Soccer Tournament

Allia's end of season tournament was Saturday, and boooy was it cold! Her team was ranked a close second going into the tournament, and far above the third place team. They fully expected to play in the championship game and really should have. However, the team ranked last developed some very questionable tactics to sneak their way into the championship game! They never scored one goal. They played their entire team on their half of the field defending their goal and kicking the ball out of bounds if things got close. They even had a defender playing 2nd goalie at one point. The ref missed a lot of calls, including fouls and rules violations, and our team lost the game in triple, sudden death overtime as a shootout. It was really diappointing to say the least, but I was very proud about how Allia and her teammates handled it. They all showed up for the "consolation" game to win 3rd place. And when the other team forfeited (it was drizzling, about 35 degrees and dark out!), they played a "just for fun" game of girls against Dads. Allia had made special cookies to hand out and so did another teammate. So they celebrated in spite of it all. I checked to see how the championship game went....same thing. 0-0, but this time that team apparently lost in the shootout. So at least they did not win the championship! And the whole thing was a great life lesson in making the most of an unfair, disappointing situation. So I think Allia's team came out on top after all! Did I mention that Allia played the best I have ever seen her play. She was really awesome. I was just sad that Austin couldn't be at that game to see her...but at least he was there to play the Dads game that evening!