Well, unfortunately the ride is over. It was a great ride though. So much promise in preseason camp. A slower than expected start to the season. A mid season sputter. A couple of must have wins. A post season NE Tournament berth. An unbelievable quarter final win. A heartbreaking semi final loss. There may have been the slightest bit of over confidence from Brooks. The had handled KUA twice already this season. But August prep camp and a pre season scrimmage aren't really good measuring sticks. Zach felt they were ready. KUA had added 2 very good players since the last meeting. A player from Madrid and one from Zimbabwe. Both had visa issues last time.
KUA had a plan and started fast. Putting their Uganda and Zimbabwe players up top after having won first posession. The first play was a set play. Long ball over the top, Brooks didn't play the bounce. The 2 strikers were fast to the ball, hesitation between the Brooks defender and the keeper, 1-0 KUA with 23 ticks off the clock. WOW!! KUA then steals the ball from Brooks and tries the very same play again. It almost worked a second time in the first minute. Lots of yelling between Glen and the back line. Things settled down at that point. Brooks controlled the rest of the half, but could not find the net. The turf had the ball rolling a lot faster than normal for Brooks. Many balls rolled into the keeper a step or two away from Nick or Zach.
Ok, halftime. Only 1-0. Dusty sits Zach for the first 15 mintues. Probably wanting him chomping to get back in. In that first 15 minutes more of the same. Brooks pressure, not much for shots. Zach re-enters and plays like TAZ. Unfortunately, the KUA team was turning the tide and having some of their own opportunities. Things went back and forth for the next 20 minutes. With a little over 7 minutes remaining, KUA struck again. Brooks boys are down. But there is still time. A corner by Andres finds Alex on the far side and it's 2-1. Three more corners in the next 2 minutes had Brooks inches away from a tie. But it never happened. The final whistle sounded with Brooks pressing the KUA end. End of game, end of season. Tears all over the field. After the handshakes, the long walk across the field had all the boys still in tears, hugging each other. Zach walked over to me and just rested his head on my shoulder, tears still falling from his eyes. I gave him a big hug told him I was so very proud of him and he was on to mom for more hugs. A similar scene for all of the boys.
Later, when I picked up Zach at campus he told me, "they had us scouted extremely well. Shut down the stikers and the left midfielder". Two guys on Nick, one dogging Zach everywhere he went and 2 on Jon on the left preventing the huge crosses from finding their way. Give KUA credit. They played well. Wish them luck in the championship game today. Zach kept talking about the 2 boys from Africa. One was from the Zimbabwe national team, the other from Uganda's national team. He'll see at least one of them again as he is only a sophomore, the other, thankfully is a senior.
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