Comeback Kids

Last week, we had a scrimmage against a team that we hadn't played in over a year. We had no idea how good they were. We didn't know what to expect. We they showed up, we found out that they were big, really big. We started the game and we scored the first goal. They couldn't swim very well so our counters worked well on them, but we weren't able to make any shots. At the end of the first quarter, we were tied 1 to 1. The second quarter didn't go very well for us. We couldn't really do anything. Our offense wasn't happening. We couldn't even get shots off. It was bad. They scored 2 more goals to make it 3 to 1 in the middle of the second quarter. The rest of the second quarter was pretty uneventful. No one scored and we still couldn't do anything.

Image courtesy of BBC

The third quarter started badly for us. They scored and went up 4 to 1. At then end of the third quarter, we started our comeback. With 30 seconds left we scored. Then we made a last second shot. I had the ball in the corner and the guy guarding me fouled me with 2 seconds left. I threw it up to someone in the middle and it was the worst shot I've ever seen, but somehow the goalie didn't block it and it went in. I have no idea how. It was such a weak shot and it just skipped right over the goalie's arm. We were back in the game. At the end of the third the score was 3 to 4. The fourth quarter started and we were feeling like we could comeback and win the game. We scored a quick goal to tie it up at 4. We started playing a lot better and our defense also improved a lot. Halfway through the fourth I got a wide open shot from around 8 meters and drilled it. We were up 5 to 4. No one could score for the rest of the game and at the end, the score stayed the same at 5 to 4. We had one. We came back from being down 1 to 4. 

Tough Game

We went to a tournament that lasted 3 days. It was far enough away that we had to stay in a hotel. We had one game on Thursday, two games on Friday, and another two games on Saturday. The first 4 games were really easy. We won every game by 4 or more points. This got us into the finals. The finals were in the afternoon on Saturday. We had played really well leading up to this game, but we were playing a good team. The game started and they scored the first goal. Then they scored again, and again. We were down 3 to 0 halfway through the first quarter. Things weren't looking good for us. Then I scored a goal to make 1 to 3 and the very next possession I scored again. We were within 1 point. At the end of the first, they scored one more goal to make it 2 to 4. The second quarter went really well for us, we scored 3 unanswered goals. We took the lead at 5 to 4. I don't know what happened, but we just started playing really well. We were all on the same page and knew what to do. At the half we were up by one.

Image courtesy of Daily News Hungary

The third quarter was back and forth no one could really do much. Our defenses took over they managed to score one goal, but we were able to come back with a goal of our own to keep the lead. We were playing really well, but so was the other team. No one had a clear advantage; the game could go either way. The fourth quarter started and we came our hard. We scored a goal within the first 30 seconds to go up 7 to 5, but then, they started to make a comeback. They scored one goal and then a few minutes later another one to tie it up at 7. There were about 2 minutes left in the game when we scored again to go up 8 to 7. Then they answered to make it 8 to 8 with a minute left. It was their ball. We stopped them and got the ball back with 28 seconds left in the game. We had one more possession to win. We called a timeout and talked over what we were going to do. We set up and 10 seconds into our possession, we get an exclusion. We were up a man with 15 seconds left. It doesn't get better than what just happened. We pass the ball around for a bit and someone took a shot and missed. We got the rebound and missed the shot again. The game was over. We went into sudden death over time. We won the opening sprint and set up our offense. We missed a shot and then they missed one too. On our next possession I got an open shot from around 9 meters and I barely missed it. On their next play we were caught out of possition and they scored. That was it. We lost.

3rd Place Game

Later that day we played in the third place game. We weren't able to compete in the final, because we let the last team score more that 5 points. That's really stupid, because we didn't lose a game. We had the same record as the team that got into the finals. It was the team that we tied too. Anyway, the team we played for 3rd place was a team we had already played before. The last time we played them, we beat them by a lot. Our coach said that they had some people that didn't play when we first played them, so we really didn't know what to expect. The game started and about 30 seconds in they scored. Then about another 30 seconds later they scored again. We were down 2 to 0. It wasn't a good start. Then we started getting it back together and we answered their 2 goals to tie the game up. Then we kept scoring. Our lead grew and we were up 4 to 2 at the end of the first. The second quarter started and we kept scoring. We went up 5 to 2. Then they scored 1 and it was 5 to 3. With about 20 seconds left in the half, we scored another goal to make it 6 to 3.

Image courtesy of Dalje

The third quarter went surprisingly well. We got out to a big lead and were up 10 to 6 by the end of. In the middle of the third, coach started to sub in most of the second team so they could play a bit. We were still able to do pretty well even though some of our starters weren't playing. the fourth quarter also went really well and the game ended with us scoring 14 and the other team scoring 9. It was a really good game for me. I scored 5 goals and had lots of assists. It was a good day, and a good tournament.

Bad Game

Our next game was Saturday morning and by morning, I mean morning. Like 7 am. I had to wake up at 6 and it sucked. It was a weekend and I had to wake up that early. One kid showered before the game and showed up with his hair perfectly made, while the rest of us looked like we just woke up, which we did. We all looked at him like, wtf are you doing. Why did you shower. He showered at like 6 am and then got into a pool with chlorine an hour later. I really don't understand what he was thinking. We were all super confused. Anyway, the game started and they scored the first goal. This wasn't good, because we had to keep them under 5 points to make the finals. We had to do this, because we tied to the team we played the first day and the way they decided who made finals was goals against. It was supposed to be an easy game, but it went really badly for us. We were able to tie it up at 1 and then scored again to go up 2 to 1. Then we scored again right before the end of the quarter to get a 2 point lead. The second quarter went ok and we got up 4 to 2. Then we scored another 2 to and they scored one more and we were up 6 to 3 again. I don't know why, but whenever we were up 6 to 3 things just started to bad. Every time and this was no exception. They started to score. The kid I was guarding would never go play defense. You would think that would be an easy goal, but no. While we were getting the ball down whoever had the ball would get it stolen and then that guy would be sitting on the other side of the pool all alone. It got really annoying and half the time I couldn't go play offense, because he would just be sitting back. They scored a few goals becuase of this, and at the half the score was 6 to 5.

Image courtesy of  The National

The third quarter did go to well either. We both scored 1 goal and it was still a one point game 7 to 6. We had so many opportunities to score, but we just couldn't convert. Their goalie wasn't even good, our shots were just so off. The fourth quarter started and we knew that we had to start playing a lot better. We should have killed this team. They scored a goal to tie up the game and we responed with another goal to go up by 1. Then with about a minute left they scored to tie the game up at 8. Our coach called a time out so we could talk it over and draw up a play. We set up and were able to score with about 20 seconds left. Then their coach called a time out and we knew that if we stopped them here, we would win the game. They set up and pass the ball around for a bit, then were able to make a shot and tie the game up again. The game ended in a tie, but this team we were going to play overtime. We played terrible in overtime. We had so many missed opportunities. It was sudden death, so the first team to score wins. I choked one goal when I had the ball and it was me and the goalie with one guy trail. It hit the top post. It was terrible. Finally we were able to score a goal after 3 minutes of missed shots and just bad playing. We won, but it didn't feel like a win.

Really Close Game

Our second game was on Friday. The game started out pretty well and we had an early lead. We were playing well and were able to shut down their offense. With about 5 seconds left in the first quarter our goalie had the ball and he shot it from our goal and made the full court shot. It was crazy. Everyone started screaming. At the end of the quarter we were up 4 to 3. It was a close game, but we were playing well. About half way through the second quarter, we got up 6 to 3, and again like last time, things started to go downhill after that. They scored 2 quick goals and it was back to a one point game. With 10 seconds left in the half they scored another goal to tie it up 6 to 6. After the goal, we lined up and I got the ball. The clock started to tick down. When there were 4 seconds left, I shot the ball from half court, and it went in. The crowd went wild. We went into half time with the lead up 7 to 6.

Image courtesy of FINA

The third quarter was a back and forth. We would score, then right after they would score. No one could pull out a lead. It was a very even game and at the end of the third quarter the score was 8 to 8. The fourth quarter began and in the first 2 minutes, we were up 9 to 8. Then they came back and tied it up. The game continued on until there were about 2 and a half minutes left in the game. We scored to pull ahead 10 to 9, but then a minute later they scored again to tie it up. Our coach called a time out and drew up a play with around 45 seconds left. We were able to score and there was only about 20 seconds left in the game. They called a time out. All we had to do was stop them, and we would win the game. We set up and did a really good job on defense. We stopped their shot and our goalie was holding the ball. We thought that was it, but then one of their guys steals it from our goalie. He passed it to another guy who was on the other side of the cage and had a wide open shot. I thought we were going to tie again, but one of my teammates came from behind and stopped him from shooting. The game was over and we won 11 to 10.

Tied Game

Last weekend there was a tournament that last 3 days. It was from Thursday to Saturday. Our first game was Thursday night. We had never played the team before and we really didn't know what to expect. We had played their JV team last year, and they were really bad, but they could have had some really good kids on their varsity team. They didn't have anyone good, and the first quarter went really well for us. We were up 3 to 0 and we thought that we had the game in the bag. The second quarter went pretty well. We kept our 3 point lead, but they had also scored 3. The score going into the half was 6 to 3. We were still fairly confident that we could hold on to our lead.

Image courtesy of FINA

The third quarter did not go well. We didn't score any goals and they had caught up to us. The score was 6 to 6 and now we started to get worried. Our defense had fallen apart and our offense had come to a stand still. I don't really know what happen, but we just couldn't play. The fourth quarter started and we were all really nervous. We didn't want to end up losing this game. About a minute into the quarter, we scored and we were up 7 to 6. But they came back and scored and it was all tied up again. With just over a minute left in the game we were able to score and take the lead. We stopped their next  possession, but were not able to score on our next one. They called a time out with around 30 seconds left in the game. All we had to do was stop them and we would win the game. We failed and they scored with 10 seconds to go. We tried to get a quick shot off, but missed and that was the end of the game. There was no over time, so the game ended in a tie.

3rd Best Team in the State

We played what a team that many people considered to the third best team in the state. They had some really big kids on their team. At least 2 of them were 6'4 and they had a few others that were almost as tall. We knew it was going to be a hard game. The first quarter didn't go so well. We were down 5 to 1 at the end of it. Their counter attacks were just too good for our defense. That was the only way the scored goals. When they set up their offense, they couldn't score on us. The second quarter went a lot better. We started to play better and stop their counters. At the half the score was 6 to 3. The come back was real.

Image courtesy of Telegraf

At half time we really thought that we could come back and win the game. In the middle of the third quarter we were only down by 2. The score was 9 to 7. But then, things started to go downhill and by the end of the third they pulled ahead to make it 12 to 8. It just kept getting worse from their. They scored a quick goal at the start of the fourth and then coach took out half of the starters and left me in with most of the second team. I had no idea what he was doing and by the end of the game the score was 16 to 8. We let them score 4 more goals in the fourth. It was a really close game at one point, but we just let it go. It was a game we could have one, and I think that if we play them again, we have an actual chance at winning.