Language Systems held its annual Soccer Tournament on Friday, May 24 at the beautiful Glendale Sports Complex. It was a perfect day for soccer, not too hot and a little cool.
There were plenty of snacks and juice available for fans while each team warmed up on the field waiting for the tournament to begin. Some schools’ fans brought pom poms to cheer their teams on and others brought balloons and loud cheers! There were two fields and each school’s team played two games. In the first round of games, it was DTLA vs NELA and OC vs SBLA. All the teams played well, but after the first round, the defending champions from last year, DTLA, advanced to play OC in the 2nd game for the championship.
After the first game and during the 15-minute break, there was an all-female soccer match where the players were able to show off some serious girl power and skills while having a lot of fun at the same time! It was an exciting game as the fans stood on the sidelines cheering their friends on. No one really remembers who won, but in the end, all the players posed with the trophy for photos!
In the championship game, DTLA and OC played with a lot of energy and passion. By the end of the first half, neither team had scored a goal and the fans were getting nervous. Finally, later in the second half, OC scored a goal to make it 1-0. As the end of the game came closer, each team struggled fiercely to come out on top. After some heated confrontations between the players of each team and with 6 minutes to go in the game, the referee ended the game and designated OC the winner since they were ahead by 1 at the time. This disappointed a lot of the players, but after everyone had cooled down, the players shook hands and made up. After the tournament finished, the fans and teams hung out together, talking and eating pizza.
It’s awesome that the teams were so passionate about winning, but the ultimate goal of this soccer tournament is for the students to get together and just have fun playing a sport beloved all over the world!
