Big O's Have Successful Outdoor Soccer Season

WILLIAMSBURG, Nov. 21 - The Big O's completed their outdoor soccer season with a record of 4-1-1. This was the team's most successful outdoor soccer season ever. With a regular season record of 3-0-1, the Big O's earned their first berth in the Co-Rec A playoff bracket.

The Big O's season started with a forfeit win over CCM. They used the opportunity to scrimmage against the few members of the opposing team that did show up and practice for the following week's game against HCO/FASA. The second game of the season was held three days before Halloween, so Big O's fans David Bryan, Jim Deverick, and Robert Painter brought pumpkins carved with "P = NP" and "O(n)" to support their favorite team. The pumpkins must have brought the Big O's luck because they won 5-0. Goals were scored by Marcia Bryan, Filip Blagojevic (2), Richard Dutton, and Chris Leonetti.

Riding the momentum of their victory, the Big O's next faced Soccer Team. The Big O's were heavily out-numbered as they only had one sub, and Soccer Team had at least one sub for every field player. Despite this disadvantage, the Big O's held the game at a scoreless tie thanks to some amazing saves in goal by captain Adam Schwartz.

In the final week of the regular season, the Big O's took on the Sharks in a cold, late night game. The team pulled out an exciting 5-2 victory to give them an undefeated regular season. Blagojevic had two goals in the first half, and Carolyn Lynch scored off of a corner kick by Dutton. The Sharks scored two quick goals at the start of the second half, but the Big O's rallied back with two more goals from Blagojevic.

Their 3-0-1 record seeded the team in the Co-Rec A playoff bracket with the other top performing intramural teams. The Big O's opponent in the first round of the playoffs was Choir Athletics, who did not have enough girls to field a full team of nine. Intramural rules state that a team needs a minimum of seven players and can only have one more man on the field than women. Choir Athletics had six men and three women, so they would only be allowed to play four of their men. After consulting with his players, the Big O's captain allowed Choir Athletics to field five men and three women. The game went scoreless through two halves and one five minute sudden-death over-time period thanks to a strong defense that repelled attack after attack. The game was forced into a series of five penalty kicks for each team. Blagojevic scored for the Big O's, followed immediately by the other team scoring, but Dutton connected with his penalty kick, keeping the pressure on the opponents. That pressure was obviously felt as only two of their five penalty kicks wereon target, and the Big O's went on to win 2-1, advancing to the quarter finals.

In their second playoff game, the Big O's fell to RRAAAARRR, 2-1. Despite being knocked out of the playoffs early, the team was proud of their overall performance this season. Captain Adam Schwartz commended the Big O's for their undefeated regular season and impressive stint in the strongest playoff bracket. "What impressed me most about our team is that our heart and effort gave us the edge every game," Schwartz said. "The teams we played may have had some extremely strong players, but we pushed harder as a whole than they ever could."