Going undefeated in the regular season is an awesome experience, but losing your first game of the year in the final stages of the playoffs is as gut-wrenching and helpless a feeling as you can get. It's like falling from the peak of a mountain all the way to the ground, as you see your season being defined by that one loss.
The New England Patriots experienced that when they were 18-0 but lost to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl, and I got to experience it in a much smaller stage with the David Posnack girls soccer team on Wednesday, March 3.
The girls had gone 8-0 during the regular season, plowing through our district like nobody's business. We had scored 24 goals and received only three, making history and breaking school records in the process. We were convinced that we could cap off a perfect season with a championship ring.
Our oponnent in the semifinals was Donna Klein, who had finished second in the North Palm Beach district. They had won 8-0 in their last regular season game, but we could care less because we were undefeated.
They were a formidable opponent, playing at our same level or better than us throughout the match. They went ahead in the 12th minute, but we tied things quickly thanks to a beautiful 25-yard shot by forward Lisa Garatti.
During halftime, I urged the girls to play like they had during the regular season with crisp passing and speed, but Donna Klein did a great job of covering spaces with zone pressure and regained the lead early in the second half.
Down a goal, I shifted my 4-4-2 tactic to a 4-3-3 (three midfielders and three forwards), but still couldn't penetrate the stout Klein defense. Our best opportunity to tie came with 10 minutes left in the game, when a shot after a corner kick seemed to be on its way in before the defender deflected it at the goal line.
The final score was Donna Klein 2-David Posnack 1, and all of a sudden our season was over after just one loss. I'm convinced that if we had tied the game, we would have won it in the penalty shootout. We also would have been benefited from playing a team like that from a better district in the regular season.
After the game, I handed the girls their 3rd place trophy and got doused with really cold Gatorade. The two things I thought about as I was surprised from behind were 1) "Aaaah, I'm %^&*!cold" and 2) "I hope my cellphone is not ruined".
The coaching experience was priceless, because I got to build a soccer team of young,wonderful girls from scratch and raised it from mediocrity to championship contention. Losing hurts, but when it does it means that you have accomplished something to get to a stage that matters, and that is what counts in the end.
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