SOCCER GAME SUMMARY

What a great way to end the soccer season with the Tigers traveling to CPAC headquarters to face them in a second meet with a convincing win!

First half started with the Caro team facing the beautiful sun. The hosts seem to control the ball at various times but the visitors refused to give up an inch for them to control. An unlucky shot from outside the box could not spare the Tigers' goalie to even see the ball coming at him; therefore, allowing the CPAC team to take the lead with this goal which didn't reflect the way the Tigers were playing. All along the first half, it was basically all about fighting for the ball and creating chances up front, although more for the visitors. On a breakaway, freshman and goalie Greysen Chapelo made an amazing tackle to save his team from another goal but paying for it with some body pain while deflecting the hard ball. Chapelo was substituted by Junior and sweeper Klayton Clish to finish the first half with a 0-1 score.

Considering the tight score, the coach was very pleased with the outstanding performance of his team by limiting the talented hosting team to only one goal. Freshman Chapelo was back as a goalie and Junior Clish back at a sweeper. The Tigers were playing a tactical and defensive game: first to the ball, blocking any shots and marking tightly the opponents. It was worth waiting until the last game of the season to witness players apply some fundamental and basic skills the coach was teaching them all along. The Tigers were anxious to go back on the soccer field for the second part to claim this game.

Fair enough, second game started with a noticeable enthusiasm from the visitors. Then, without warning, Senior, Captain and center forward Aaron Pierce stole a ball from his opponent to send it to himself with a winning race to surprise the CAPAC goalie for a tie. The game's intensity now has escalated to the next level where the Caro players dominated all aspects of the game and field positions. Again, on another breakaway by Sophomore and right forward Brady Rigg, the CPAC recklessly tackled him in the dangerous and critical box to allow the visiting team a penalty kick (PK). The PK was converted smartly by Senior and Captain Pierce by placing the ball on the bottom left corner of their goalie which made it 2-1 to the favor of Caro. The hosts from CAPAC were in shock as they remembered beating this same team 4-0 during the first meet early in the season. Now the CAPAC team had no other choice than to step up their game which was noticed in their hard tackles and reckless challenges to intimidate the visitors. Fair enough, through all that pressure put on the Caro team, one forward player was able to shoot the ball which was deflected by a Caro defender to surprise and beat goalie Chapelo to tie the game at 2-2.

You can feel the frustration from both sides as the players fight for the ball and possession. Suddenly, on a breakaway from the left side, Junior and left forward Adam Fisch retrieved the ball and won the race against his opponent with still the ball at his reach to smartly place it at the top left corner to beat their goalie to allow his team to take the lead again. The Caro team now didn't want to live the same outcome when they took the lead and decided to keep pressing up front and create chances to disorganize their opponents and score.

Fair enough and a few minutes later, Captain Pierce crossed over the ball to the CAPAC zone to find Sophomore and center forward Sang La who didn't miss this golden opportunity to score the fourth goal for his team to lead 4-2. With a few minutes left to the game, the hosts tried in vain to come back but this 2 goal lead basically made them realize that it was over.

The MVP award was presented to Senior and Captain Aaron Pierce who finished with 2 goals and 1 assist. The award was presented by Junior Fisch who also had an honorable mention since he scored the 3rd and winning goal for his team.

The coach commanded the whole team by securing goaltending, defense, midfield and forward real estates to finish this season with a deserved win. This young team set the tone for the district game to come.

It was a beautiful game to watch!!! Good job well done Caro Tigers!!!

Next game is the District game against Flint Powers on Wednesday October 14 at 5:30 pm at home in Caro.