Ties and Tacos

Friday afternoon was the first day that had a real chill in the air. It was sunny, it was gorgeous, but it felt like summer was over and winter was going to be fast upon us. That feeling was exacerbated by our freezing cold bus. The A/C was blasting and the heat didn't work, so as we drove north we huddled under blankets and put on stocking caps. As we approached the Wisconsin border we pulled over to meet a mechanic on the side of the road who quickly flipped us over to "heat." It was a much welcome change.

St. Norbert has a brand new turf field and stadium, complete with warm visitor locker rooms right next to the field. We warmed up well and had a great start to the game, scoring two goals in the first 15 minutes. The Green Knights scored one soon after to make the game 2-1 and there is stayed for a LONG time. The game went back-and-forth, both teams trading momentum and shots back and forth. After a scramble in the box that lead to us clearing the ball into one of our defenders, the Green Knights got the ball and put it into our net to tie the game 2-2, with four minutes remaining.

That lead us to two 10:00 overtime periods. Our kids greatly surprised their coaches by digging deep and finding reserves of energy we were pretty convinced they didn't have. In a way, it was the most impressive 20 minutes we've played all year. In the end though, we were not able to score, and the game finished in a tie.

That result left both teams undefeated. We have three conference games remaining on our schedule, the Green Knights have six. This result helped us greatly improve our chances of making the four-team conference tournament, but the question of who will host it is yet to be answered.

An incredible post-game feast at the Keast house helped wash down any disappointment we may have felt regarding the tie. We sat in front of the fireplace, ate many tacos and cookies and cupcakes, met many of Ellie Keast's dolls (our favorite was the glow worm), petted the dogs, thanked the grandparents for being such stalwart fans, and played a little piano.

A 3-0 victory by the men meant a good, if late, bus ride back to Lake Forest.

Our next game is Thursday at home against non-conference opponent Milwaukee School of Engineering. Our next conference game is at home versus Knox College on Saturday at 1pm.