Sunday, March 06, 2005
The Linfield Tourney
Got back today at 3pm and just passed out on my carpet for 3 hours. I was so exhausted.
The lacrosse tourney was great. In many ways, I think it was just what I needed to recharge my batteries and renew my enthusiasm for the sport.
Each team played two games on Saturday and one on Sunday. 'B' Team won our first game against University of Portland 14-6. We ended up losing our second game against Linfield 6-12. But that didn't matter to me. Because ultimately I think I played better in that game than I have for a long time, and I was just happy with that.
Ducks vs. Linfield
The first half was absolutely mortifying. They came out fighting and took us by surprise. Within the first ten minutes, they'd scored a whole bunch of goals and were up 4-0. It didn't look as if they were going to slow things down anytime soon.
I got a yellow card towards the end of the first half for checking a girl in the head, and ended up sitting out the last three minutes of the half. At halftime the score was 9-1.
I ran onto the field at the beginning of the second half strangely pumped up. It started out a lot better, but we simply couldn't penetrate on offense. We would get the ball down to the goal area and then just keep circling, never finding room to penetrate.
Even though I'm normally a defensive midfield player, I found myself running the full length of the field throughout the game just so I could help out on offense and try to create shooting chances for us.
With about 15 minutes remaining in the half, I brought the ball from the defensive half down to the offense. In vain, we circled the goal, passing around. I tried to direct the offense, getting people to spread out. But no one was having any luck getting into shooting position, but we held the ball in that area for a good 5 minutes.
Soon it became evident that the Linfield defense was getting annoyed. Our opening came. I had the ball behind the goal when the ref stopped the game because a Linfield player had gotten hurt. After the girl got off the field, we resumed play.
Still behind the goal, I scanned the field desperately, waiting for an open man to pass to. My defender was in my face, and I wouldn't be able to hold the ball forever. Audrey was marked. As was Beth. Sarah made as if to move towards goal, but she was running into a crowd. There was no way she was gonna score from that position.
Suddenly I decided to run it in. I eyed the girl in front of me and faked as if to pass to Sarah. She bought it. As soon as she moved off her line, I sprang into action, darted forward and rolled around the crease from the right side. Other Linfield defenders were closing in. I needed to get rid of that ball.
Winding up, I looked at the goal with the looming figure of the goalie just slightly off towards the left side, and let fly, willing the ball into the goal with my eyes. It hit the top right corner of the net from an incredibly narrow angle.
As soon as I realized I had scored, something in me snapped and the adrenaline was unleashed. I went crazy. I started yelling in jubilance and ran all the way back to the center of the field that way, whooping around and clanking sticks with anyone on my team on the way in.
And I kept that intensity up throughout the rest of the game. It changed the momentum and suddenly we were the pumped up ones scoring on Linfield.
I was over-pumped for the remainder of the game and got some dumb penalties. But in the end it didn't matter. Because I'd managed to spark the team back into life.
We ended up losing 6-12. But in the dying minutes of the second half, we completely outscored the Linfield team. Think about it. 9-1 in the first.... 3-5 in the second. That's a pretty important statistic.
That goal just made me feel alive. It made me realize why I love this sport.
Today we played another game in the morning against Central Washington and won 12-4. And now I'm back, it's Dead Week and time to get down and focus for the final stretch before Spring Break!
The lacrosse tourney was great. In many ways, I think it was just what I needed to recharge my batteries and renew my enthusiasm for the sport.
Each team played two games on Saturday and one on Sunday. 'B' Team won our first game against University of Portland 14-6. We ended up losing our second game against Linfield 6-12. But that didn't matter to me. Because ultimately I think I played better in that game than I have for a long time, and I was just happy with that.
Ducks vs. Linfield
The first half was absolutely mortifying. They came out fighting and took us by surprise. Within the first ten minutes, they'd scored a whole bunch of goals and were up 4-0. It didn't look as if they were going to slow things down anytime soon.
I got a yellow card towards the end of the first half for checking a girl in the head, and ended up sitting out the last three minutes of the half. At halftime the score was 9-1.
I ran onto the field at the beginning of the second half strangely pumped up. It started out a lot better, but we simply couldn't penetrate on offense. We would get the ball down to the goal area and then just keep circling, never finding room to penetrate.
Even though I'm normally a defensive midfield player, I found myself running the full length of the field throughout the game just so I could help out on offense and try to create shooting chances for us.
With about 15 minutes remaining in the half, I brought the ball from the defensive half down to the offense. In vain, we circled the goal, passing around. I tried to direct the offense, getting people to spread out. But no one was having any luck getting into shooting position, but we held the ball in that area for a good 5 minutes.
Soon it became evident that the Linfield defense was getting annoyed. Our opening came. I had the ball behind the goal when the ref stopped the game because a Linfield player had gotten hurt. After the girl got off the field, we resumed play.
Still behind the goal, I scanned the field desperately, waiting for an open man to pass to. My defender was in my face, and I wouldn't be able to hold the ball forever. Audrey was marked. As was Beth. Sarah made as if to move towards goal, but she was running into a crowd. There was no way she was gonna score from that position.
Suddenly I decided to run it in. I eyed the girl in front of me and faked as if to pass to Sarah. She bought it. As soon as she moved off her line, I sprang into action, darted forward and rolled around the crease from the right side. Other Linfield defenders were closing in. I needed to get rid of that ball.
Winding up, I looked at the goal with the looming figure of the goalie just slightly off towards the left side, and let fly, willing the ball into the goal with my eyes. It hit the top right corner of the net from an incredibly narrow angle.
As soon as I realized I had scored, something in me snapped and the adrenaline was unleashed. I went crazy. I started yelling in jubilance and ran all the way back to the center of the field that way, whooping around and clanking sticks with anyone on my team on the way in.
And I kept that intensity up throughout the rest of the game. It changed the momentum and suddenly we were the pumped up ones scoring on Linfield.
I was over-pumped for the remainder of the game and got some dumb penalties. But in the end it didn't matter. Because I'd managed to spark the team back into life.
We ended up losing 6-12. But in the dying minutes of the second half, we completely outscored the Linfield team. Think about it. 9-1 in the first.... 3-5 in the second. That's a pretty important statistic.
That goal just made me feel alive. It made me realize why I love this sport.
Today we played another game in the morning against Central Washington and won 12-4. And now I'm back, it's Dead Week and time to get down and focus for the final stretch before Spring Break!
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