Chapter 72

October 11, 2017

Dear Ms. Diary,

Although the O stunk up the pitch, in a relative sense, we beat Midland 2-0. Coach was not happy with us. Of course, we were not happy with us. While the pitch was wet and caused us some problems, it was not that wet. We were scoreless in the first half but did a bit better after Coach took us to task at halftime. Around the 55-minute mark, we were on a good offensive press and I got a shot off from just inside the penalty box. Their goalie made a good save by diving to her left and redirecting the ball, but Rhee was right there and stuffed it into the net. I made my only really good play of the game about 15 minutes later, when I sent a pass into the penalty box from well outside, a pass that split between Rhee and Heather and also bisected the space between two of their fullbacks to Jess making a run; she popped it into the net just inside the right post. After that, Coach pulled all five of us for backups. Coach’s postgame critique was not as critical as the one she gave at the half, but it was not good, either. She awarded the game ball to Kim for the superb show she made at right back, blocking two shots on goal and throttling the left side of their O.

October 12, 2017

“Gather ‘round.”

Once the team was all near Coach and paying attention, she said, “At the risk of jinxing things, the offense is playing much better than it did yesterday. Yes, we have only a one-goal lead, but had you played like this yesterday, that game would have already been beyond Midland’s reach. I want to see more of that play in the second half, much more, so don’t go back to sleep.”

Coach then looked around at the starting O, beginning with me, her eyes drilling into our minds. I could feel my face heating but kept my chin up and shoulders back and held her eyes for the entire time she stared into my brain. When her eyes moved on, although I didn’t change the positions of any of my body parts, relief washed through me and I became less tense. She made her way through Heather and Rhee to Jess and Jules.

“Our D is doing a great job and I have no substantive comments to make about it, except to give Katie an attagirl for her decision to come in behind their striker while Shameka played the anvil to Katie’s hammer, strip the ball from that striker, and initiate the counterattack that resulted in our second goal. That was also a good decision, Katie, to carry the ball across the centerline and join the attack.

“Boynton’s D is very good, so our O needs to keep up the excellent off-ball movement and the superb passing. Civia noticed that their back line may be susceptible to passes over the top to runs, and I will let her explain.”

Civia stepped up and said, “I think their right back gets caught up in guarding Jess closely, which may allow for a run behind her. That back is very good one-on-one, but I think we can use that to beat her. Katie or, particularly, Rachel, you might consider heading up the sideline and working with Jess. Jess, if you can keep that back occupied watching your feet with the ball, you might be able to chip it over her to Rachel on a run. That might give you a chance for a give-and-go around her or for Rachel to make a cross. Beth, Rhee, keep that in mind and either try to keep the center backs occupied or set yourselves up to receive a cross.”

While Coach quickly looked at all of us that Civia mentioned, she said, “While I’m not sure about Civia’s observation, she is certainly right about the one-on-one skills that back has. I will also say that if Civia is right, her suggestion could give us a good chance at an insurance goal. Keep it in mind. Back line, Katie, and Gracey, keep doing the job you were doing in the first half, as it’s working very well. Boynton has yet to get a good shot on goal; that PK doesn’t really count.”

When we huddled up before the second-half kickoff, Shameka asked me if I had a play.

“Yes. I’d like to test Civia’s observation, but I’d like to do it with you. Gracey, if you’d be willing to sit back to cover for Shameka, I’d like to take Katie and the whole offense upfield. We won’t have to get upfield quickly, we just have to get upfield far enough to trigger Shameka’s run. I want to angle left, so that may mean that while you’re involved early, Heather, you’ll want to drift upfield and right to keep the left side of their back line occupied. If we make it beyond halfway into their side, you should start your run, Shameka. If Jess is outside, angle to split between her and Rhee. If inside, curl around Jess. Jess, if you have it at the time shortly before we need to make the pass to Shameka do so or you can send it back to me or over to Rhee, although I expect to be more open than Rhee, given that she’s already burned that line twice.

“I don’t think that their D will try to push us to our right, as they’ve seemed to push to our left quite a few times, perhaps depending on their right back to provide containment, as she is really good one-on-one. However, if they do, then quickly reorient. Shameka, if you see that, we’ll take the play right rather than left. If you get up there and we still have the ball, one of us will find you.”

Shameka looked around the huddle, particularly at the veterans, and asked, “Any concerns?”

Katie responded, “No concerns, just a comment. I think Civia made a good point, as did Beth when she said that it looked like they were trying to push us to our left. Their right back is really good, but she’s short, which is probably the only reason that she’s not a center back. I’ll bet they use her as the anvil for their right center back’s hammer. This could work. If it doesn’t, then we’re only way out of position. What problems could that cause?”

There was much chuckling.

Shameka grinned, then said, “Rachel, Kim, Gracey. If things go to hell, you’ll have to cover for us, although I’ll be back as quickly as I can be.”

When the ref blew his whistle, Rhee tapped the ball to me. I looked upfield, noted their striker was coming at me, then turned as if I were going to send the ball back. However, I tapped it out to field right, following the ball as that striker whizzed behind me. I passed to Jules and then the offense began methodically playing keep away. We had made nearly 20 passes but had not gotten halfway into their side. We had pulled it back once before, but we had to retreat with the ball again, with the pass going back to Shameka. She sent it to Gracey, who passed up to Jess. Their right half immediately attacked. Jess deked her and began sprinting into empty space upfield, which was the break we wanted. I hauled upfield and reasonably close to Jess to provide an outlet for her. Rhee hauled upfield angling a bit left, while Heather did the same but angled slightly right. I could see Jules angling left as she motored upfield. I snuck a brief corner-of-my-left-eye peek for Shameka; she was on her way.

Jess slowed as she approached their right back, then flicked it toward me. Rhee made an obvious call for the ball and made a run to the right, taking one of their center backs with her. I faked a chip to her, then moved upfield toward their right center back. As I looked at Jess, I could see Shameka closing in on us. I sent the ball hard on the ground to Jess, the ball passing about ten feet in front of Shameka. I broke hard to my right and Rhee did the same, which forced the two center backs to shift to their left. I could see the sudden concern in the eyes of the right center back in front of me, concern almost certainly engendered by her finally seeing Shameka coming hard right up the slot that Rhee and I had created for her. As the ball approached her, Jess put her back to the defender, chipped it lightly up to herself, then booted it softly over her head and toward the goal. Shameka ran under it and headed it over the goalie and into the right third of the net!

When I looked at the clock, I was amazed that we had run nearly five minutes off it from the kickoff. I commented on the clock to everyone as we walked back to our half of the field.

Shameka replied, “Huh. If we can kill that much time once or twice more, we could be in good shape. Beth, what do you think about sitting back and playing for counterattacks?”

“If we can kill off a bunch of time with another set of tiki taka, I would agree, whether we get a goal out of it or not.”

She nodded and said, “Okay.” She turned to Jess and Jules and said, “If we do get another four or five minutes of tiki taka, then, with Coach’s okay, I’ll pull you two back to be more D-focused. If we do that, watch for counterattack possibilities.”

The Brits responded in the affirmative.

Boynton moved quickly upfield after kicking off but Gracey made a huge stretch and poked a pass off course that Katie vacuumed up. She started upfield, then passed to me when their center half got in front of her. That started off another set of tiki taka, although we lost the ball after about a dozen passes. From that point, neither team could get a good offensive press going, not even a quick counterattack until the 65^th minute when we held the ball for nearly six minutes and making in excess of 40 passes before we finally lost the ball out of bounds. However, Boynton was on the ball immediately, threw it in, and started upfield with their own version of crisp passing.

After a couple minutes, Shameka scotched that incursion with a nifty interception. Since there was a bunch of open space in front of her, she started upfield with the ball as the rest of us reversed course. She ran a give-and-go with Gracey around their center half and continued upfield with the ball. I could see the vague shape of something interesting, so moved quickly upfield to get in position to be a pivot if Shameka needed another give-and-go. She did, and we pulled it off against their left half, and Shameka carried it past the halfway mark on their side of the field. I chased after her in case she needed a back outlet, because, even with Shameka dribbling, I was not going to catch her.

Rhee moved to the left, both to clear out for Shameka, but also to provide an outlet for her if she needed one. Heather moved inward and put herself in the right place to run a give-and-go around their left back, who had moved ahead to take her on. Shameka sent the pass to Heather and blitzed by the left back on her right side as she lunged for, but missed, the pass to Heather, who one-touched it toward the goal. Shameka ran onto it and blasted a rocket from a few yards outside the box that whistled past the left center back’s head – she ducked – and into the top right corner. We had another Shameka-centered scrum left of the goal.

Coach pulled Shameka for Rose and brought in Susannah Jackson for Katie and Mila for Hope. We sat back for the remainder of the game, clogging the box. While we had a couple of good counterattack chances, neither came to fruition. With five minutes to go, Coach sent Makayla, Jimena, and Addiah in for Rhee, Heather, and me, respectively. Coach had obviously also sent instructions to the D to send long balls up the field and let the fresh legs go streaking. It was a little heart-breaking that the only shot we took after those substitutions, Addiah’s, caromed off the left post and out of bounds for a goal kick.

“Settle!”

I was a bit surprised that Coach did not have to repeat that, as everyone was pretty rowdy. However, chatter and laughing ceased nearly immediately, and Coach grinned.

“Congratulations on a well-deserved win over a good team. There was one drawback to the game, a drawback that forced me to make a change in goal, as Hope was almost falling asleep out there.”

There was much laughing.

Coach waited for it, smiled when she got it, then continued with, “I’m going to have to slip Shameka a few bucks so that every once in a while, she’ll let one of those forwards get through to take a shot on goal.”

There was much laughter.

“I don’t know if anyone other than Hope and I noticed, but the only shot that Boynton took today that was on goal, was that PK. Shameka, Rachel, and Kim deserve high praise from all of you for the way they, with some help from Katie and Gracey, completely shut down Boynton’s offense. All five of them also deserve it from me, and I give all of them my heartiest attagirls!”

There was much whistling, cheering, and stomping.

“Other attagirls go to Rhee for her brace of goals; to Beth for designing yet another successful kickoff play for a goal; to Jess for an incredibly sweet assist on Shameka’s first goal; and to the backups Rose, Mila, Makayla, Jimena, and Addiah for maintaining the second-half shutout. I also give Addiah her own attagirl for a lovely shot that needed the goal post to be just a few inches more to the left for her to have tallied a goal.”

There was much chuckling and back slapping of Addiah.

“My last attagirl goes to Civia for correctly spotting a minor weakness in Boynton’s defense, the weakness of which Beth’s play, Jess’s assist, and Shameka’s head took advantage.”

There was much chuckling.

“Before we get to the game ball, we here instigate something new. From now forward, Liya and Civia will have regular parts of these post-game announcements, today beginning with Liya.”

Liya stepped up and said, “I add my congratulations to Coach’s for a game very well played by all of you, particularly Shamonster’s back line!”

There was much laughing.

“In case any of you do not realize it, we have three games next week. Practice tomorrow will be coming up with a game plan for Monday’s game at East. We also play Springfield on Wednesday and West on Friday, both at home. We would like to get a lot of the backups game time next week, so you should all be prepared to play. You can’t let the starters have all the fun!”

There was much chuckling.

“Finally, apparently, the powers that be did not like the results of our last photo shoot, so we’re going to have to go through that again on Tuesday. Please, please, please bring your uniform to school that day.”

“Thank you, Liya,” Coach said. “Civia, you’re up.”

Civia stepped up, smiled at everyone, then said, “Since I’m sure that you would all like to get clean and get home, for her leadership of a stifling defense and two very pretty goals, the game ball goes to Shameka Johnson!”

October 13, 2017

Dear Ms. Diary,

In the team discussion after laps, we decided that, while the seniors would all start, the rest of the positions would be filled by a variable mix of starters and backups and that the seniors would not play the entire game. After that decision was made, Coach made a point to the starting offense about our missing a chance to pad team and individual stats against Midland.

“While I am not that interested in individual stats, they are what get individuals recognized by the powers that give out awards and such. I was greatly surprised by and disappointed in the offense’s showing on Wednesday. You missed a chance to make yourselves known more widely. I certainly hope I don’t see such a poor showing against the relatively weak teams that we’ll play next week.”