On the night of November 1, the Varsity Eagles boy’s soccer team found themselves in the playoffs again. The team was used to hearing the word “again”. History wasn’t on the Eagles side either as they haven’t been able to break the so called “curse” of not making it past the first round of playoffs. But the team rallied this year and put up one of the best regular season records in the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference and the history of North Point boy’s soccer, finishing the season with only one loss and a tie.
With the team playing so well, they were confident enough to say they were going to win and get past the first round of the playoffs, which they haven’t been able to do in previous years. As the night got young and the sky got darker, it was game time. Every look on each players face during the national anthem was nothing less than serious.
The referee blew his whistle for the start of the game and the Eagles came out with a bang. Within four minutes the deadlock had been broken but due to an offside’s call by the referee the goal was called back. The Eagles were very relaxed and maintaining possession of the ball. Fans were up and out of their seats, chanting and shouting when referees made bad calls, or when nice plays were made individually and team wise. But soon the crowd was silenced as Chesapeake scored on North Point. Not one person on the team was discouraged or had their heads down; they knew their objective and were ready to take it by storm. After many shots and opportunities, especially from throw-ins by Dayon Greene (’12), the boys equalized and kept pressing for more. From that point until half the score didn’t change but the aggressive, hard play was increased to a whole different level.
Referees refreshed and prepared for the start of the second half, and the game went underway. Both teams found themselves looking for that one goal that would give them the opportunity to defend and defeat their opponents. With this came a lot of fouling and rough play which is typical for the North Point boys, who don’t shy away from the rough play. The referees eventually let things get out of hand and the contact on field seemed to be one of a tackle football game. Midfielder Bryce Fugitt(’12) was taking the hits in the middle of the field and was not receiving any calls from refs. Altercations occurred between players and coaches. The refs handled everything, but not without ejecting one North Point player and one Chesapeake player. Then the fans and the team went nuts as the Eagles took the lead off of a free kick by Fugitt as well as another header by Chris Mashinski (12’) (his second of the night.) The Eagles knew how important it was to hold the lead, because if they did they would find themselves in the second round of the playoffs. A couple of close calls in the last 10 minutes but the defense and goalie Dimitri Snowdy (12’) stopped them easily. As a result North Point came out on top and defeated their opponents by the score of two to one. Captain Peter Lee (12’) stated “It is finally nice to break the curse/”
The Eagle’s boys found themselves playing at Leonardtown High School on Friday, November 4th. This night was different from any other night because Fugitt, a team leader, was not in attendance due to his red card in their second round match-up against Chesapeake. Regardless, the boys kept their heads up and started the game off like normal. Leonardtown tried to use their aggressive play and home field advantage to scare North Point, but the Eagles weren’t fazed.
The first half was uneventful, as the Eagles were able to match Raiders play. The Eagle’s opponents were shocked as they went into half time with no team able to score. Then, as the second half went underway, trouble came to the Eagles. Just like Tuesday, the game started getting out of control, players from both teams were fouling, slide tackling, and playing very aggressive, with no penalties called by the referees. Eventually, cards were pulled and fouls were called, often adversely affecting the Eagles. Senior captain Peter Lee attempted a normal header and was called for a foul. This led to Leonardtown scoring on a free kick and beating the Eagles. This loss put North Point at 12-3-1 for the season, and two games short of the State Championship. However, this year’s Eagles were able to enjoy the feeling of success that no other North Point Soccer team has enjoyed. Even though they lost, this season was nothing short of magical for North Point soccer.
