November 6th, 2015
Today the Venice girls made the long trek to Oviedo - all
2 hours and 51 minutes of it. The team left school at noon today, and I made the
drive with Drew and Jay after they got out of school themselves. We struggled to
make it to the 7:00pm game due to heavy rush-hour traffic, accidents, and toll
roads, making this trip challenging to say the least. Since we were running
late, one of Samantha's teammate's mom sent me some updates once she found out
that Sam was going to be playing in goal. When we finally managed to arrive,
there was only 24 minutes left in the second half of the game. Venice was losing
0-4 and our coach was forced to put Sam in goal due to an injury with their main
keeper. Sam saved countless attacks and played a very defensive game. Her
teammates had her back all the way and assisted a few times when Sam was unable
to corral the ball. After talking with a few parents, it appeared that playing
on turf led to some of the struggles our team had - they had not experienced
played on turf this season. In addition, several injuries occurred during the
game, causing Venice to be without some of their key players. In the end, the
final score was 0-6, with Sam letting in two goals on very difficult plays. As
the girls walked off the field, you could tell they were exhausted, defeated,
and ready to call it a day.
Update: Tara later found out that Samantha entered the
game much earlier than originally thought - approximately halfway through the
first half. Venice was indeed trailing 4-0 at that point, and Sam faced the
majority of the 45 shots that Venice faced tonight. While she did end up giving
up two goals, it wasn't without a ton of effort on her part. All in all, she did
quite well considering how long it has been since she has regularly played in
goal.
Venice Indians Varsity Soccer Game 4 - at Oviedo High School
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Samantha with the ball after making a save.
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Sam drop-kicking the ball to her teammates after a save.
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Another shot of Sam making a drop-kick.
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Sam with the ball after an scoring chance by a bunch of Oviedo
players.
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Sam kicking the ball down the field once again.
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Sam running with the ball, looking for open teammates to kick
the ball to.
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Sam kicking the ball away once again.
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Sam was tired from all of the hard work she had put in so far,
and disappointed with the result of the game.
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Sam looking towards the corner as the action takes place there.
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The final score was a 6-0 defeat for the Venice Indians girls
today.
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