After two hard-fought halves, the score stood at 0 – 0. The season would now come down to penalty kicks.
The Tiburones Rojos (or “Red Sharks”) scored three goals. Club Peru scored two. If the Peruvians wanted a chance at victory, they needed to send the last kick past the goalie.
The Tiburones Rojos keeper was on his toes, hoping that he would guess correctly which direction the ball would go. If he guessed correctly, his team would leave with the cup.
The Club Peru striker knew he would either be the hero of the match, or the bear the brunt of the loss. The eyes of more than 200 members of New Haven’s Latino community were on them as the sun set on the autumn trees of East Rock in the distance.
The ball left the ground — and veered right of the goal by more than 10 feet. The striker collapsed to the ground, his teammates rushing to his side to comfort him. The Tiburones Rojos rushed to their goalie chanting “Arriba el portero!” or “Long live the goalie!”
Thus ended the fifth season of the Virgen del Cisne soccer league.
The league’s championship match took place Saturday at Rice Field. It was a celebratory occasion — and a cliffhanger.
The Tiburones, in red, was made up of primarily Mexican players and Club Peru, in white, comprised mostly Peruvian immigrants. The players ranged in age from 17 to 30. Most of the adult players hold jobs in the area in” construction, in the restaurant industry, and in other service industries”, said the league’s coordinator. The teams were evenly matched for the majority of the game; the goalies were truly the heroes.
“These goalies are impenetrable!” yelled a fan from the crowd after an incredible dive-save by the Tiburon goalkeeper in the second half.
The league’s season starts in early May and ends in October. Virgen de Cisne, the Ecuadorian community organization of Fair Haven, organizes the league, made up of more than 800 male players and 200 female players.
Nelida Hernandez, the coordinator of the program, has a big job.
“The players organize among themselves, and come to us and we coordinate the games and include them in the league. Usually with the children’s leagues, a father will decide to put himself in charge of a team, he’ll get his kids and some of their friends involved, they’ll buy uniforms, and become part of our league. But we have probably about 1,000 players in the female and male leagues combined now,” said Hernandez.
The league is free to join and Hernandez hopes more teams will organize themselves for next year’s season. Although she works without salary, she says it’s worth it for the impact it has on the community.
“The league is important because it encourages people to come together as a community. It also allows people to eliminate stress in their lives and encourages exercise and healthy habits. Especially for women, it encourages them to get out of the house, to eliminate stress, and meet new friends too.” said Hernandez.
The only hitch of the day was, as Hernandez lamented, “No hay parking!” as Hernandez lamented. The event was so well attended there was not a spot available in the six blocks surrounding the event.