Is Easter Here yet?

Weekend was eventful and ended at the church which is where the above picture was taken. More about that later.

Joseph has been helping out a friend's soccer team by playing in a competitive tournament with them. The games started Saturday and ended today with the best teams continuing into the next round. Although the team played well it wasn't good enough to go on. Since these games were in Lancaster (1 hour, 20 minutes away) with future games even further away, we were okay with the outcome. It was good to see him play at the club level again. Since he took a break from the high octane variety of soccer he has taken on the role of hired gun. He was recruited to help an AYSO team last spring and had fun with that. Later he started on the Frosh/Soph soccer team at his high school which took first place in their league. In the process of winning the Bay League title the team went undefeated with only one tie.

Joseph's participation in the tournament left us with a dilemna. Vincent's school team made it to the semi's of the CYO tournament. The event is a big deal for the school and Joseph decided for us that we needed to support Vincent. So for the first time for us we sent Joseph to a game with "strangers" and did not support his play. We were proud of his mature outlook and spent the day in nearby Bellflower instead of Lancaster. Vincent's team surprised us all.



They won the semi-finals in a tightly contested match. A little background about the tournament. CYO- Catholic Youth Organization- sponsors sporting events in which teams representing catholic middle schools. The teams are comprised of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. As you can imagine the teams with mostly 8th graders tend to do best. Joseph's 8th grade won it all after losing in the Finals a year earlier when the team was largely a 7th grade team. The experience set them up for an easy dash to the a successful championship run. This year Vincent's team is a 7th grade one.

The first half ended with the score tied at 0-0. The second half was more of the same until Vincent deftly kicked one over the goalie's head which seemed to spark the team to life. The opposing team was bigger and had more members who owned razors, ie, a skilled 8th grade team. Despite the size disadvantage we won on skill and smarts. In the finals the other team was even bigger but not as skilled. However, the game ended in a scoreless tie. We went through the whole tournmaent by shutting everyone out. Not scoring in the finals was a first for us though and it was left in the hands of the PK demons. AARGH! Penalty Kicks! Vincent opted out of taking one but it was dramatic and came down to the final kick which we blocked. After the closing ceremonies the team headed down to In-and-Out Burger to celebrate.




With the team perked up another scoring opportunity was cashed in again for us shortly thereafter. With the inspired win against a m