Soccer has been a fun pastime for me. When you watch soccer, some of the best memories/moments are celebrations. When someone scores a goal, you get some of the best celebrations. Whenever you score, you always get excited, and so that produces great celebrations. It just never gets old, whether you have scored the first goal of the season or the 12th. Even if you were to score 100 goals in your career, that celebration could be your best. Being somewhat slight in build and under five feet that year, I was fast, so I got to play forward, which allowed my last year to be my best.

The last year I played I scored 13 goals in eight conference games. I had a few impressive goals that season, but there was one in particular that was really good. At Twin Creeks Park, the luscious green grass had been lined, the goals put in place, and it looked like a real soccer field all for this game. The basketball courts and volleyball courts were nearby, but the focus couldn’t have been farther away from the courts. We had a huge game coming up, and we were pumped and focused. We had gone to Roseburg and lost 1-0 (which I didn’t get to go to), so there was revenge on the mine. The game was in the second half and I already had two goals, and there were 20 minutes left. Would I score a third and get a hat trick?

The ball was floating, and it flew like a bird to where I would be when the ball arrived. I could see the ball coming into perfect position for me to score the third goal, and it bounced just like a rubber bouncy ball right to where my feet were. I took one dribble to get the ball from my left foot to my right foot, which is my strong foot. It was going to be an easy shot from where I was on the field. Five seconds and one shot later, the ball was located past the goalie and in the back of the net. I still remember my thoughts. That’s three, that is three. We’re beating them 5-2, and they beat us just a month ago. My heart was racing just like I was running a half marathon. Well, I was running, but back to my teammates. I heard cheers coming loudly from the sideline. I had heard the phrase “The roar of the crowd,” and for a local soccer game, the applause and hollering was really quite loud.

“There’s the third,” a teammate commented.

“Yeah, and we’re beating them by three,” I responded. Everyone was congratulating me, but there’s one person I sought out, the teammate that passed me the ball.

“Great pass Nick; you couldn’t have put that pass in any better spot.” Nick was our left midfielder and had blonde hair and had a slight build like most of our teammates.

I was so excited for my first hat trick of the season (I would get another one in Klamath Falls). That hat trick didn’t have quite the same excitement, kind of like on a 15th birthday. You’re happy to be 15, but you’re even more excited to get a permit. I was excited to have a second hat trick, but this one just felt so much sweeter.