Hello readers! My name is Joey Carol, almost a sophomore on the team, and it is my privilege to recount Day 4 of the HCMS international trip to Barcelona for you. The job cannot be done as well as my predecessor Captain Dylan Ioffreda, but I shall make my best attempt.
The day began a little later than usual with another sensational international buffet and Ben Ward's incessant, "Guys, have you tried this fruit??" As you have hopefully read, yesterday was a late one so we were allowed the opportunity to sleep in a little (thank goodness). Once we had all finished our breakfasts and wrapped little snacks to-go, we made our way up the street two blocks to the world-renowned Sagrada Familia. Our tour guide Natalia explained to us how Antoni Gaudi, the church's primary architect, intended for the church to demonstrate not only lessons from the Bible but also those that can be gleaned from the study of nature. From the inside, the church looks as though it is held up by a forest of trees, and the stained glass windows cast a dreamy glow of brilliant colors across the floor. Due to its complexity and logistical road bumps, the church remains to be completed in its entirety.
With the grandeur of the Sagrada Familia still plastered in our minds, we split into groups to find lunch and nap before our big game against FC Huracan. Fueled up, rested, and ready to go, we hit the road and locked in for what would be most HCMS players' first international game ever.
The starting whistle blew and the game started with a bang. Haverford maintained possession for the first several minutes until a mistake in the back led to an early goal for FC Huracan. The Fords did not let this bring them down, however, and they only stepped harder on the gas. Before long, Meinhardt, Paul, and Alex had scored absolute bangers off of wonderful possession play to make the score 3-1 for the Fords. By halftime, FC Huracan had scored once more, but in proper retaliation Caleb and Liam both proceeded to volley the ball in the back of the net off of sensational crosses, making the score 5-2. It would remain that way until the final whistle sounded a little over 45 minutes later. The game was electric.
We rushed out of the locker room to shower before wolfing down another gourmet Barcelona meal. We had won our first international friendly as a team and we were reading to go out and celebrate accordingly. The rest is history.
Thanks for reading and for participating in our adventure from afar! I hope you tune in again tomorrow for another nail-bitingly exciting day.
Joey Carol 25'