In a game as tight as the Adult Super Soccer final was on Saturday, it was fitting it would be decided on the final play of the game.
James McCarthy/NNSL photo
Russell Kobby of Yk Galaxy B scored the winner just moments before the final whistle to give his team a 4-3 win over Yk Galaxy A. Kobby managed to win a race for the ball against the Yk Galaxy A goalkeeper and slot the ball into the empty net.
Up to that point, it was a back-and-forth affair with both teams not giving an inch of space. Yk Galaxy A held down a 2-1 lead at halftime before Yk Galaxy B came back to tie the game early in the second half. Yk Galaxy A took back the lead only to see it disappear again on a deflection shot that fooled the Yk Galaxy A goalkeeper.
Then came the heroics.
With the game in stoppage time, the ball was cleared down the floor into a no-man's-land situation. Kobby gave chase while the goalkeeper came out to challenge. Kobby tapped the ball ahead, settled it down and deposited it into the net. The excitement was obvious as Kobby did a cartwheel and a flip afterward.
Mackenzie Hotte-Joyce, Yk Galaxy B's goalkeeper, had the best seat in the house at the other end of the pitch and said it was a great way to end an exciting game.
“That's the best finish I've seen in this tournament,” he said. “You can't ask for better than that.”
Hotte-Joyce almost didn't finish the game as he was felled late in the game courtesy of a free kick off the foot of Yk Galaxy A's Jonas Jochimsen. Jochimsen had a direct shot on goal and drilled it right at Hotte-Joyce, knocking him backward into his net and down for several seconds.
The shot hit Hotte-Joyce in the hand, but he managed to finish the game though still in visible discomfort after the game.
“It's fine,” he said. “I didn't think he was going to kick it that hard at me. I thought he was going to pass it off, but he drilled it.”
The game got heated in spots, as some championship games tend to do, but tempers managed to stay at a reduced level.
Hotte-Joyce said that's going to happen with the two best teams battling it out.
“Everyone wants to win and that happens sometimes,” he said.