By Brett Paul

We had our last league game against MVC (at MVC) this past Thursday. Going into the match both teams were tied for 2nd in the league with 6-1 records, so this was a big game deciding who would place 2nd and 3rd. 2nd has the benefit of competing for a district championship and a direct seed to state while third will have to win a playoff game in order to participate in state.

We went down 0-2 quickly in the first half but the energy was high on the field and our bench and we were playing good soccer. We continued to apply high pressure with a lot of chances on goal and finally broke through when MVC had a handball in the box and Alden scored our first goal from a PK, making it 1-2 at half. Early in the second half we worked the ball out to the right side where it met Owen Conde Raggett’s feet, he maneuvered past their outside defender and whipped the ball across to a diving header by Alden Carli to tie up the game. Only moments after the equalizer Owen connected again with Alden with a cross from the right side where Alden headed across goal to make the final goal of the game, 3-2. It was a fun game from start to finish with a lot of positive energy from the team.

The team proved a lot to themselves this game coming back from a 0-2 deficit. We’ve struggled at times this season with keeping composed and playing good soccer when faced with difficulty – they proved that on Thursday and it means a lot as we face more challenging teams in the playoffs.

Our next game is a district-semifinal against Evergreen Lutheran on Wednesday, Nov. 2. If we win we will play in the district championship on Saturday, Nov. 5. Win or loss we will also advance into the state tournament starting Nov 11 through Nov 12.