Men’s Pan Am Youth Blog – Day 4

January 31, 2010

Match Against Senior Sonora State University Team

Our third day here started out bright and early and cold (9 c).

After getting set to put our first load of laundry into the wash we went for a team swim where we participated in aerobics in the pool. Maybe we weren’t all that compliant but did you feel how cold it was? We spent much of the swim running away from Big Alv who was attempting to make us get in the deep end of the ever freezing hotel pool. Once our toes had defrosted and spirits regained we had a hearty Mexican brunch down in the hotel restaurant where we scoffed lots of eggs and pancakes that we pointed and grunted for in an attempt to communicate.

Afterward we had a pre game tactics meeting where we discussed our next opposition, the Senior Sonora State University team.

We agreed to play 3 periods – the first two of 25 minutes and a final 20 minute.

The score was 1-0 after 1 period fro Sonora, 2-0 after the 2 period and a final score of 5-1.

Both teams showed skill and the match was very fast. The U-17 had 3 very dangerous scoring chances, but were unable to convert. Sorona had quick counter attacks and tested us on all areas of the pitch especially in our defensive end. Now that we were all but adjusted to the turf, we faced the challenges of counter control and corner defense. After pushing through almost 10 waves of defensive penalty corners in one half, the team was playing very well and was very much in the game. However, due to a brief lapse in the third period, we lost focus and went down by an insurmountable ratio of 5-1. Despite the heavy loss, we were happy with our play for 60 minutes of the 70 minute game and we learnt lots. We learnt about ourselves, our limits, our team, and our tactics. The boys have done well adapting from Vancouver, weather wise, umpire wise, field wise and style wise and we are happy with what has happened so far.

When we returned to the hotel we had our favorite activity to participate in… ICE BATHS! We lived through them as we now move on to phase 2 of the Pan Ams where we look forward to test matches, ice baths, and perhaps most of all, more poker.

Gordie Johnston # 24 and Tony Sidhu # 20

Canadian National Men’s U-17 Team Members