JOHNSTON, IOWA — A Johnston youth soccer club rallied around one of their teammates this weekend as his mother fights breast cancer; but in the end it was he who lifted up his team.

Matej Strbac says his mother first told their family a year ago that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Matej and his family have found support from his soccer club, including a fundraiser at a weekend game that featured the boys playing in pink socks.

As it turns out, there may have been some magic in those socks.

“In the last seconds of the game our winger got a penalty. Our penalty taker came over and said to me: ‘You need to take this one'”, Strbac said, “He gave me the ball, I hugged him, I went to the spot, prayed a little bit.” The prayer was answered, Strbac’s shot was true and he sealed the victory as he his pink-socked friends piled on him.

Strbac’s mother has completed radiation and is now hoping for positive test results from her physicians.