It was a microcosm of the entire season - a meaningful game, a tough opponent, determined players, and a tale filled with action and suspense that had all the elements of a dramatic novel. Saturday's Syosset Invasion Girls U-11 travel soccer team game had it all and is a story worth telling.

Coming into the game, the main characters were the Invasion (4-1-2, 14 points) and the Hicksville Nightmare (3-1-3, 12 points). Both squads were among the four teams jockeying for position atop LIJSL Nassau Division 2. Their previous encounter resulted in Syosset's elimination from the Waldbaum's Cup, making Geise Park in Hicksville the setting of the storyline's major conflict.

Syosset played with a tenacity that forced most of the action into Hicksville's end of the field. Corner midfielders Kasey LeVerne and Denise Neuendorf advanced the ball well. Forward Samara Klafter continued her recent string of strong efforts by crossing the ball repeatedly into the goal box and forwards Lexi Garay and Jordan Feinerman applied pressure up front. What began as domination quickly turned into frustration as Syosset could not put the ball in the net. The plot thickened when forward Michelle Florin banged Syosset's best scoring opportunity off the crossbar and a Hicksville forward received a clearing pass on the subsequent play and sprinted off for a breakaway goal and a 1-0 lead. It became apparent as the first half ended that missed opportunities were putting the outcome of the game in jeopardy.

The story was much the same as Syosset continued to dominate ball possession in the second half. Right midfielder Laura Goldman took two outstanding shots, but the Hicksville goalie was equal to the task. Then, about half way through the second half, center midfielder Amanda Epstein received the ball at the top of the goalie box and fed a pass to forward Michelle Florin who shot the ball past the outstretched arms of the goalie to tie the score at 1-1.

Going almost unnoticed but not unappreciated was an outstanding performance by the defense. Stephanie Lucidi, Samantha Romano, Renee Kiviat, and Gabrielle Barbour did a superb job by constantly pushing up to the midfield line and trapping several high clearing shots in order to play them back into the offensive zone. On one occasion, Barbour ran down a player who was attempting a breakaway scoring opportunity. On another occasion, Romano steered a ball away from a Hicksville player towards the side line and booted it downfield as it hugged the line all the way. One minute, Lucidi stripped the ball from a Hicksville player and sent an accurate pass to a teammate. The next minute, Kiviat launched a shot just wide of the goal after the ball rebounded out from a blocked shot.

The climax of the drama was reached when a Syosset rush at the net resulted in a corner kick on the right side of the goal. Barbour took the corner and sent a strong rolling pass towards the eighteen right to Amanda Epstein. Epstein received the untouched pass cleanly and steered a one-touch shot to the left corner of the goal for the first perfectly executed corner kick of the season to give Syosset a 2-1 advantage.

Syosset held onto the lead and time expired, the ref stunningly said, "Play on." It turned out that stoppage time was added to make up for the time it took to help an injured player off the field earlier in the game. The nail biting became contagious as the ref appeared ready to blow the whistle to end the game on several occasions, but the game wore on. After about three minutes of play, Hicksville managed to bring the ball down field and cross the ball into the goal box for a last ditch shot to tie the game. With the whistle still silently lodged in the ref's mouth, goal keeper Jessica Greenberg smothered the ball as well as Hicksville's faint hope of tying the game. The ref finally exhaled and the whistle sounded on the ensuing punt, enabling Syosset to close the book on this best seller of a game.