Words: Giana Han
The Centennial boys’ soccer team played its final home game of the regular season on Oct. 14 against Reservoir.
At 37 minutes, one of Centennial’s senior captains, Heston Priestley, had to come out because of an injury. The rest of the half was uneventful, with a score of 0-0 at the end of the first 40 minutes.
The second half started with an assist from Ian Abee to Tommy Wang for the first score of the game. Eleven seconds later, Kevin Wilson, the Eagle’s goalie, went diving to play defense, leaving the goal undefended. Reservoir took advantage of this and tied the game.
Priestley was able to reenter the game, and, at 29 minutes, Priestley scored the second goal for the Eagles after an amazing assist from Wang. Two minutes later, however, Wilson was carded, and the Gators were given a penalty kick. They scored, tying the game at 2-2.
The Eagles were able to grab the lead again at 18 minutes, with Abee assisting Priestley for the third Eagle goal of the night. Within a minute, the Gators were able to tie up the game.
However, immediately after scoring the goal, Reservoir’s player was ejected for running off the field to high-five fans, bringing the number of Reservoir players down to 10.
The Eagles scored their fourth goal, but it was determined that it did not count since the clock ran out while the ball was on its way into the goal. An unfortunate comment from one of the players to the ref sent the Eagles into overtime down one player.
The first 10-minute overtime started out 10 v. 10, since each team was down a player. The Eagles scored the only goal, but it was taken away because of an offsides call. The game went into a second overtime, with another Centennial goal that did not count because of an offsides call.
The game ended after 100 minutes of play with a tie between Centennial and Reservoir at 3-3.
“We played our hearts out,” said Priestley. “I’m going to miss the excitement and anticipation leading up to every game.
Priestley ended the game with two goals, while Wang had one goal and one assist, Abee had two assists, and Wilson had nine saves.
“I was a little sad,” said Paul Watson, another senior. “It was probably one of the last times I’ll play on this field for Centennial.”
The team has twelve seniors this year. The twelve of them, along with the rest of the players, have come together into a tough team. “My favorite thing is the team spirit. It’s fun hanging out with the guys,” said Watson
“I love playing the game that I love with people I love,” said Priestley.
The twelve seniors on the team are Ian Abee, Jun Baek, Anthony Chiu, Max Dwyer, Andrew Gavlin, Chris Lee, Alex Lingg, Martin Lenweiter, Heston Priestley, Garrett Scheetz, Will Vea, and Paul Watson.
