Costra Rica Trip: Day 2, Friendly #1

Monday, Aug. 4

Written by senior midfielder, Mitchell White

The Simpson Men’s Soccer Team had a very exciting day two in Costa Rica. The day was highlighted by our first training session as well our first friendly match.

We started the morning off with a team breakfast in the hotel. Following that we departed for our training session. We were provided with a beautiful artificial turf field In the heart of San Jose. The conditions were perfect and the players were very eager to get their first touches of the 2014 campaign. It ended up being a very effective session that included possession play and a large sided scrimmage.

After the training session, we returned to the hotel to eat, clean up, and recharge for the match. Everybody was very anxious to compete in the first match since our loss in the semifinals of the conference tournament last November. The game was played in a gorgeous stadium with a potential occupancy of about 20,000.

We played against a very talented reserve team of one of the countries premier club teams.

The weather seemed reluctant to let us play as a band of storms rolled in, but the locals were not phased. They insisted that we still play the match. It took a couple minutes for us to adjust to the low pressure/possessive playing style of the Costa Rican’s, but we eventually found our comfort zone.

Marcus Varnum opened up the score sheet with a goal off the far post from about 12 yards out. Zach McEntee made some brilliant saves to send the game into halftime 1-0 in favor of the Storm. The Costa Rican club of Alajuela got two goals in the second half before Collin Hemann scored a highlight-reel goal with a volley from 25 yards out. The evenly matched game ended appropriately with a 2-2 draw. Alajuela voted Zach McEntee the MVP for the Storm. We were very satisfied with the quality of play by all the players.

The day concluded with a fun filled dinner at a traditional Costa Rican restaurant. We were treated with live music and fun team building activities. All and all it was a wonderful day. We look forward to participating in a community service project tomorrow and competing in our second match. Keep following along as we continue our international adventures.

Mitchell White

Roll Storm!