NCAA Tournament Bid! After 800 Miles of Driving
What a great weekend and start to yet another week. I left for Athens around noon on Friday, putting me at UGA at four. I went to the UGA basketball game on Friday night, 15 dollars later because I’m not a UGA student, but I think it was well worth it. Some of my best friends from high school joined Sheida and I on Saturday and we had a great time. It ended way to soon though, as I had to leave Sunday morning in order to make it in time for the kick off of the Big South Conference Championship match at Coastal Carolina.
A straight shot via I-20 taking five hours to complete was one long drive. I got there just in time for the kick off. As I was walking into the stands, we scored our first goal of the day. The rest of the afternoon was one filled with incredible amounts of anxiety, followed by extreme happiness. We went up early in the match 2-0, only to have Coastal score two goals in five minutes to tie it up 2-2 before half time. I thought we were going home empty handed as the ref awarded Coastal a penalty kick, which they converted to goal, with 4 minutes left in the game… but THEN, with thirty seconds left in regulation, we got a free kick at the top of the box. A rip of a shot, followed by a deflection off the Coastal keeper and a shot into the back of the net by Winthrop put the match into overtime. This was incredible. Early in the second overtime, we scored the golden goal and won the Big South Conference Championship, getting an automatic bid to the NCAA Men’s Soccer Tournament. A great trip to see the girl friend and friends, followed by a championship win, together, made an outstanding weekend. Now my team is awaiting the clock to strike six tonight when the NCAA tournament bracket is released on ESPNews.
My trip this weekend put over 800 miles on my car.. Charlotte to Athens (4 hours), Athens to Myrtle Beach (5 hours), Myrtle Beach to Charlotte (3 hours). Gotta love the gas prices though.. every time I filled up, I payed under $1.90/gallon.
(I’m standing top-right)
