The blood rushing through my veins. My heart feeling like it’s going to beat out of my chest. It could be the last game of the season, as most of us thought it was. We were playing Summit. Everyone knew who Summit was. They were ranked number one in the state and number fourteen in the country. Summit was the hierarchy of boys lacrosse in the Tri-State area. Not only was it possibly the last game of the season, it was the State Playoff Semifinal game. I was a freshmen who started every varsity game and this was by far the biggest game of the season, but most of all, my life. Before I had left for the game, I made sure I put on my green and white bracelet. I wore this bracelet every game that season. Everyone counted us out the entire year. No one thought that we were going to be successful with the amount of underclassmen on our team, which was seven. The screeching of the bus’ brakes pierced our ears as we arrived at the field. Walking onto the blazing turf felt like walking into an inferno. We could hear the tapping of cleats walking down the cement. Right then, we knew what we were in for. An army of gold and maroon sprinted down the hill. My heart dropped into my stomach. I wanted this game to be over and done with. I have never been more scared or nervous for an event in my life. I could sense the feeling of hopelessness from my team. Our warm ups weren’t the best and even some of my teammates were making it a joke. I didn’t like that, but on some levels I felt the same way. As a team, we had no experience of playing a team this well-rounded. The referee blew his whistle. Now it really sunk in, we were going to lose.

As I walked onto the field, I could see the heat wave hovering over the ground. I felt the movement of a giant coming towards me. It was the defender covering me. He was massive. Here we go. Our season is over, so we thought. The game started and they won the faceoff. They turned it over and we managed to get it down the field and score the first goal of the game. From that point on, there was no way we were going to lose, I thought to myself. They answered with a goal, but then so did I. It was two to two at the end of the first quarter. To start off the second quarter, my teammate Andrew assisted me and now we had the lead. We added one more goal in and they added two to tie the score at four to four going into the second half. My feelings of doubt heading into the game had come and gone. We no longer thought that we were going to lose. In fact, we were determined to win more than anything.

Before the second half started, I made sure my bracelet didn’t break and that it was still on. I gazed over the bleachers to see them filled with parents and friends, but no reporters. None of them had come to this game because it was almost a certain win for Summit. Now, that had changed. They scored two goals to make it six to four during the third quarter. This did not phase us. The fourth quarter was no different. Halfway through, I scored to make it six to five. I was getting nervous. The thought of working so hard and fighting so hard and not winning haunted over me. Time was running out as we could not generate any offense.

“Was this it? Was this really how it was going to end? I thought to myself. Then, with a sudden burst of hope, Vinny picked up the ball and sprinted the entire field and assisted Andrew to tie the game. The feeling of relief was overwhelming.

The first overtime was dead even. No one could score. During the second overtime, our goalie had made many saves that kept us in the game. With a minute left to play in the second overtime, Jack Landel had snuck behind his defender’s helmet in the middle of the field. Andrew had the presence of mind to keep his head up and find Jack. It seemed as if everything was in slow motion. The world had stopped spinning for a second like the bay on a tranquil day. Everything felt so calm. Jack caught it, turned around and shot a mediocre bounce shot to the top left corner. That was it. The worrying was over. A sudden rush of shock and joy hit me like a tsunami. All of the hard work and determination was finally displayed through the impossible. We were going to play in the State Sectional Championship. As the huge green wave of our team rushed toward Jack to celebrate, I looked at my wrist to see if my green and white bracelet didn’t break. It didn’t.
“We did it!” Andrew yelled to me. We shocked the lacrosse world.