Nathan's Soccer Season

Nathan just loves his fall soccer team, the Night Wolves. He and his best friend Drew have played 3 seasons with this team. When we first signed them up, we had no idea what team we would get on. We just wanted the boys to be together. We completely lucked out! The coach and his family are so positive and caring. And even though none of the boys knew each other from school (except Nathan and Drew), they just clicked! They have become really good too and have made it to the playoffs the last two times. Last year they were 2nd place. This year the playoffs were when Charlotte and I were in Springfield. The first game of the playoffs went into 2 overtimes and then came down to penalty kicks. Wayne was texting me updates while we were at Silver Dollar City. Nathan was goalie because he is the best. He dives for the balls and can kick it all the way to the other side of the field. It really is amazing to watch how amazing he is. And I love hearing everyone around us make comments about what a great kick that was or they can't believe he blocked that goal. So Wayne said when it came to the penalty kicks, he was nervous for him. He had never done this before. Each team got five chances to score a goal. Nathan's team scored 2 but  now it was time for Nathan to try to block the other teams five goals. Wayne said it looked so intimidating to see just Nathan in the net and a line of 5 players waiting to try to score on him. And all they needed was 3 goals to win. Well Nathan blocked all except 1! Wayne said they were all cheering for him and that he was pretty much the hero of the game. So now they play in the final game the next day.  As I'm driving home from Springfield, Wayne is filling me in. They were up 2-0 with 10 minutes left in the game. Everyone was excited and feeling good. Nathan was goalie the first half and did an amazing job not letting anyone score. Usually the 2nd half is when Nathan switches to actually playing offense, but his coach asked him to stay in as goalie the 2nd half as well. Since he's the best, he said sure and was happy to do it. Once I got into town, Wayne texted that there was 2 minutes left and still 2-0 us. We were going to win! Then he called me and said somehow the other team scored 3 goals at the very end. I just wanted to cry for Nathan and was so glad I wasn't there because I would have been heartbroken for him. Wayne said when the 3rd goal was scored, Nathan just hung his head. The game was over and they lost the championship for the 2nd time, and Nathan felt like it was his fault. It was really hard for him for a while after that. He said he kept replaying the game and just couldn't understand how he missed the goals. We reassured him that his team would not have gotten this far or even had a chance to win the championship if it hadn't been for him. He just loves his team and felt so guilty. But I loved that the coach and all the boys went over to hug him and no one blamed him. He can't wait for payback this next season!