Canton Cup Tournament Memorial Day Weekend

 Sean's soccer team was invited to play in the Canton Cup Tournament.  They take a few rec teams and needed one more rec boys U11 team to fill out a bracket.  All but two of the boys on his team signed up to play and we were able to recruit one more boy that plays for the Plymouth Warriors to help.  Scott and Evan still opted to go up north for the weekend with Luna, while Sean and I stayed home.  He had his first game on Friday night against the Canton Regulators.  It was 45 degrees and super windy, so we had to break out winter jackets, hats, and gloves.  

They beat the Regulators 5-3 in an exciting win!  We had lost to this team during the regular season so it was that much more exciting to win against them in a tournament.  

Saturday morning was game #2 at 9:30am.  We were set to play the hardest team in the bracket, the Canton Road Runners.  We had also lost to this team during the regular season.  Unfortunately, we couldn't stop them and ended up losing 8-3.  

We stuck around after the game to check out the food trucks and the tents to do some shopping.  Shelley and Nevaeh had come to the game and hung out with us.  Sean got a corn dog and I had a chicken taco.  We split a funnel cake - yum!

The boys were back at the field Sunday morning at 9:30am for game #3 against the Canton Rangers.  We haven't played this team yet in the regular season, so we weren't sure what to expect.  We ended up winning in a very exciting last few minutes!  We were down 3-2 and in the last five minutes Aidan scored to tie it up 3-3, then Owen scored the game-winning goal to make it 4-3!  The kids were so excited!  

The boys all got their participation medals after this game and we had to wait the rest of the afternoon to see if we got into the final game (since there was one more match-up in our bracket at 1:30pm that would help determine standings).  

The text came through around 2:45pm that there was a 3-way tie in our bracket and first place was given to the Canton Road Runners and second place the Canton Regulators.  Sean was super bummed so we decided to go for a bike ride around Newburgh Lake since it was a nice afternoon.  Halfway through riding around the lake a text came in that there was a mistake made and that we were in the final game!  Holy smokes...turns out that goal differential was used to determine 1st place (Canton Road Runners) and then head-to-head was determined for 2nd place (and we beat the Regulators at our first game so we got that spot).  We rushed back home, shoved some dinner in our stomachs, and went off to the field for a 5:40pm championship game.

The energy before the game was amazing to watch.  The boys were in a huddle cheering themselves on and giving each other a pep talk.  Win or lose, this was an amazing experience for them and they worked so hard to get to this point.  Unfortunately, they just couldn't beat the Road Runners and lost 8-2.  The ref called every single call against us (pushing, tripping, shoving).  It was incredibly frustrating and he even gave one of our boys a yellow card in the last 30 seconds, which caused him to cry.  

The boys got a 2nd place medal and got to all hold the silver cup their coach earned.  They held their heads high and smiled big for the pictures.  I know it didn't end the way they wanted, but even to be in the tournament AND to get to the final championship game is an honor.  They played hard all weekend!  I'm so proud of these boys and am so sad to see the team go it's separate ways after this season (coach's son is trying out for DCFC so she'll be stepping down).  Go Panthers!