Heart of a Champion

It was the beginning of my junior year and we had a home match against Hampshire Regional High School. It was a league game and everyone was focused. The setting of this match was home to us, the South Hadley Tigers. We were not favored to win but that just gave us more of an incentive to play harder and with more determination.
At the beginning of the first half, I started the game at the sweeper position. The sweeper is the center defender and the last man back on the field. The sweeper is also known as the “the General” because they have the power to see the whole field so they can command their players into seizing their opponent. The game began with even possession on both sides. There were very few shots in the first half because the defense of both teams was exceptional. The half ended with the score remaining at 0-0. We then realized we had chance of at least getting a point against this very good team.
In the second half, however, did not begin so well. They scored within the first 10 minutes on a cross from the left flank. My team began to stare defeat right in the eyes. I motivated my teammates and told them that the game was not over and if we played hard we can equalize. The team got fired up and believed me when I said this. Hampshire had no shots for the next 20 minutes. With 5 minutes left to play, my coach decided to move me up to forward. I was excited and realized that coach is moving my position because he believed I could make a difference. I’m glad he did because the result was that I scored 1 minute later. It was one of the greatest feelings in soccer I ever had. I felt like I scored a goal in the world cup as the crowd was cheering and your coach is jumping up and down screaming for joy. It just feels great when your team runs up to you after the goal all at once and congratulates you and jumps on you. If I recall, I think I was tackled to the ground but I didn’t even care because we were not losing anymore.
The game ended 1-1. Even though we didn’t win, we would find out at the end of the season that Hampshire had an undefeated season and beat every team they faced except for us. We forced their only tie and were very proud of it. We played our hearts out on that day. The Hampshire Regional boy’s soccer team went on later to win the State Championship and obtain and undefeated season.