hat trick

rolling hill
Originally uploaded by suttonhoo.

This is (only one reason) why I need my brothers -- to teach me things that I would otherwise have absolutely no clue about. Recent email thread with one of my brothers re my niece, his daughter:

bro: ...She scored a hat trick 2 weekends ago in her soccer game. They changed their names from the Pink Ponies to the Tigers this year...

me: cool beans. what's a hat trick?

bro: Three goals in one game. The other team scored four so she was a little miffed no one was helping her score goals. I pulled up Wikipedia for the origin if you're interested.

Football (soccer)
A hat-trick occurs in football when a player scores three goals in a single game.

In most professional games the scorer of the hat-trick is allowed to return home with the match ball as a souvenir.

Some regard a "true", or "perfect" hat-trick as one where the player scores with both feet and their head in the same match (or less commonly by a header, leg shot, and penalty or free kick), though this is obviously very rare. The most common definition of a "true" hat-trick is where a player scores three goals in the same half of the match. Yet another definition, known in Germany, Belgium and Norway, is that the player scores three goals in the same net without anyone else scoring between the player's first and third goal, a "flawless" hat-trick.

Scoring two goals in the same match is also commonly known as a "brace".

No word on whether sweet Megan got to take the ball home.