The Boyen had games at the same time (9AM) today. Mom decided that she was going to Charles’ game, because it was closer so I was tasked with being Corwin’s entourage for his game.
Mom tells me Charles had a good game, despite his team losing 0-6. The other team had a good player and good and large player, the latter basically able to drive in a goal by himself on a regular basis. Charles was able to stop him most of the time Charles was goalie, but otherwise it was near hopeless. Only the requirement for rotating positions saved the team from even more humiliation. Mom said that Charles also did well on offense, as before overall team support was lacking.
Corwin’s game was a bit more interesting. It was very windy, but the wind was across the field, not along it. Corwin’s team started out very well, dominating the field position and scoring goals on a regular basis. The first two were good driving scores. The next two were from far outside. I didn’t get pictures because I didn’t think they were close enough, but one player hooked it from the far left side, just barely dribbling in to the goal on the left. The other was a power kick from about ⅓ of the field straight out from the goal. It went over the heads of the defenders and just to the side of the goalie.
Corwin didn’t get a lot of play and I thought it was going to be a total blow out. But the second half proved to be a bit different. I think the other coach handed out double cappuccinos to his team because they were much more energized in the second half. Corwin’s team, in contrast, seemed to have exhausted itself. Everyone was just slower and the offense was much less aggressive. They had lots of good kicks (including Corwin) that just dropped in to a sea of opponents to be kicked right back. Even their ball handling was off - the opponents out-footed Corwin’s team far more frequently in the second half than in the first. It wasn’t quite enough to fully dominate field position as Corwin’s team had the first half but the advantage was clear.
The team was also down from its normal set of 3 goalies to 1, so for some relief the coach put another child in for goalie, which lead to 3 goals in less than 10 minutes. The standard goalie was put back in, but he was scored on in a play where he was a bit too aggressive about going after the ball, fell, and was unable to get up and back in action before the ball drifted to a stop a few feet from the goal to be popped in by an opponent.
The end result was a 4-4 tie. The last quarter was tense, as first the other team strove to get even, and then the wondering if either team would score one last goal for the victory. Interesting, although both teams scored the same number of goals, the other team ended up much more upbeat about the game. An interesting example of how expectation colors the results.
