3 in a row…That’s what you call a streak! Saturday night it was go-time as we faced off against Trieste. Our last game before the winter break and a chance to stay at top of the leader board. I remembered my shirt this time and was able to participate in the pre-game introductions. It is a pretty cool experience standing up there, I felt like a mercenary about to go to battle. I had my teams gear on, my “mean face”, and I was ready to do work.
I got my second consecutive start as I matched up with their left-handed center. The game was back and forth the whole first quarter until our captain/coach snipered an end of shot-clock bomb from about 12 meters. I was pretty impressed but even more excited to finally get a stoppage in play. I finished out the rest of the first quarter trying to front their center as much as possible and calling an “M” zone when I felt myself losing position. Collectively we played strong defense but couldn’t get the ball rolling offensively. At the end of the first period of play the score was tied 1-1.
In the second our attack seemed much stronger but we just couldn’t pull away from them. We earned numerous man-advantage situations but we were unable convert. We were definitely dictating the game but the scoreboard wasn’t showing it. It wasn’t until the third till our ball really started finding the back of the net. We continued our momentum through the 4th and finished with a 9 to 6 victory. No goals from their center and he only got me excluded once (towards the end of the 4th , I believe it was a scoreboard kick out but they didn’t score on it anyways).
After the match everyone was in great spirits! We headed to the upstairs part of the restaurant where it was roped off for our dinner function with Errestampa. It wasn’t as much a dinner as it was wine and hors d’oeuvres. We all grabbed a glass of red and had a big cheers ( or chin chin). As I’ve said before; good wine, bad wine, I can’t tell the difference. I do know that when you win, whatever it is always tastes a little better. I continued to float around from table to table trying all the different types of sliced meats, fish, sausages, crackers, lasagnas and of course CHEESES! There must have been at least 10 different types and I made sure I tried all of them at least 4 times. That’s a lot of cheese.
The party was great as I was introduced to a lot of the people from the company who wanted to meet the American player. I even talked with the head of Errestampa and his wife for a while. They are a very nice couple and the husband spoke very strong English. They were curious as to how I was enjoying Italy, why I choose Bergamo, what I thought of the water polo and team, and of course how I felt about the snow and temperature (-9c last night burrrrr).
When the gathering started dying down I dropped downstairs to grab a beer and shoot the S#%* with Sergio (our acting coach and restaurant owner). I always look forward to these chats as they usually lead to him showing me a new type of food. I want my mom to know how good of care he and the rest of the team have been taking care of me. I am definitely not going to go hungry under their watch!
-Bus #10
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