Sloan Soccer takes bronze in Texas
Lawrence Walmsley
Issue date: 3/8/05 Section: Student Life
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Saturday
The bracket tournament assigned four teams to each bracket with the winner of each bracket plus the top three second-placed teams moving into the quarter-finals on Sunday. Team Sloan arrived on the field at 8:30 am, in preparation for a 10 am game against Kellogg. Before leaving for Texas, the Sloan team had organized practice sessions at the Z-Center indoor field, but had not practiced as a team for very long.
Stepping onto the field for the first game, the team did not know what to expect from Kellogg or from themselves in their first tournament match-up. Moreover, the Sloanies had brought the weather from Boston with them- it was raining all day in Texas and the field was slick.
The game started slowly, with both sides cautiously moving the ball up. The game was broken open by a Sloan goal which went unanswered for the rest of the match. This first goal of the tournament was an auspicious start. The team went on to win all three bracket games on Saturday: vs. Kellogg (1-0), vs. Wharton (2-1), and vs. Vanderbilt (2-0).
Team Sloan left the field at 5 pm that day, very tired but also excited for the next day. While the tournament organizers tallied up the scores and teams awaited announcement of their match-ups for the second day, the Sloanies took advantage of the reprieve as an opportunity to partake in Austin's nightlife on 4th and 6th streets.
Sunday
A very sleep-deprived MIT team showed up at 8 am to play a quarter-final game against the Kellogg Alumni team. The Kellogg Alumni were a well-oiled machine and owned the start of the game. The Sloan defense, however, controlled the alumni long enough for the offense to counter with two rapid goals to send Team Sloan to a 2-1 victory. Against all expectations, the Sloan underdogs were through to the Semi-finals.
The semi-final game was played at 1 pm against Harvard Business School's Alumni team, the winner of which would take on the winner of the HBS vs. Thunderbird semi-final game.
The HBS Alumni team had played together for a number of years and was known to be a formidable opponent. The game was very close, and with tired bodies, it was a rather rough game. In the 40th minute of the first half, Sergio Marulando '06 controlled a cross into the penalty area and put the ball into the top corner of the goal, sending team Sloan up 1-0 at half time. Team Sloan came out of the half controlling the ball. Alas, a few minutes into the half, the HBS Alumni capitalized on a penalty kick to equalize. After two overtime periods the score remained 1-1 and Team Sloan was defeated in penalty kicks. This was a most unfortunate way to end such a great run for the upstart Sloan team.
Exhausted by the five straight games, the team had to face the Thunderbird team-who had lost their game to HBS-in a match for 3rd place. That game ended 1-1 and, as agreed prior to the game, went to a coin toss. With luck shining on the boys from Cambridge, Team Sloan won the toss and brought home a bronze cup from Texas.