Futsal season has officially begun. We could not have asked for a more nail-biting and exhilarating first game. Men’s A league kicked off at 6 p.m. Monday Sept. 10 as Los Patrones hosted Tiger Princes in what proved to be a remarkable display of talent and athleticism.
The two teams met at half court, eager to win. A pregame prayer and a few handshakes later, the game was off. In the opening minutes of the first half, Tiger Princes set the tone with a spectacular save followed by two brilliant volley attempts that soared just inches away from the goal.
Four and a half minutes in, senior international business major Lucas Karpiuk was the first to put his team on the board with a laser shot from far out. But the Tiger Princes’ lead didn’t hold for long. Less than a minute later, Los Patrones’ freshman talent, Felipe Rocha, intercepted a pass and took it all by himself on the left side, dribbling past three defenders. The biochemistry major buried his shot top shelf. His Ronaldo-esque celebration was even more spectacular. For the rest of the half, this stalemate continued. Two more goals were scored, including a quick one-two from Richard Pena, freshman financial management major, to Kyler Stock, junior international business management major, moments before the buzzer went off.
In the end, it was the Tiger Princes who prevailed, with a close 7-6 victory.
Lucas Karpiuk was certainly pleased at his team’s performance, especially the passing. It would be hard to disagree with Karpiuk, who was involved in a number of flashy passes himself, some of which ended up in the back of the net.
He was also upfront about what needed fixing.
“We need to be better defending,” he said. “We need to put more heart into it.”
The loss didn’t get to Los Patrones’ head? When asked about his team’s mindset after the game, sophomore theology major Joslen Lache said, “You know, we’re a big family. […] We’re not going to get offended if one of us tells the other to fix something.”
One thing is for sure: if the first game is any indication of how the remainder of the season will play out, we are definitely in for a treat.