We had already had a let down by not being accepted into the NCAA soccer tournament. We had watched the names of the accepted teams appear on the screen during the official announcement. It was painful seeing the names of those we lost just 1-0 to in the season and even teams we tied or beat, all make the cut. When the last team, Rowan, who we defeated, came on the screen, we all slumped down in disbelief. There was a deafening silence, and then we all got up and left. We did not make the NCAA’s but we did make the ECAC’s. Even though it was not what we wanted, we had to get back to work and win this tournament.
We made it to the final on November 11th. It was against Kean University, who we had tied earlier in the season, and we had home field advantage. No doubt it was going to be a well-played game, but one that we definitely should win. Kean scored on a break away in the second half. But we did not let up. We earned a penalty kick with just two minutes left in the game, and Bre buried it in the back of the net. Now it was overtime. The whole bench was on their feet. We all wanted this so badly, especially the seniors who were playing the last game of their competitive careers. However, a Kean forward broke away from our defense and capitalized on her opportunity. It was over. Kean won 2-1. The entire opposing team rushed the field to celebrate their victory, and the game-winning player turned around and went at it with one of our defenders who had desperately tried pulling her shirt during the final play. She rubbed her goal in our player’s face. It was salt in the wound.
Our coach verbally attacked the referees for their poor performance. He was not satisfied at all with what they had done, or had not done, during the game. Our defender lashed out at our team in frustration. We stood there, helpless, and lined up to shake hands. However, one of our players slapped the stomach of that game-winning Kean player. The Kean player then turned on the waterworks and told our coach what had happened. That was when everything got extremely out of hand.
Unfortunately, that game was probably one of the worst experiences I have ever had. It was a terrible way to end things and it made our team look unsportsmanlike. On the other hand, we had done really well this season and had fought hard in the game. We ended the season with a great record. We have to look at this in a positive way and learn from it. In the future, we have to be able to get key wins in our conference, and we have to remember what it felt like at the end of that game. So we make sure that we never have to relive it again.