to the bar, including poor Alyssa, and just relaxed. We also picked up a couple of friends who walked with us from the field--one of them was very cute and flirted with me quite a bit. His name is Jay, he is in town until Wednesday and wants to hang out tomorrow during the day :)
*One of the most annoying things about pro soccer is how quick the players are to "flop"--to pretend they were hurt by falling, clutching their knee, etc. Be a MAN, for fuck's sake. How weak are you, you can't handle a little give and take? Why would you want to advertise that you're weak?
I was kind of worn out so I went home and took a hot bath (I felt I might've pulled something, heat helps) and then rested for a bit. My Dolphman team had playoffs last night so I had to be as fresh as possible--which turned out to be crucial. A lot of people couldn't be at the game last night and we had only just enough players. As in, NO SUBS. OH MY GOD. NO SUBS. And it got even worse, because the team we were playing was last winter's red team (they're playing under a different color now, they're forest green). The main guy on this team is the biggest fucking hypocrite--he plays a VERY rough game but is the first to whine to the ref if anyone touches him*. Look dude, if you're gonna play a rough game, then own it. I will admit, I can be rough (mainly as a tactic, it's a way of signaling to the other team to back off) but I do not complain to the ref when I get hit from behind--I just go after that person. I'm also quick to apologize--it's a rough game, but I sure don't want to hurt anyone. Anyway this asshole ended up nearly taking out one of our players, Nikki, who is a tiny little wall of awesome at midfield. She was okay after a bit, but still.
Our goalie had the VERY SMART idea of using delaying tactics--whenever he saved the ball or had a goal kick he would streeeetch it out, to give us a little time to rest. We did the same for throw-ins. Very quickly Asshole Team saw through this and started screaming at us to speed it up. At one point another guy on the team THREW the ball at Nikki, right in her stomach. Did I whine to the ref (who didn't see it or he would have yellow-carded the guy)? Hell no--I looked right at him and said "chill the fuck out" (which was also risking a yellow card, you're really not supposed to use profanity on the field). He was one of those super-angry, crunched-faces players, I love getting under their skin, so I started going after him every. chance. I got.
Then one of our players went down for good, with what sounded like the same injury I had back in February. So she was out of the game and now we were DOWN a man. Oh my effing Lord. Poor Alyssa, she seemed to be in a lot of pain. I gave her lots of Advil and water. She cheered us on, swathed on jackets and tape. And what do you know, we scored three goals in the second half and ended up winning the quarterfinal! We were all thrilled--a player down, no subs and we won!
What made it even better was that they were the only team to beat us during the regular season :)
So we had some time to rest, while the other quarterfinal played, and we all surrounded Alyssa and ate birthday cupcakes--yesterday was our captain's birthday, but the captain was one of the teammates who wasn't at the game! Oh well, we enjoyed your cupcakes! So then we had another game, the semi-final--this was against the #1 team who hadn't lost a game during the season although when we played them, we tied. This is when exhaustion really started kicking in, as this was now my THIRD soccer game of the day. At halftime I said "I'll be honest, I'm really annoyed at everyone who isn't here unless they have a good reason. I am completely tapped." I had to play deep since I just couldn't run as much. The game ended in a 1-1 tie, so we played sudden death overtime for 5 minutes. No additional goals. So it went to a shootout, which I'd been hoping for, because the playing is leveled (it wouldn't matter that we had fewer players). And we won the shootout! WE WON THE SEMIFINAL AGAINST THE BEST TEAM WHO HAD TONS OF SUBS AND WE HAD NO SUBS AND WERE ACTUALLY DOWN A PLAYER. WE ARE PLAYING IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP NEXT SUNDAY. I almost started crying I was so...relieved, and exhausted and overwhelmed. We all played amazingly well--I speculated that it was because our backs were to the wall and we had to play well or else.
How awesome are we!
Afterward we all went to the bar, including poor Alyssa, and just relaxed. We also picked up a couple of friends who walked with us from the field--one of them was very cute and flirted with me quite a bit. His name is Jay, he is in town until Wednesday and wants to hang out tomorrow during the day :)
*One of the most annoying things about pro soccer is how quick the players are to "flop"--to pretend they were hurt by falling, clutching their knee, etc. Be a MAN, for fuck's sake. How weak are you, you can't handle a little give and take? Why would you want to advertise that you're weak?