SG Soccer: Chase, Dig, Fight

There is a scene in my favourite sports movie, Coach Carter, where Samuel L. Jackson’s character uses a timeout to tell each of his players exactly what they need to do if they are to have a chance to come back and beat #1-ranked St. Francis. When he gets to Junior Battle, who is matched up (and overmatched) against NBA prospect Ty Crane, he simply tells him, “And Junior, just keep holding on to that monster.”

 

That’s what it felt like trying to match up against the big, tough, talented BCS midfielders in this winner-take-all game. Like trying to hold onto a monster. Fifty-fifty balls were so tough to win, more like 80/20 balls. And of the 20% that we did somehow win, the Bears’ midfielders were so fast and strong that they could actually recover and turn our hard-won possession into yet another 50/50 ball! There was absolutely nothing easy for us. The entire midfield was a bloodbath. All we could do was chase the ball. And dig. And fight. And chase some more. And 80 minutes is a long time to chase.

 

But in the gutsiest, bravest game of the year, that’s exactly what we did. Chase. Dig. And fight.

 

Katie, Chichi, Flavie, and Hailey were warriors, battling for every inch of our home field, it didn’t matter if they lost the last battle or the battle before that – just a stubborn REFUSAL TO QUIT.

 

Zoe, Etsuho, and Co-Player Of The Game Julia withstood constant pressure all game long as our last line of defence. Julia in particular played the best game of her life, relentlessly racing speedy BCS forwards to the spot and clearing countless dangerous balls out of trouble.

 

The most potent duo in the ETIAC opened the scoring, against the flow of play, with a signature Hailey to Raf breakaway goal.

 

Late in the game, tied at one, Esperanza scored the Most Important Goal Of The Year with the coolest, calmest banner-winning finish you’ll ever see from just inside the 18-yard box.

 

And finally, Margot earns Co-Player Of The Game honours with a truly heroic performance in goal, coming waaayy off her line to snuff out through balls, communicating assertively with her defence, punting the ball a mile, confidently handling the long-range missiles hammered in by BCS (man, can they crack a ball), and making the Save Of The Game off a perfect BCS corner kick.

 

Sometimes you win a game because you’re better. Sometimes you win because you are luckier. But sometimes you win a game because you simply refused to give up. That’s how Stanstead College won the 2026 ETIAC regular season banner.

 

Anybody can succeed when the path is easy. True character is revealed when the road is hard.

 

Congratulations, Champs! Did you ever earn this one!   😊