Rio Recap Continued

Despite the fun tourist attractions that we experienced on our trip to Rio, our main purpose for going was to witness and play soccer in Brasil and have the opportunity to see the talent and love for the game that they possess.

We ended up have the chance to play 3 games down there against professional u-20 teams, and also watch 2 games in the Maracana Stadium, which is one of the biggest soccer stadiums in the world. The first game that we played was against Fluminense FC in horrible conditions. The grass was incredibly too long, we were playing in the mountains, we had just gotten off of an 8 hour plane ride the night before, and it was over 100 degrees with humidity; however, despite all of these excuses the team we played was still very good. We ended up losing 5-1, but the game was a lot closer than the scoreline suggests. If it was not for a 10 minute span in the second half where they scored 3 goals, the game would have been a lot different.

Our second game was against Botofogo FC in much better conditions at sunset on a good quality field. We started off the game shaky giving away an early goal; however, we answered back in the first half scoring a goal of our own and sending the game into halftime tied 1-1. Then, in the second half once the sun had gone down, we really played well scoring two unanswered goals to take the lead 3-1, but just when we thought we had the game won, we gave away a PK to bring the score to 3-2. After a few anxious moments, Kyle Porter scored on a shot from about 25 yards out to extend our lead to 4-2, which proved to be the final score of the game.

The third game was against Flamengo FC, who proved to be the best of the 3 teams we played against. We played well and kept them scoreless until with less an a minute left in the first half, we gave up a PK to go into halftime down 1-0. The second half didn't get any better with them dominating play, eventually scoring 2 more goals to win the game 3-0.

Overall, the chance to play against these 3 great teams and the opportunity to watch 2 additional highly competitive and entertaining games in a beautiful stadium is a memory that none of us will soon forget.

Rio Recap

Looking back at the spring soccer season this past semester as it comes to an end, it was pretty uneventful except for our trip to Rio de Janeiro for spring break. The scenery there was absolutely breathe taking and I can honestly say that the only part of the trip that was not enjoyable was the 8 hour plane ride there surrounded by 3 crying babies.

I will talk about the soccer aspects of the trip in a later post; however, besides soccer, the trip and experience gave us the opportunity to visit many famous tourist attractions, including Christ the Redeemer, Sugar Loff Mountain, and both the Copacabana and Impenima beaches.

Our first hotel was right on the Copacabana beach; therefore the team spent most of our free time at the beach in the water, playing soccer on the beach, or enjoying the 18-year old drinking age of Brasil.

During the week our first expedition took us up the cable car to the top of Sugar Loff Mountain, with the exception of a few scared people, not to name any names, but Chris Luciani and Coach McGinlay, everyone made it to the top without refusing to go or regretting their decision to come. The view from the top of the mountain was spectacular and we spent a good 2 hours up there taking in the scenery, taking pictures, and messing around.

Later in the week we visited the Christ the Redeemer statute on the top of the Cocavada mountain. After the 20 minute trolley ride into the clouds we had to climb a couple more flights of stairs before we were able to see and take in the beautiful monument. The statute is enormous (around 13 stories tall) and is a very powerful sight that I will remember forever. Furthermore, the view from the top looking over the city once again gave us the opportunity to admire the beautiful landscape of the city.

All in all the trip was a spectacular opportunity to immerse ourselves in a completely different culture for a week and experience something that we may never get the chance to again and will never forget.

Intramural Co-Ed Soccer Champions

Tuesday night was a great night for the members of the Hydras F.C. co-ed intramural soccer team; however, it was not so for the RMs and RAs whom we played against in the championship.

The game started out rough for our team with the RAs quickly scoring on 2 break away chances to take the lead 2-0. However, later on in the first half our star forward Kelly Watts scored a goal to cut the lead to 2-1. We added another goal later in the first half to tie the game at 2 going into halftime. Driven by an inspirational halftime speech from our player/coach, Sydney Gerbino, our team scored 2 early goals in the second half to take the lead 4-2. Still motivated from the great halftime speech in the goal I was able to make a couple of nice saves to keep our team's lead intact. Our defense was able to hold off the RAs until they finally scored again with 2 minutes remaining in the game to bring the score to 4-3. Despite their desperate attempts to tie the game at 4 and put it into overtime, my defense and I held strong and preserved our lead for the 4-3 victory to make us the 2009 Trinity Intramural Co-Ed Soccer Champions. However, our team is not looking to settle for only one championship this year, watch out for us as we attempt to repeat as champions in the upcoming Co-Ed Indoor Soccer League later this Spring.

Senior Banquet and Tito Tower Auction

Also this past Saturday night was the Trinity Soccer Senior Banquet. The event started at 6 p.m. in Mabee Dining Hall; however, some of the other freshman soccer players and I did not arrive until 7:30 because we were busy winning the intramural softball championship.

While we did show up late and missed most of the awards and congratulations given to our seniors we arrived in time to experience in my mind the more memorable part of the night. The second half of the banquet discussed the programs plan to build a media center for the soccer field in memory of a past Trinity Soccer player who after his time at the university tragically passed away. Many of the speakers that night, including his father, gave speeches that illustrated the life and memory of Tito. But the purpose of this night was to not only honor his memory through words, but also through actions and donations. Therefore, both a silent auction and live auction were organized by our coaches in order to raise money to build the Tim "Tito" Isom Memorial Media Center for our soccer field. The auctions included many signed jerseys from famous players from around the world as well as other sports memorabilia. I feel as though the night was a great success which both properly honored Tim's memory while also raising funds to continue to honor him in the future. Two of the jerseys that went up during the live auction were a Fernando Torres signed jersey and the '09 full Liverpool team signed jersey, my dad was kind enough to bid for both of these on my behalf; however, I have a feeling that he did it more for Tim than he did it for me. But regardless, I am both happy to have the jerseys and happy that my dad's contributions are going to go to a worthy cause.

Trinity Soccer Alumni Game

This past weekend was Alumni Weekend for the Trinity Soccer program, and the current team played an alumni team on Saturday at noon. The alumni ended up winning the game 4-3; however, regardless of the score, the game was very enjoyable and a great chance to meet past players from the program.

The game started off rather slow with neither team scoring in the first 30 minutes instead we were just enjoying the music being played by the announcer; however, during the next 30 minutes that all changed. During this time, I was playing goalie and the alumni had three breakaway opportunities and scored all of them. Also at the end of this part of the game, the school team was given a goal that the alumni previously had disallowed because of offside, so the game was 3-1 in favor of the alumni after an hour of play.

During the third part of the game, the current Trinity team scored first making the game 3-2; however, the alumni quickly answered back by scoring a goal to increase the lead to 4-2. Then with under 5 minutes to go in the game the current team scored again bringing the score line to 4-3. Despite their effort, the school team could not score another goal to tie the game at 4, and the game ended in a 4-3 victory for the alumni.