With two minutes remaining in regulation, senior Ryder Kimball recalls, “almost everyone had accepted that the game was over.” The score was 1-0 Riverdale and desperation filled the eyes of Fieldston’s seniors.
Junior Jesse Sobotka launched the ball into the box in an attempt to force a long rebound that another Eagle could clean up. A Riverdale defender failed to boot the ball out and junior forward Ben Gottschalk zoomed in to score, evening the game at one goal apiece. The Riverdale crowd went silent as Gottschalk proceeded to sprint across the field and slide headfirst past the faces of Falcon alumni as his teammates swarmed him. Riverdale’s players stood in disbelief; just a moment ago they had all but sealed a victory. “When I scored the tying goal, I just started running towards the sideline,” recounts Gottschalk. “The feeling was almost unexplainable.”
Although the game ended in a draw, it was an emotional victory for the Eagles, who were playing from behind for the majority of the game. However despite Gottschalk’s game-saving score, this game may be remembered most for the non-soccer related antics that took place. Fieldston’s and Riverdale’s players began talking trash early on in the contest and the intensity reached a boiling point in the second half when four players, two from each school, were handed red cards for fighting.
Junior Andrew Sofer and Senior Connor Stephens were the two Eagles to get ejected from the game. Sofer was red-carded for punching a Riverdale player, an act he was not afraid to speak his mind about after the game. “The only thing that I am going to say is that if any player on the other team tries to attack one of my teammates,” Sofer exclaimed, “I am not going to stand by and watch.”
Looking back at the epic homecoming showdown, Gottschalk says that the Eagles were “satisfied with a tie.” Adds Gottschalk, “Obviously you want to win every game, but given the circumstances we were in it was a good result for the team.”
Varsity Coach Seamus McDaid had a different opinion on his team’s 1-1 draw. “While Saturday was great in its intense, exciting nature, we should never be happy tying a game against a team we are better than,” he said.
Athletic Director Steve Bluth reflected on the excessively emotional intensity of the game. “Having spent most of that night dealing with [this situation], I would say that neither team represented its school appropriately,” said Bluth. He continued, “Hopefully both schools can learn from this game.”
Riverdale players refused to comment. A Riverdale parent who chose to remain anonymous said “it was really shameful for [Fieldston’s players] to ruin what was such a happy day for the students here.”
To all of the naysayers, Ben Gottschalk simply asks, “Would you rather score a huge goal in front of your entire school or score a goal in the last minute of the game that silences your biggest rival on their homecoming when their entire crowd hates you? I choose the latter.”
