“We believe BC will win!” This chant erupted as the game at Uihlein commenced with a deafening blow from the referee’s whistle. The ball moved back and forth between opposing players, the tension palpable among the students on the bleachers. Under controversial circumstances, Elkhorn scored the first goal of the game. The Central goalie, Colin Szymborski (‘20), was leveled by an Elkhorn player and seemingly sustained an injury to the head and neck area.

An uproar of anger from the BC students emerged as the medic and Coach Makal rush to help Szymborski. The medical team placed him on the stretcher and rushed Szymborski to the hospital. Coach Daniel Mackal shared the details of the situation, “Everyone kinda thought that he had like a really bad neck injury […] all the team didn’t really know what happened until he showed up to the team dinner after.” Coach Mackal stated that he was really tense and worried about Szymborski as the game continued but would later laugh about how Szymborski arrived at the team dinner that same night.

The crowd grew louder when they realized the referees decided against giving a penalty to Elkhorn for the goalie’s injury, hence allowing the goal. The explanation for this ruling was since the goalie received the injury while the goal was scored, it did not count as unnecessary roughness.

The second half of the game began with supporting students chanting in unison louder than ever before. “Let’s go, Lancers!” With time winding down, both teams could feel an increased sense of urgency as the game became noticeably more physical. Finally, in the 74th minute, Marcelo Garay (‘20) scored the tying goal for the Lancers. The students from BC erupted as the BC boys continued their amazing comeback. Nonetheless, with the score tied and game coming to an end, the anxiety permeated the atmosphere among both players and students, knowing there could only be one victor.

The stands grew quiet as BC earns a free kick. Then, the intense atmosphere soon turned to pure excitement as the ball launched in was headed for a game-winning goal by Central. The game ended with Brookfield Central’s victory over Elkhorn in the semifinal game, earning a spot against Brookfield East in the Division II Championship, where they would eventually become victorious through penalty kicks.