Smelly Albuquerque
Jose Donnadieu
I have been two times in Albuquerque and both times were big bad moments of my life. The simple smell of arriving to the city makes me remember my losses. It all started my sophomore year, we had almost the perfect season that year; we won games NMMI had never win and the team was near to unstoppable. We were headed on top of everyone at the seeding and we had a by-game, so we walked out straight to quarterfinals. That game was though. We underestimated our rivals, but we still got the dub with an overtime goal that passed us to the first ever semifinals. Sandia Prep was our next stop, they will have their appearance later, that was the most cardiac game I have ever played. The score after the last whistle was 0-0. To be honest, they were killing us, but our defense was better than their offense; we played two overtimes and then that penalty shootout. That shootout was probably the longest ever during a state semifinal, we had one more player led until each of us could shoot again but our keeper saved that last penalty that leaded us to the State Final. On that Thursday, there was only one team on the field, and it was us, we were threatening their goal for the whole game and after the first eighty minutes the score was still even. We were all expecting to score during the first overtime, but we lasted four of them scoreless. The dream was there but a sad loss by penalty shootouts was what we got.
This year the team did not look as unbeatable as that team, but we played really good together. I believe we had better chemistry than that team, it was a solid group all around. We lost two of our first games, but we still managed to pull a season out that had most of us proud of what we achieved. Eventually, we lost another two games, the hope of winning that blue trophy was still there. We got an unexpected number three seed. We played our first game at the school winning it with ease against the team the beat us on that same final two years ago. Our next game was one of the hardest games we ever played but also our best game. We won with an also unexpected 2-0 against probably the best team in our division elevating our hopes of winning that title. Every coach and player on our team was living the moment except for one that made us feel empty, one of our most important players was injured and ruled out of our second State Final. The hopes were not the same, but we knew we could get the blue one with no worries, but the ending was different than expected. The team was locked up all the game. There was no creativity on the field only one team was playing, that was Sandia Prep. We lost another final.
The feelings of that losses created a smell on that city that any other has. There is no way that being there will not remind me about those games and hose lost hopes.
This year the team did not look as unbeatable as that team, but we played really good together. I believe we had better chemistry than that team, it was a solid group all around. We lost two of our first games, but we still managed to pull a season out that had most of us proud of what we achieved. Eventually, we lost another two games, the hope of winning that blue trophy was still there. We got an unexpected number three seed. We played our first game at the school winning it with ease against the team the beat us on that same final two years ago. Our next game was one of the hardest games we ever played but also our best game. We won with an also unexpected 2-0 against probably the best team in our division elevating our hopes of winning that title. Every coach and player on our team was living the moment except for one that made us feel empty, one of our most important players was injured and ruled out of our second State Final. The hopes were not the same, but we knew we could get the blue one with no worries, but the ending was different than expected. The team was locked up all the game. There was no creativity on the field only one team was playing, that was Sandia Prep. We lost another final.
The feelings of that losses created a smell on that city that any other has. There is no way that being there will not remind me about those games and hose lost hopes.
Hola!