Well I haven't posted in a really long time, but I guess I should go ahead and wrap up this season. In the past two/three weeks there have been a ton of great ups and downs. On November 2nd we clinched first place in Landmark for the regular season with a win against our rivals Scranton. It was a solid win where I got the assist to put us up 1-0 on a bending ball from the outside to Chris Larson, and we held on to the 1-0 lead to finish up the game. I was playing with a lot of confidence and really well when the next day we had practice and I went up for a head ball and came down wrong on my left foot. It rolled right under me, and I heard a pop and felt terrible pain. It proved to be heavily sprained. I then had to sit out the last regular season game of the year against Merchant Marine. We lost in double overtime on a PK where our senior captain got a red card for a dirty tackle in the box. It was a very disappointing loss. I still couldn't play the next day, but rallied for practice on Wednesday. The trainer said I would probably be out for two to three weeks, but even with the heavy swelling and bruising I got through the pain and was cleared to play on Wednesday which meant I could play Thursday. We had our Conference tournament semifinals at home on Thursday against Juniata. I taped up and braced the ankle heavily, and even though I was in a lot of pain, I played through it and did well, although not getting too much time on the field. We came out extremely slow, and they ended up winning the game 3-1 which was a huge shock to us. We were the heavy favorites especially at home, and just did not show up. With our loss on Monday, we didn't think we had any chance at an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament, so our seniors were very emotional thinking that would be the last time they would play competitive soccer. I was very down to say the least. It took about three days for me to get over the tough loss, but then the next Monday we received news we made it into the NCAA tournament somehow. Even coach was baffled. But then we had to pick back up again after four days off and practice for the next week with our game against Franklin and Marshall on Saturday. We had an intense week of good practices and were ready to play on Friday when we traveled up to Dickinson where they hosted. (I hate to keep rambling, but I am also writing this as a log for my references although it's not the most well-written post). So just this past Saturday we played in the first round of the NCAA tournament. It is a very exciting feeling making the tournament, thinking that anything could happen. We played a very tough and equal first half, but when we came out in the second, F&M proved to be the better team. They hit the post three times and our keeper Torsten making some incredible saves, until finally they put one in off of a corner kick with three minutes left in the game. That proved to be the game winner even though we missed a cross which came into the six, and was deflected just over the crossbar. To be fair, we didn't have many chances, and the only way we probably would've won that game would be to hold them through two overtimes and win in PKs. Overall, I'm not mad at the loss, as it is much easier to finish the season in the NCAA tournament with a sense of accomplishment than the semis of the Conference tournament. I still feel bad for the seniors, but it was bound to happen at some point. Now the rest of us need to build up on this season's accomplishments for next year and improve. I'm optimistic for next year, but now it is time to relax, finish out the semester and enjoy the holidays. Thanks for following along for the ups and downs this season, as it was a tough grind, but pleased the way it turned out.
-TZ
