Franklin lined up a free kick on our goal. It was going wide. Or so we thought…

After an undefeated 8-win regular season, we were all riding high on that success going into the state playoffs. With a bye in the first round, everyone was brimming with anticipation and excitement for the Varsity boys soccer team’s second round matchup against Franklin. Varsity: ready to prove they were the best team in the city and JV: well, we were ready to sit back and cheer on the varsity team, except those of us who were drafted as ball boys of course. 

But that season, it’s not just that we had an amazing record, we had a great team. Some refs even went as far as saying that we were the “greatest Baltimore city soccer team they had ever seen”. With an incredible defensive line and goalie, we never let up more than two goals in a single game and more often than not we held our opponents scoreless. We also had a fantastic and deep midfield with electric strikers and wingers on offense.

Our team is very young, too. Much of our starting lineup are sophomores and juniors, but on the team there are 6 seniors who were very influential to everyone. They were all honored after a 7-0 blowout of ACCE. Our gift to them were mini soccer balls signed by the entire team.

The Game

The game against Franklin was set for Saturday, October 29th on our home field. It was bright, sunny, and somewhat warm all day long. Right before our game the girls team had a playoff game against the other school. They won 2-1. It looked like it was going to be a good day for the school. As we moved onto the field for warm-ups, excitement levels were high. We felt ready. 

However, shortly after the game started, the sun set. It became extremely cold. Moisture from rain earlier in the week made both the ball and field extremely slippery. But this only made us fight harder. The game was intense. We had a few chances to score and they had slightly less chances on goal, but neither team was able to put the ball away. Players on both teams were playing as hard as they could while players on the bench were freezing. 

First, the half came and went. The game was still scoreless. Then the standard regulation ended. First OT. Remember, the format for city playoffs is standard regulation of 80 minutes split into two 40 minute halves, with two 10 minute overtimes, and a penalty shootout if the game remains tied. After ten minutes of overtime it got to a second overtime. Everyone was tired. Everyone was cold. But the two teams kept fighting hard.

Until Franklin got a free kick outside of our box. The kick wasn’t amazing but somehow got into the middle of the box and was kicked around until it was shot. But it was not a good shot. It rolled on the ground wide of the goal. But one player standing offsides completely changed the course of this ball.

The Shot that Stole our Season

This fall, I was on the JV soccer team and, doing my duty as a freshman, volunteered, (do freshmen really have any choice when it comes to things like this?), to be a ball boy on numerous occasions. One of those occasions was Saturday, October 29th. I was covering the home bench side of the field and me, along with four others (three of whom were also on JV soccer) were right next to the field for both the girls and boys varsity games.

As the fatal free kick happened I was right behind our goal, getting a ball that had recently been kicked out. And as the ball hit the foot of the offside Franklin player. I was the closest person to the goal who was not on either team. 

And after it hit his foot, the trajectory of the ball, and our season, was irrevocably changed. 

It rolled awkwardly into the goal.

Their team ran off the field celebrating.

The refs walked off the field, just wanting to go home out of the cold. 

And we stood there dumbfounded, the team still in their positions, and me with the ball that I had just gone and gotten in my hands. Then Bowen Valery, one of our centerbacks, still in denial over this heartbreaking result, yelled at me: “Marshall, give me the ball!” I threw him the ball. He got ready to take a goal kick convinced that we still had a chance. But the refs were already gone. And as the 11 on the field realized that we had lost, they walked slowly towards the bench.

Everyone on our side, on the field cried that night, from us ball boys who shed a few tears, to the coaches, and the players, those who had fought and put their bodies on the line for this game. They cried and were still sitting in a huddle by the time everyone else had left. And as I walked off the field I felt sorry for those players and coaches who had taught us freshmen, new to poly soccer, what it meant to be not just a soccer player at our school, but also a member of the community at Poly. They served as our mentors on and off the field and it was horrible for this win to be taken away from them. But as Reuben Schreier, our other starting center back said, “It was a tough loss, tough way to end the season. [But] the off-season is for improving and we will come back stronger.” Reuben’s words echo what we should all think about when facing heartbreak as poly engineers and are in keeping with the poly core value of Perseverance.