Metro Team Falls in Bay State Games Soccer Final

Thomas Ballenthin came to these Bay State Games hoping to get in shape for his senior season at Lexington High School and compete alongside some of the state's most talented players.  His calm demeanor and patient play was well on display as his Metro team fell 1-1, 5-4 in penalty kicks, Sunday in the soccer tournament's gold medal match against Southeast.

With Metro trailing by one goal after Southeast defender Michael McFarland tipped a cross over the goalie's left hand in the 45^th minute, Ballenthin tied the championship match with approximately 10 minutes remaining in regulation on a rather strange strike. 

Jogging in front of the box, Ballenthin aggressively slid into an opponent after losing possession. For a moment, nearly everyone on Southeast believed a foul would be called, and appeared to ease up. But Ballenthin rose to his feet, gathered the ball and scorched a ground level shot barely between the keeper and right post.

Somehow it found nylon, and a frustrated Metro squad was briefly resuscitated. 

"I thought it was a foul," Ballenthin admitted. "I gave the ball away and accidentally tripped the kid, but that's just how it is."

After 10 minutes of extra time left the game unsettled, Ballenthin was selected to take his team's first penalty kick. He drilled the try into the lower right-hand corner.  But his team eventually faltered when Metro midfielder Kevin Montiel from Somerville High School had his shot blocked by Southeast's keeper. 

Despite the loss, Ballenthin is taking nothing but positive energy from his Bay State Games experience. 

"It's just fun to play against all these awesome players," he said. "Everyone gets to play and it's fun."

Starting the tournament off with four straight victories and a tournament-high 13 goals set Metro's expectations high, but the team took a small step backwards on Saturday with a 1-0 loss against eventual champion Southeast. 

"It was a great competition," Ballenthin said. "The first two games were kind of easy for us.  It got harder from there and then we had to play this great team today."

His initial intentions heading into the Bay State Games were to fine tune his play and involve himself in some stiff competition. Through the tournament's four days, he competed in six 70-minute games. Sweltering, 90-degree weather aside, a taxing exercise that forced the Lexington rising senior to push himself to another level.  

"Six games in four days, that's just ridiculous," he said. "It's just whoever can push themselves the hardest. I try to do as much as I can and I think everybody else did too."