On September 14-15 2019, the Emporia Soccer Academy(ESA) had its first tournament of the season in Manhattan. They won three out of four games, and only lost by penalty kicks! The first game was against Azzurri 07 Blue, the second against TSC Attack 06, the third against Puma FC MHK Italy, and the fourth which was the Championship game against TSC Attack 06 again.

The first game against Azzurri 07 Blue. By the first half, ESA had two goals and the opposing team only had one, during the second half Emporia Soccer Academy got two more goals and ended the game 4-1 with a win. I had the opportunity to talk to Alex and Zander who are also on the team. Alex said, “During the game, I felt good scoring a goal first half but even better scoring one more the second half”. Zander said, “I was happy with the amazing cross to assist Alex and the one goal he had during the second half”. After the game, the Emporia team celebrated quickly by clapping the other team’s hands but then going to high five the parent’s hands as well, and they were excited about the big lunch they were about to have.

After the first game, most of the team went to the mall to hang out for a couple of hours before the second game. After the mall they had lunch and then they had their second game, they have to get to the field 30 mins before the game to stretch and warm-up. When the game was about to start they huddled up and then yelled Emporia. Just yesterday I interviewed Will Walker on the team and he said: “I was hoping this team sucked because I am still sore from the first game”. This game was a close match between them but they still won 3-2.

The third game they won with an outstanding 6-0 score with an easy win. After they had four goals the coach let the defenders and the offense switch positions because he thought it would be good for the practice. The fourth and final game was a tie at full time with 1-1 so they had a Golden goal, which is basically first to score wins. They tied the first golden goal so they had another and also tied. After that, they did penalty kicks and sadly lost 4-1.

I also had a chance to interview Jared who was not in the game but was watching them. Jared said, “I thought we were going to win all of them and it was sad when they lost the last game by only a little bit”. Jared also said that “[he] thinks that If they had better communication then they would have won all of the games”.

In conclusion, the Emporia Soccer Academy is a good team with good communication most of the time and at the tournament, they won 3 out of 4 of their games and only lost by free kicks. They had a good time playing but they still have one more tournament before the season ends. After that, they go on to play Futsal.