An old man named Dolger stops at a park somewhere in the country while driving home to Boston, where two teams of girls are playing a soccer game. Dolger was formerly the star of the second place All-American soccer team as a boy. He would've liked to coach but his wife doesn't want to see anything that reminds her of children (they can't have any, or one died--it is unclear), and he has learned to stay away from soccer games. When he sees the visiting team get off their bus, he is worried that they are so much bigger in size than the other team, so much older-looking and more serious-looking. He tries to make small talk with another man, who is unfriendly. A woman flirts with him, drinking schnapps from the bottle (she says everyone does), and tells him her ex-husband is watching from the other team's side. She says the home team, of which her daughter is a part, are the "hicks" and that they never win. He has phone calls to make and tells himself he'll only watch the first five minutes, but as the game progresses he becomes invested. The home team is being crushed but as he walks away, they score a goal. He decides his doctor appointment can wait, his wife can go to her party alone, and his job can fire him. He will stay to watch the game.

At the end of half time, during which the home team goofs around and the visiting team receives a strategy lecture from their coach, Dolger approaches the home team coach and recommends he lets a player he keeps putting in rest. The coach tells him, "Fuck you, old man," and Dolger sees himself as the coach sees him for a moment.

Dolger drinks from an abandoned Thermos of schnapps. Dolger notices a man harassing the home team's goalie, telling her she sucks such that she inches away from him, out of position, leaving one side of the net unguarded. After his interaction with the coach, Dolger can't bring himself to confront the man.

By what seems like a miracle, the teams become tied with mere minutes left on the clock. However, in rejoicing, the home team leaves their goal open to another shot. Drunk, Dolger tries to trip the visiting team's striker as she runs down the sideline, but she maneuvers around his foot and shoots. He imagines himself as the ball, willing it to slow down, thinking he is doomed for the net, when he feels the home goalie, the one who was being harrassed, catch him in her hands.