San Antonio Sports and Social Club Soccer Championship

Last night the soccer MAHNCKE PANHCKE won the San Antonio Sports and Social Club Championship in Soccer for 2010!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This may sound trivial, and to some might be, but I can't convey in words the excitement felt during the two games we played and arriving in first place after our first season as a team.

I am going to try.
The first game we played was at 7:30 pm and the team had beat us during the season. Going into the game, I was hoping to lose and go to the happy hour afterwards. Once you I stepped onto the field, competition and human nature kicked in. I never really want to lose even if I'm not 100% geared up to begin.

Our team coach, Bert, scored in the first few moments of the game. This truly gave us an advantage over the other team mentally. The first team we played, for lack of better terms, were w.h.i.n.y. One of their better players kept complaining about the girls clipping his ankles. I get annoyed when people complain, just play the game. Anyway, our second goal was scored by Mitch and there was a lot of assists in getting the ball up the field. We won 2-0.

As the sweeper, I get mouthy and bossy with the view of everyone on the field and the opponents jerseys being marked tight. But I am very loyal to my team and there was an instance where it appeared a fight would break out! It sounds, and is, trashy but instincts kick in and auto pilot and I woul d just back up my mates no matter.

The second game was at 9:30. We had an hour break to recover. I tended to Landry, who again cried the entire first game, who I swear can see me on the field and yells at me to come off (clearly from the picture she was not happy).

The championship game was tough. The other team was not only extremely fast, but played men's soccer meaning fast, aggressive, and competitive. There was no slack cut and their girls were awesome. This team had actually tied us the week before but were undefeated besides that. I anticipated and dreaded playing them again.

The other team scored first and it was in the first half . They were just very talented; played crazy and heated. And were very mouthy and one guy got thrown out because he literally, I think, was psycho. Late in the second half we scored and tied up the match. At this point, I realized how much I wanted to win. I know second is great. But when you are that close to experience the feeling of first, why settle for second?!

Matthew was the goalie in the second half. When M is goalie I am the most nervous. As the sweeper, the last line of defense, if it gets past me it is just him. I would hate for it to be my fault that they scored. There was one instance in particular where a guy got past the entire defensive line and took an amazing shot. Matthew saved it. My heart just swelled with pride . I had to get back and clear it out of the box fast.
We had two five minute overtimes. The first team to score would have had the "golden goal "and won the championship. These five minute halves flew. However, no one scored. We went into a shoot out. At this time it was about 10:40 pm. and I did not have anything left. I was tired and spent. All done.

Our players to take the PK's were Kelly, Julia, Romeo, Katie, and Bert. We won the shoot out. It was the most anxious and intense moment I've had in some time. Especially in the arena of competition! How I miss those soccer days and what they have meant to me. When Bert scored the last goal we had to get in to win, everyone jumped, yelled, and ran to greet him. I kept holding onto Julia and praying "please let Bert make this goal for her!"

What a game, what a season, and what a rush.

Here are a couple of articles on our team. One from last week and the other from last night:

http://sanantoniossc.com/tracker_soccer/index.php?opt=viewpage&type=ann&id=0000010


http://sanantoniossc.com/tracker_soccer/