May the Best Team Win

By Ashley

            It was the fall of 2011; our first soccer practice of the season. I remember my friend and I had arrived late, and the teammates were already shooting on our goalie. Aside from my one friend, I knew no one else on the team. So when it was time to pick a team name, I was too shy to suggest a name better than the Flaming Unicorns or the Tough Cookies. Instead, I voted for the best option. And so we became the Tough Cookies.

            A few practices later, my team had our first game. The Tough Cookies played the Orange team. They were an easy team to beat, but then again, my team had great players who worked together really well. The forwards (including myself) each scored a goal, and our defense was great. We had a new goalie who hadn’t played goalie much before, but she was excellent. The win motivated the team to win the next few games and motivated the players to get better and better work together. My team was undefeated and motivated until we played the maroon team.

            “Guys,” one of my teammates said, indicating one of the players on the other team, “I know that girl, and she’s really mean to me and my sister.”

 Turns out she was mean to my whole team. She wouldn’t stop fouling and shoving, and, of course, the bad teenage referees didn’t call anything. Anyway, they were still a good team, but we were better. We beat them, but it was a close game. So the “Tough Cookies” continued the undefeated season. But we were determined to beat them if we had to play them again.  

we didn’t play them again, until the championship game. The undefeated “Tough Cookies” were in 1^st place, and Maroon in a close second. It would be pretty evenly matched, if not for one thing. One of the players on my team, Kaitlyn, was out. We were down a good player, and had one less sub. We were going to have to fight really hard to win this, and we did.  The first half, we scored once, and kept them from scoring. At halftime, we were up 1-0.

            We were winning, but we still had half a game to play, and sometimes, it’s not that hard to come back with one or even two goals in that amount of time.  It would be easier for them because now my team was facing into the sun. Coach told us at halftime, we would have to work even harder to keep them from scoring because this was the championship.

            The second half started in their favor. They kept possession of the ball, but my team kept them from scoring. We played well, and eventually regained possession of the ball. We kept it for a while, and eventually we scored again. They quickly came back with a goal. The score was 2-1, and we were getting really nervous. The end of the second half was tough. The other team played well, but also unfairly. They were very mean players, and I got tripped, stepped on, and hit in the head. I was really mad at them.

            One girl on the other team was on a breakaway, which is where she has possession of the ball and is heading toward our goal, when coach said something I’ll never forget.

 “Come on Ashley, get that ball. You’re better than her and you know it.”

 So I did. I took it from her and passed it down field.one of the girls on My team shot, and we missed. The other team gained possession of the ball again. Their players moved the ball downfield and took a shot. Our goalie saved it, and she threw it to one of our players. Unfortunately, the ball was intercepted by the other team. In an attempt to trap the ball, she accidentally kicked into the upper left corner of the goal. It spun and was too hard for any goalie our age to save. It was just luck.

            The score was tied 2-2. We tried to regain the lead, but the game ended. Coach talked to us off the field, and chose, along with our goalie, four or five other players, myself included, to do the shootout.

 “What is a shootout?” I thought. I was so nervous. I was about to do something I didn’t know how to do to decide which team, mine, or the other, would win the championship. Coach explained that a shootout is where each team sends a number of players on the field and they take turns shooting penalty kicks on the goalie. So we lined up. two of the players on my team, and two of theirs both scored. Then the goalies had to take turns shooting on each other. We were worried, because their goalie was one of the biggest girls I have ever seen. She blocked Corinne’s kick with ease, and when it was her turn to kick, she shot it into the top of the goal, too high for our goalie. There was silence, and then the other team celebrated. They had won the game. We walked off the field sadly. Then we received medals for being the runner up, and it turns out, I was playing up a league, with girls up to 2 years older than me.

            When we left the field, we were all disappointed, but we knew there was next year, and that the better team didn’t win. A few lucky goals and fouls had won the game for them. 

            But we knew we were still better.