To fall just short of fame . . .

Today was the second half of the soccer playoffs . . . and a totally different team showed up today. After the disappointments of yesterday's losses, our team started strong and stayed strong through both games. In the early morning game (8:30 a.m. start time), we jumped out to a 3-0 lead, fighting off a strong challenge late in the game, to hold on to a 4-2 final score.

The second game was an even tougher challenge, where it took nearly 10 minutes for us to open the scoring, which was quickly evened up by our opponents. We went to the break at the half tied at 1-1. The second half was another struggle before we were able to break the tie and move into the lead again. Scoring the insurance goal was Aaron, who spent much of the second half of the game cutting through our opponents' back line, only to be smothered by good goalkeeping. Arman, our very reluctant goalkeeper did a great job of defending the goal and stopped several dangerous shots.

The final score in the second game was 3-2 in our favour. All we needed to advance to the final was for the game being played on the field beside us to finish with an as-yet unbeaten team winning . . . and they were upset by an underdog. It went down to tiebreakers: three teams had equal records, so it went to the goals scored/goals against differential . . . and we were one goal short. The team we'd just beaten had a better goal differential, so they advanced and we were eliminated.

Some photos in the extended entry below. (Photos are not in sequential order, and cover both games.)

Victor demonstrates the rare combination of soccer and highland dancing, while Ryan tries to avoid becoming an accidental casualty.	John scrambles to defend our goal against an attacker. (Also in view, facing away from the camera are Nathan and Cole.)
Tom, running stride-for-stride with a taller opponent.	Jake jumps up for a header towards Ryan (number 5).
Aaron, about to score his first goal of the game. The keeper stopped the first shot, but was unable to keep control of the ball, allowing Aaron to get a second shot on net.	Aaron charges towards the goal on a breakaway. He continued to run left, drawing the keeper too far toward the post, then shooting across the face of the goal and just catching the inside of the far post. This would be the game-winner.
Victor, about to hammer the ball, watched by a fearful defender, René, and Arman.	René is about to take the shot which scored in the lower left corner of the net.
Aaron, Ben, Nathan, and Cole, during the break between the first and second games.	Ian is in the perfect position to save this shot which went between Ryan and Victor.
Ben, fighting for possession of the ball, late in the second half.	Arman, saving the final shot on net to preserve the win.

All photos courtesy of Liam McKenna, using my Pentax *ist DL with a 70-200 Zoom lens and a 2x converter.