Yesterday, my daughter's team played the last game of the 2008 outdoor season. In the previous game, we managed to lose on a late-game, boneheaded play and it totally demoralized the team.
We started yesterday's game without our normal goalie. She was out sick or at some mandatory family event, I never did find out which. That immediately put us at a disadvantage since our team only has 11 players. At the end of the first half, one of our best midfielders went down with a slight knee injury. We played the rest of the game down 2 players, 11 on 9.
The girls played their most inspired and smartest half of the year and we managed a 0-0 tie. It was about as exciting a game as we'd had this year since most of the game was played right around our goal. Our makeshift goalie blocked some tough shots and there were a couple of times we nearly scored on breakaways. That tie was as exciting and uplifting as a playoff win.
So yes, a team can reinflate after a bad loss. Yay!
Now onto the 2008-9 indoor season.
KT, Congrats to your daughter's team.
ReplyDeleteRe: Boneheaded play. Was it anymore boneheaded than being up by one with the ball out of bounds and 7 seconds left and ultimately losing by one after two technical free throws were assessed against my team for having 6 players on the court which prompted this explanatory discussion between two of my teammates...
Teammate #1: "I thought you said 'I'm going to sit this one out'?"
Teammate #2: "No, I said, "I'm going to take the ball out (of bounds)'".
Oh, it happened.