Finally, mother nature decided to reward us with a nice weather. On a summer like and beautiful sunny afternoon with close to 75F, the Tigers were traveling to USA to confront the team they already beat 1-0 during their first meet. This game was very important for both teams to claim the position in the conference ranking.

The first half was very slow for the visitors from Caro as the coaching staff was trying to stimulate and remind their players to mark the players and be first to the ball. Unfortunately, the tone was set by the hosts from USA as they dominated in all aspects with a few shots on goal to test the Tigers goalie. On a breakaway on the wing, the USA forward was faster than the Caro player and she was able to position herself for a beautiful shot on goal which beat the Tigers goalie to lead against Caro 1-0 with only 20 minutes played. That was not what the Caro coaches expected from their team and kept reorganizing the lineup to make something happen. First half ended with deception on the Caro bench and the half time speech was not pleasant as the coaches reminded their players that they already beat the opponents in the previous game. Therefore, the coaching staff urged the Tigers to go back to basics and start playing a more aggressive game and turn the game around. Fair enough and with some slight adjustments by pushing sweeper Lydia Chapelo to the center midfield real estate to support freshman Olivia Walker, the Caro team seemed to have responded to the message and began to dominate the start of the second half. Olivia Walker came close to score as the ball she shot from the left wing hit the cross bar behind the USA goalie who was beat. Then, a moment of scare invaded the Caro team as their goalie Talena Pifer collided with one the USA forward player who never stopped and recklessly hit Pifer's shoulder with her cleats. After attending her on the sideline while Lydia Chapelo backed her up as the goalie, a few minutes later the Tigers goalie was back in action. That collision inspired the rest of team and started pressing up front with a few great passes. All of the sudden, Bryanna Funsch took control of the ball and started rushing towards the USA goalie and found Lydia Chapelo who shot the ball which was blocked by the USA defender's hands for a Penalty Kick (PK), although the ball managed to end up inside the USA's net. In FIFA rules, that would have been a goal but the referees decided otherwise and signaled for a PK which was converted nicely by center midfielder and freshman Olivia Walker to tie the game 1-1 with only 6 minutes left to the game. The rest of the game was more a battle in the midfield to try to contain each other's breakaway until the final whistle was blown by the officials to confirm the scoreboard to a1-1 tie.

The MVP trophy was awarded to Senior and right defender/midfielder Bryanna Funsch for initiating the golden play that led to the PK goal to tie the game. She also raised her game to tightly mark her opponents and be first to the ball in various occasions though great defensive and offensive performance.

Next game will be at home on Friday, May 17 in Caro hosting the Lakers at 5:30 pm. Parents' night celebration will take place at half time since it will be the last home game.