Last weekend Nate and I soldiered 10-ish hours in the car, there and back, to a Mustangs tournament in Davis. It was a lot of I-5. But it was also probably the best our Mustangs team has played since we joined just over a year ago. On Saturday we won both games– first one was against the Spurs. Fortunately Kane and Son weren’t in so we finished it handily, 6-3. Then we played Davis’ B team and also won 6-2. Based on my James texts it looks like Nate scored twice in both games, including the infamous “tongue” goal. That’s the one where Nate scored and Eliot dove into the goal headfirst and said he touched the ball with his tongue. Mmm, yum?
Then Sunday was the big day against Idaho. Yeah, the real Idaho. We checked and there’s no Idaho, California. Apparently it’s about equidistant from Idaho to Davis and SLO to Davis. Maybe not really but still. Since they were traveling so far, we figured they were either going to be really good or there’s no one else to play in Idaho. Fortunately it was the latter. We beat them 4-2– again Nate scored two goals and had some pretty assists.
Then five hours later it was the final against Davis’ A team. We don’t have a great track record with finals that take place half a day from our morning game. And that bit of wisdom still holds true. Especially because most of our team also stayed pretty late at the River Cats baseball game the night before. The wheels came off and we lost the final by a number we’ve conveniently forgotten. Nate did score our only goal and it was a beauty. We took second place and the Mustangs were thrilled with their first tournament placement and shiny silver medals. The boys gave the moms pink and salmon dyed carnations for Mother’s Day.
On Saturday morning as Nate and I finished up breakfast at the hotel I asked him, “So Nate, are we going to make this our best tournament yet?” Of course referring to the quality of the soccer and how hard they’d play on the pitch.
And he answers, “I guess… maybe? I mean, there isn’t even a hot tub!”
This is the gold standard by which all tournaments are measured.