Looking too far ahead is the apparent bane of every athlete – and every sports writer forced to endure this oldest of clichés.

But then Argentalia was guilty of doing just that when they very nearly dropped the quarterfinal ball against Sabbah this week. “Despite having the lead for most of the game we became complacent in the second half,” admits the always-thoughtful Marc Chiarella. “The turning point was the red card given to Mike Viegas and the subsequent converted penalty shot which cut our lead to 4-3. This woke us up and made us realize we had to tighten up defensively and capitalize on the few chances we would get given that we were a man down. We did exactly that.”

The eventual 5-3 victory has now pitted Argentalia against C1 opponent FDM, whom they have already beaten twice this season. “They are definitely going to come out hard and will be eager to get their revenge.”

Which isn’t to say the boys aren’t at least peaking into their own rosy future. “We know FDM is only the second-to-last obstacle in our way to the championship.”

POTG: Mike Greenspoon led the shorthanded counter-attack that ultimately put the game out of Sabbah’s reach.

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