by Ryan Kohlhof

It was a day of many mysteries, all of which were solved. Last Monday, May 9, Albia trekked north to face off against the PCM boys’ soccer team. Two evenly matched teams were to battle it out 11 versus 11 leaving no victor easy to choose. On the other hand, the weather was definitely iffy, so the varsity match was moved up before the JV in hopes of avoiding natural travesty brought by the weather. The end result: Albia won 2-1 in double overtime, and the weather was not that bad.
It was a rough ride for both teams the whole night, as neither could seem to put the ball in the goal. PCM’s boys got the first score when Colfax-Mingo sophomore Misha Seebeck kicked a corner kick and the Albia goalie went to bat it out but instead only helped the ball go in. Albia didn’t catch up until later in the game, when a similar event occur on the opposite side of the ball. An unlucky goalie block put the ball in the Mustangs’ goal, bringing the score to an even 1-1. The rest of the regular game consisted of both teams struggling to get through the others’ defense and take shots. As the timer struck zero, the score remained, and it was time for overtime.
Soccer overtime goes as follows: The referees, coaches and captains of each team meet again for another coin flip. The away team picks either heads or tails while the coin is in the air. This time, Albia’s captains chose wrong, and PCM’s captains, seniors Andres Vargas, Max Van Gorp and Ryan Kohlhof, got to initiate the next part of overtime. PCM chose to go with with the wind, so Albia got to start the first 10-minute session of overtime with the ball.
“I thought our team was excited to have the opportunity to play the overtime with Albia,” Head Coach Darrin Telfer said. “We seemed energized and ready to win it.”
Overtime rules state that the first to score wins. As there are only 10 minutes, both teams struggle to exert as much effort as they can to score first. However, neither team could score on the other once again, and before they could do anything, time was up. This sent them into double overtime. Double overtime is another 10-minute extension, but team sides flip, and the other team starts with the ball. If no one scores in double overtime, it goes into a player-versus-goalie shootout to decide the victor. That wasn’t needed this time, as there was a score. Unfortunately for the Mustangs, Albia got the score when in the last 1:30, an Albia player took a shot that bounced off the side of the goal and rolled to the opposite side of the goal, leaving an easy finish without the goalie able to respond in time. Emotions were running high, but it was over, and Albia had won.
“We did have a few chances in the first overtime in which we had the wind; we just didn’t capitalize on those opportunities,” Telfer said. “At the end of the first overtime, spirits were still up, as we knew we had shut them down to one goal in 90 minutes and could do it for another 10 and make it to a shootout. However, near the end, they got a good bounce off the post, and their player finished it with a goal to give them the win with under two minutes left.”