Jack K.'s Memoir

A Day To Remember 

 

A crystal clear sky, as birds chirped, gave a feeling of a beautiful spring day, and a perfect day for a CT State Cup soccer game.  The New Milford Bulldogs would take on a fierce West Hartford team in the quarter-final round.  As the game started, we took a quick 2-0 lead, but a relentless West Hartford team controlled the ball for the rest of the half, scoring 3 goals of their own to create a big 1 goal lead going into the second half.

After a depressing mid-game talk, West Hartford scored 2 more goals to give them a 3 goal lead, and then the game.  With about 5 minutes left in the game, my mom gave me a depressed face signaling it was time to leave to travel to my lacrosse game that was about an hour away.  As we shuffled into the car, I tried to think of something to say.  I figured that the slightest mistake in word choice would lead to a long and hard talk in the car.  But of course, that happened.  I exclaimed to my mom, “Mom, did you see that nice turn I did in the second half?”, but from there it went downhill.At first, I thought my face was crumbled and had to come off.  But then, I realized that the words meant something, which brought me to a point where I started to calm down.  After millions of bad words left the car, a small smile came to my face once I started hearing the good ones.  My mom told me, “What happened today, already happened.  You have the power to turn the day around.”  Then, at that very moment, my mom smiled when she looked at the clock and exclaimed, “Jack, it's 11:11, make a wish!”  “Okay,” I said.  My mom and I grasped our hands together and she continued, “I wish that Jack will score 5 goals at the lacrosse game.”  I smiled big, even though I never scored 5 goals in one game before.

After 11:11, the car ride was great, until all of a sudden, I realized that I forgot to bring a pair of sock to wear in my cleats.  We were following behind my dad to get to the field, but the light in front of us turned red.  My mom quickly called my dad, who exclaimed that he had an extra pair of socks.  My dad's face in shock, he ran out of his car, chucked the socks through our car window, and then ran back to his.  After a moment of panic that quickly faded, the light turned green and we were on our way again.

After a long drive, we finally arrived at the field in New Haven to play E.L.I.  I grabbed my stick and rushed to the field because the game had just started.   As I ran up to my coaches, my dad explained to them what happened.  I got put in the game right away, and off a low & away bounce shot, I scored my first goal.  I was sitting on the bench pouring gatorade in my mouth, when I was called back into the game.  But this shift wasn't a good one for me.  As I ran down the field, I picked up a ground ball and charged to the net.  Out of nowhere I got whacked hard in the rib.  I gave a faint shreak trying hard not to shed a tear.  I fell to the ground in agonizing pain.  My dad ran to the field, picked me up and brought me to the bench.  The 1^st quarter ended with a score of E.L.I (2) and New Milford (1).

As the 2^nd quarter started, I was put in the game at the Attack position right away.  The first play, we won the face-off, ran it down field and passed it to me.  I beat my defender, shot it and scored my second goal.  A few minutes later, E.L.I defense tried to lob the ball up field, but I stuck my stick in front of the defender, gained possession of the ball and scored again.  The 2^nd quarter quickly came to an end, and the 3^rd did too after a hard round of defense by me and my team. 

The 4^th quarter started and I was put in immediately.  A few minutes into the game, Andre Taylor lobbed a pass way over me and my defender.  Now it was a foot race between fast and slow.  As I approached the ball, I stuck my left hand out with my stick, spun arund the defender and shot the ball with my right hand and scored.  With 2 minutes left in the game, Chris Allehage caught a pass, shot it, and scored to tie the game at 5-5 in the 4^th quarter.  With the game coming to an end, we chased the ball at their end for possession.  As the ball popped out of a ground ball pile, I picked it up and shot it with 10 seconds left on the clock.  Somehow, the ball found the net for a goal!  We won the game and the crowd went wild.  I couldn't have felt any better, but my first look was to my mom thinking about our 11:11 wish we made earlier.  I threw my helmet off, unable to hold in all my energy.

After a day of rollercoaster emotions, I became as tired as ever.  The first thing I would do at home had to be to go to bed.  But the one thing I know is that this is a day I will always remember.