Emily Dickson mocks your antiquated notion of 11 players per side. The 14-year-old British schoolgirl scored two goals recently in a youth league game; not impressive until you find out that she’s the goalie, and both scores were on 120-yard shots from her own penalty box. Boom goes the dynamite!
These goals didn’t bounce into unattended nets, mind you; in both cases, the opposing goalkeeper was on duty. Which begs the question: Is Emily that good, or did her goalie counterpart have some sort of full-body Tourette’s? It’s believed to be the first time that a goalkeeper has scored twice from his (or her) own penalty box in a regulation game in the history of Britain; impressive when you consider all of those Monty Python soccer sketches.
From THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, your finest source for bionic-footed schoolgirl soccer news:
“I took the ball and smashed it as hard as I could when it came to me (Emily said). “It bounced over the keeper and went in. I couldn’t believe it.” She added that her manager came onto the pitch afterwards and told her “double or quits”, priming her for a second attempt.
“So when the ball came to me next, everyone shouted ’shoot’, so I did and in it bounced.”
I have no idea what any of that means because I don’t speak British. But what I do know is this: Somewhere there is a very lonely opposing goalie who received no post-game orange slice.
All of this helped Emily’s team, the Hoddesdon Owls, defeat the Stevenage Vixens 3-2. The most goals by a goalkeeper ever in one game, according to the Guiness Book of World Records, is three; by José Luis Chilavert of Paraguay’s Velez Sarsfield in 1999. As if you didn’t know.
4:25 pm on May 20th, 2009
"The most length-of-the-field goals ever scored in one game, by the way, is three; by José Luis Chilavert of Paraguay’s Velez Sarsfield in 1999. As if you didn’t know."
Actually, I do know that Chilavert often took his team's free kicks and penalties. His three goals were from penalties that day. Length of field goals are extremely unusual at the professional level, as if a sports blog wouldn't know.
4:26 pm on May 20th, 2009
I guess the dozens of post sbb got to please start posting updates of the sbb girls has fallen on deaf ears. Instead we get storys about a British schoolgirl playing soccer (football)….yawn *Removes Sbb from favorites list* Brooks you have some clever articles, but the stars of your site have always been the girls. As someone once said "woman would rather be pretty then smart, because men can see better then they can think" …keep that in mind.