Neehar Kantimahanti
The Dalat boys’ varsity soccer team was jubilant as they lifted the PSAC Tournament trophy on Saturday, 8th October, at College General. With the grass finally trimmed and new nets installed, the pitch looked the best it ever had.
Dalat opened the tournament against Pelita, who were playing on their home ground. The game started off quite slowly, with neither team creating many chances. However, as the game wore on, Dalat’s hard work started to pay off. Controversy was in the air when Ben Finley (12) managed to prod the ball into the net but it was ruled out for being offside. The breakthrough finally came when Woo Young Chung (12) dribbled past a defender before setting up Jesse Lohman (11), who struck a powerful shot out of the goalkeeper’s reach. After the first goal, Dalat gained confidence and added to its tally with goals from Woo Young Chung, Jeremy Worten (10), and Benjamin Finley.
Buzzing from their previous win, Dalat continued where they left off against Uplands B when Woo Young Chung curled a left-footed effort into the top corner. Jesse Lohman had an outstanding game as he scored a brilliant hat-trick with Benjamin Mauger (12) adding the fifth and final goal. Satisfied with their morning's effort, the team went to eat lunch at Tesco together. While the path to the final might have been relatively easy, the final encounter with Uplands A was a different beast altogether.
A crowd had gathered that was absent from the previous games. The stage was set for the much-anticipated final. Dalat and Uplands, fierce rivals, were going to go head-to-head yet again. The teams had met twice before already this season, with Dalat winning both by a two-goal margin. The game once again started relatively quietly with not much action either way. Not to be outdone again, the Uplands players worked extra hard to contain the Dalat offense. The fans tried cheering the players on every time they got the ball but to no avail.
Then, an eerie silence filled the ground - Uplands had scored. Dalat’s worst fear had come true: Uplands was leading with just six minutes to go in this crucial encounter. The Dalat players looked dejected, but they knew they had to push themselves for the last few minutes. After the goal, Dalat played with a new sense of urgency, and this pressure led to Uplands conceding a penalty for a foul on Benjamin Finley. Tension filled the ground as something big was about to happen. “My legs were shaking as I stepped up to take the penalty,” Finley said after the game. However, he made no mistakes and converted the penalty. Not satisfied with getting on level terms, Dalat searched for the winner. Woo Young Chung put a fantastic cross into the area which led to a scramble between Levi Hawk (8) and Jeremy Worten, with the latter managing to get the ball to go into the net via a deflection off an Uplands defender.
Jarrod Chang, one of the captains of the team, said after the game, “It feels great to finally beat Uplands to PSAC gold after finishing behind them for the last three years.” After a long Saturday that started at about 6:30 A.M. for most, Dalat won all their games in route to the championship. At the end of the day, everyone went home with a sense of accomplishment.
No comments:
Post a Comment