Soccer Season...

So, I've neglected my blog long enough, it's time to get back into the swing of things and start attempting to find some decent photos again, and try and get back on pace. Here I am nearly a month behind again. I shot the championship match of the West Texas Invitational Soccer Tournament. Cooper was playing Granbury. It is kind of crazy the difference a year makes. Last year Cooper was horrible and only won a handful of games all year. This year they open the season winning all four games in the local tournament and didn't look too bad in the process. They ended up taking Granbury to a penalty kick shootout.Well, at least it made for a few nice photos.

Working on my Day Off, Game 2...

The second game I was shooting was after Cooper's game. It was nice that I had time to edit and send my photos from game one and take my time getting them sent, then have a little time to relax before the next game. I was told the game between Midland High and Arlington Martin was going to be a dogfight, and boy was it. The first half was kind of uneventful, both teams were playing good defense but the intensity level just wasn't as high as I was expecting.

In the second half things changed a lot. Especially as the clock was winding down. Both teams had chances for goals, Martin had one that hit the top crossbar and went straight down before Midland could clear it away, but no goal was scored. After the full 80 minutes there was no score and we were going to overtime. During the first overtime, there was again no score. In the final overtime, I was hoping for one team to score, I didn't have time for a shootout, plus that's never a great way for a team to win the game, it's better decided on the field. Well, with about three minutes left Midland finally got the ball down the field with a player going one on one with the keeper. Martin's keeper got a hand on the ball but couldn't hold on to it and the Midland forward was able to just tap the ball in the goal. After that Martin really turned up the pressure but Midland was able to keep clearing the ball down the field and kill the clock. For a game that had no scoring for the first 97 minutes it turned out to be a really nice game.

Working on my Day Off, Game 1...

Mondays are usually my day off, but when I get a call to do freelance work, I'm always happy to take it. So last week when I got a call from a friend in Midland to shoot a playoff soccer game in Abilene I was happy to do so. Then later in the week, I got another call to shoot a second game, nice. So, in game 1 was Midland Lee playing Arlington Sam Houston. I hadn't really shot a whole lot of soccer this year and I think this was only the second boys game I'd shot this year.

So, for most of the first half I was just trying to get my timing down. I made a couple of decent shots but missed a few too. In the second half I went and shot from my familiar spot in the stands. I really enjoy shooting soccer much, much more from up high. The backgrounds are so much cleaner and I just get a better view of the action from up there. And the higher vantage point helped out I got a few more shots that I liked, including one of a guy getting the ball kicked into his head. Lee ended up losing the game 2-0 despite keeping it close before allowing a late goal. Game 1 down, now it was time to go to the press box to send and wait for the next one to start.

Getting a Kick Outta Soccer...

After having followed Hardin-Simmons team through the NCAA tournament to the school's first-ever team national championship, I was kind of looking forward to shooting a little more soccer this year. But, other than a scrimmage game and another half-game I shot in January I hadn't gotten too much until now. But, with the crosstown game coming up I had two games back-to-back. Well, I quickly realized what I didn't like about high school soccer, especially when the two local teams are having a down year!

The game was really slow, and all through regulation there was no scoring. Ugh, I hate games like this. However, the good thing about no score, or just any tie in general, is that the games go to a shootout, and since this was the crosstown game, it would mean there would be no shortage of emotion after one of the teams pulled out the win.

For the boys game, I had other assignments that needed to be done, so I wasn't going to be able to stay the whole game. Luckily, less than a minute into the game Abilene High made a quick score and there was a lot more action in the game, or at least a lot more contact on the side of the field that I was. So, missing the end of the game wasn't as bad as it would have been to miss the girls game, plus the boys didn't go to a shootout either.