The U9 of the Dutch Lions played a tournament last weekend in Bradenton.
The U9 Dutch Lions participated in the Thanksgiving cup last weekend in Bradenton. The first game was against the Naples Lions, and already being rivals in the league made it an even more exciting game with multiple goals scored on both sides. The Dutch Lions were losing the game 5 minutes before the final whistle, but they managed to score two more goals in the last 5 minutes to tie it up 5-5. They stayed on their morning high to offer in the second game of the day their best performance thus far this season. All aspects of the game we practiced so hard came together and almost every shot on goal became a goal. On the other side of the field, Drew made many great saves to keep to the final score 9-1. The last game of the pool was against Lehigh Lightning. The Dutch Lions had to win this game to go to the finals. There were some ups and downs but the Dutch Lions battled until the end to finally win the game 6-5. The final game kicked off against the home team which we easily beat the day before, but this was a completely different battle with a greater prize. There were multiple changes on both sides to take the game away, but after two halves of playing the score remained 2-2 so only penalty kicks could decide the faith of this final game. After 16 penalty kicks overall, it was Strictly Soccer Select who pulled off the winning penalty shootout. The loss was not easy to swallow, but the boys played amazing soccer and must keep building up from the great performance they gave all weekend.