Last night our men's soccer team had a chance to avenge a 6-0 regular season loss to #1 and defending champion Lions. Those who follow our team might know that Lions knocked us out of the playoffs last year in the semifinals by approximately 2-1.

The game started with a fierce offensive onslaught by the Lions, capped off with a lucky bounce off a defensive miscue, for a 1-0 Lions lead. The remaining fifteen first-half minutes were hard-fought, with both teams getting scoring opportunities, although the Lions had several more than us. The halftime whistle sounded before any more goals were scored.

The second half was even more intense than the first. Lions attacks, Yuengling counterattacks, Lions countering off of those. I had no time to daydream back in the net. Suddenly a Lions player shook his defender and uncorked a beautiful bending kick toward that upper corner of the net. I dove and watched as the ball seemed to move in slow motion, slowly rotating away from my outstretched hands. At the last instant I made a fist with my left hand and punched. The ball protested, barely altering course, and just barely cleared the top of the crossbar. Disaster averted, for now.

With new life, we renewed our push for the tying goal. Both teams were getting several good chances. Alas, it was not to be. Lions squeaked in another goal as the defense was caught pushing up.

Looking back, it was a great season. When we first started, I would have never guessed this seemingly rag-tag group would coalesce into a playoff force, especially after losing our first two games by a combined total of 10-1. (It turns out we played the top two teams in our first two games.) I'm looking forward to next season with the same group!