When I woke up in the morning, I was so excited because I knew I was going to North Carolina for a tournament. I was not excited for the drive over there, as it was an 8-hour drive. When me and my family saw the hotel we were staying at, I saw how much of a beautiful area it was. There was a mall right next to the hotel, and me and my soccer teammates went there a lot over the weekend. Finally, I went to sleep to gain some energy for my two games the next day.
I woke up and I had breakfast down in the lobby with my team before our game. When I pulled up to the soccer fields, I was amazed how nice they were, and I was so excited to play on them. Our first game was against the SGSCA Strikers. It was a cold and sunny day outside when we were warming up before the game.
BEEP BEEP! The whistle for the first game of the tournament blew, and it was intense throughout the match. Towards the end of the game, midfielder Kody Levasseur dribbled far outside the 18-yard box and then ripped a shot from far out and hit the back of the net, winning the game for Florida Premier. The entire team came over to celebrate the win, beating Strikers 1-0.
After the first win of the tournament, the team went to Panera for lunch to celebrate the victory. Everyone had fun, but we still had to focus on the next game we had. We started driving to the next game on the same fields, although this time, it was warmer than the morning game. We had our talk with the coach about our game plan then we started getting warmed up. Right as the game started, we dribbled down the field and leftwing Nate Hope scored the first goal of the game. After Hope scored the first goal it was incredibly rapid how many goals we scored. The final score of the game ended up being 6-0, a big shutout.
After the big win against FSC Villarreal Force B we celebrated with pizza at the hotel and chilled there before going to laser tag with the team. We went to laser tag and had lots of fun before our game the following day.
I woke up the next morning knowing this day was even more important than our last games. It’s more important because if we won this next game, we would make it to the championship. In other words, this was a semifinal game. We got to the fields, started warming up. We were feeling tired, but we were still ready to play. The whistle blew and the game began. My team had possession for most of the game and towards the end of the half, Levasseur shot and scored his second goal of the tournament. The score was now 1-0.
The second half just started, and midfielder Jacob Bennington dribbled down the field. As he attempted his shot, he got fouled outside the 18-yard box. My team now had a free kick. Bennington took the free kick, and it soared through the sky right to defender Carson Canard’s feet, who tapped it in the net. We all went to the corner of the field to celebrate. The referee blew the whistle, and the game ended. The whole team ran on the field to celebrate that we were now in the finals.
The finals game was at 1 p.m.so the team went out to eat before the game to get some energy. I’m driving to the fields and I’m getting nervous because we were versing the number one team in West Virginia, FCC O8 Red. We knew they were going to be good.
The game began. Throughout the whole game, the atmosphere was intense, the opposing team being great competition for us. The whistle blows for halftime, where the game is still scoreless.
During his halftime speech, Coach Alejandro Addeo said, “This team is a good team, but I still think we are the better team, and we can win this.”
After our talk with the coach, we were motivated to win. Close to the end of the game, Hope got a pass from striker Logan Carey on the sideline. Hope took a touch and volleyed it to the top left corner for the game winning goal. All the parents were screaming, and everyone was super excited. It felt like we were on top of the world. Then the referee blew his whistle for the end of the game. The team all ran to the middle of the field to celebrate. We traveled all this way, and we knew we weren’t going to lose. We could now come back with trophy in hand. We are the Champions of North Carolina!
https://livepascok12fl.sharepoint.com/sites/CCHS_Resources/_layouts/15/stream.aspx?id=%2Fsites%2FCCHS%5FResources%2FShared%20Documents%2FCCHS%20Journalism%20Group%2FCCHS%20Content%20Library%2023%2D24%2F06%2E%20CCHowler%202023%2D2024%2F04%20Photography%2F02%20Approved%2FHUBBARD%2C%20OWEN%20Soccer%20Championship%20Goal%2Emov&referrer=StreamWebApp%2EWeb&referrerScenario=AddressBarCopied%2Eview Hope gets the game winning goal to win the finals.
