The Lady Hawks went against Nations, which won against PASB after penalties the day prior, for the ISSL 2023 soccer finals. The podium-worthy match happened immediately after EABH’s victory in men’s volleyball against OLM, and the girls were excited to get their gold, too. Both EABH and Nations filled the stands with their chants, and other schools such as EAR even showed their support for the Hawks throughout the match.
The first half of the game looked exactly like the Semi-Finals against British Barra. In the first few minutes, one of Nation’s athletes fell during a play, suffering a grave injury to the knee. Once again, an ambulance had to take the player off the pitch for the match to continue, which took several precious minutes. Fortunately for EABH, it was a clean play, and no one was fouled. While the Lady Hawks had lots of attacking opportunities after this event, halftime came without any scoring.
In the second half of the match, we were hungry for goals, as the Lady Hawks did not want the final to be decided through penalty kicks. Oddly enough, Nations seemed to want a tie since their athletes were stalling the game time and time again with simulations. Thankfully, those weren’t enough to stop EABH: Laura Calixto (22) scored one of the prettiest goals of the championship with a kick outside the box in the top right corner. With a few minutes left, things were looking good for the girls.
The tables, however, would turn. Nations managed to score after a rebound in the final minutes, bringing the scoreboard to a symmetrical 1 - 1. EABH wouldn’t manage to untie the match, bringing the final to penalties.
EABH started the penalty kicks, missing the first one. Nations wouldn’t miss a single one to the desolation of the girls. In the end, the Lady Hawks would frustratingly earn the silver again. Most of the people on the scene confessed that EABH played a prettier match, and deserved the gold we’ve been yearning for. Nevertheless, soccer can be unpredictable, and penalty kicks are far from an accurate display of a team’s skills. If anything, the Lady Hawks had a great run in this tournament and will hopefully have an even better one at the Nationals at EARJ next month.