Our State Cup championship celebration continued tonight with an awesome evening at the Home Depot Center. Our team got to be the honorary "Ball Kids" for tonight's LA Galaxy home opener against Real Salt Lake!
I have been working with Patrick, the Galaxy Youth Director, all week to coordinate and we all met outside the gates at 6:00 to get our team instructions.
Each of the girls was given a very bright "Ball Kid" shirt to wear for the game so they would be very visible on the field.
All of the girls in a pre-game photo with Patrick!
Isabelle, Jenna, Delaney, Madison and Taylor
Taylor, Lauren, Uzzi, Maylie, Bella and Jessica
Patrick introduced us to David, who gave the girls their field assignments and took them down to the field.
The girls got a few photo opportunities while the team warmed up. Taylor texted me, "OMG! This is so awesome!" They got to watch the players come in and out of the tunnel and throughout their entire time on the field.
David shared lots of trivia with the girls. Taylor thought it was pretty cool that the Galaxy gets to play with silver soccer balls because they won the championship last season.
I would have much rather been down on the field with the girls, but we had some pretty good seats too!
GAME TIME!
The crowd went wild every time David Beckham had a corner kick and Taylor was so excited when she got to throw him the ball when it went out of bounds! The girls were each placed in a different spot on the field, but I think they all got at least a little action.
Beckham living up for a free kick...
and Landon Donavon on one of his many runs. He is so fast!The Galaxy had at least 10 opportunities for goals and finally put one in in the 74th minute. The crowd went crazy, but it was short lived when our own defender scored for the other team just a minute or two later. That was the beginning of the end, as Real Salt Lake scored two more times in the last 10 minutes. The game ended 3-1, but it was great night. We saw amazing speed and footwork from Donovan, great blocks by the keepers, beautiful corner kicks from Beckham and even an awesome bicycle kick!
However, nothing can compare to the experience the girls had down on the field. They were all so excited when we picked them up and are so grateful to the Hawks and the Galaxy for making it happen!
