Chapter 80

October 31, 2017

Dear Ms. Diary,

“Look! We got our assistant IDs,” Cera crowed as she and Brittany arrived at our lunch table.

We congratulated them as they sat. We discussed aspects of the Petaluma game this afternoon, a discussion during which Brittany was more upbeat and positive about her role on the team. The conversation, despite being unremarkable, was much better than the meals we ate for lunch. Near the end, Trevor stopped by.

“I couldn’t come by yesterday as I had to get some homework finished, but I wanted to tell you, particularly you girls, that you all looked very nice yesterday. I’ve already said that to Meka and most of the seniors that were with you. It’s also interesting and nice in its own way that this whole table is exhibiting school colors.” He looked down at his jersey, then looked up and said, “I think I like your home jerseys more than ours, although this is obviously our away jersey.”

“You don’t have a problem with pink,” Rhee asked.

“No, although that’s not really pink; it’s much redder. What do you call it?”

“Fuchsia.”

“Yeah. That’ll work. Meka also said I should introduce myself to your two new assistants. She said that you’re related to her, but I’m sorry,” he said as he looked at Cera, “I don’t remember what she said your name is.”

“Cera. C-E-R-A. Cera Martin. Nice to meet you ... Trevor Abernathy.”

She followed that with a grin when Trevor looked a bit taken aback. He shook his head.

“Meka said you were a soccer fan, so I guess that’s how you know who I am.” He turned to Brittany and asked, “Might I have your name so that I can welcome you to the soccer ... organization here at Central?”

Brittany colored slightly but looked at Trevor when she introduced herself. Trevor welcomed her, then make his good-bye. Once he was out of sight and hearing, she ducked her head, then looked up and around at us.

“He’s ... quite cute.”

She managed to keep her head up as her face colored again.

I said, “He is. Meka knows him pretty well as he lives in her ... neighborhood. At least, near the house that her family owns. She’s now living in Rhee’s house. He’s also pretty nice. Meka likes him as a friend, and he’s hung with the girls’ team on a couple occasions when both teams were playing at the same place. Granted, he mostly talked with the seniors at those times, but he was pretty open to conversing with some of the rest of us when we were nearby.”

“And he thinks Beth is a babe,” Heather said.

Heather grinned at me as my face heated, but I came back with, “And he thinks Heather is cute. Short, but cute.”

If anything, Heather’s grin increased in width.

The Petaluma game was probably exciting for someone with no dog in the fight, but it was nerve-wracking for us. While it had no real bearing on us winning the regular-season championship nor of our seeding in the league tournament, we were hoping to end the league season unbeaten. Petaluma got the scoring started early, less than three minutes into the game, as their left wing made a superb move on Kim, making her look foolish, and heading goalward. Just before Meka put the hammer down on her, she reverse sliced a shot – a shot that had one of us taken it, we would have considered it beautiful – between Meka and Hope and just inside the right post. We went to the locker room down 1-0.

“Gather ‘round.”

As we were quiet anyway, pondering an unsuccessful first half, Coach did not even raise her voice.

As we coalesced around her, she said, “That could have gone better. Short of a phenomenal strike by Tanaka, the D has been unbeatable, and I’m more than satisfied with how they’ve played. I would have preferred someone cutting off that pass to Tanaka, but it’s unrealistic to expect every pass to be intercepted. They probably want to beat us even more than we want to beat them. The final score does not really matter to either team as far as standings or seedings, but they would get a huge boost going into the tournament having beaten us. I would prefer that they not get that boost.”

There was some chuckling.

“While the O has been far from poor, it has not shown the flair of which it is capable. I will say, though, that their back line is very good, even better than they showed us early in the season. I have some thoughts on the problem, but they’re not very coherent. However, we need to do something different. We need to figure out either how to overload that line or beat it in some dramatic fashion. I would settle for a draw, but I’d really like to beat this team, because if we can figure that out ... here ... today, then we’ll have a better idea how to beat them in the tournament. Petaluma is certainly looking like the team with the best chance to beat us there, so we need to solve this. Anyone?”

There was a very pregnant silence, with various of us looking around for anyone that suggested she had an idea. After nearly a minute, I piped up ... tentatively.

“I don’t know that I have a solution to the larger problem, but I have an idea for an equalizer off the kickoff. I will be happy to share that, but I think we should tackle the larger problem first.”

I was looking at Coach and she appeared to be opening her mouth to respond when Meka said, “I agree with Beth. Can we send Rachel on runs more often? Heck, even every time we get a bit past midfield? Conversely, do we ask Rhee to go for a couple long-distance rockets? Despite that Tanaka doing a number on us early, I’m still confident in our back line handling their offense. However, we could also assign Gracey even more priority to covering Tanaka, as we did in the last part of the first match. It may be even more important now than it was then, as it seems unlikely, at this point, that we can manage three goals. I’d also like to hear if Civia has any thoughts. She’s proven her worth in breaking down other team’s defenses.”

I, and probably every other member of the team, turned immediately to look at Civia, whose eyes were wide, and whose face was reddening.

“In fact,” Meka continued, “this would have been an ideal time to surprise Petaluma by putting her in the game and changing our M.O. I sure wish you were playing, Girl.”

I glanced at Coach and saw her obviously change her mind about speaking and decide to wait on Civia’s response.

Civia stammered for a bit, then said, “Thanks, Shameka, for your trust in me, although I’m not sure it’s entirely deserved.” She paused, cocked her head, then said, “Despite that, I do have an idea.” She smiled widely at Meka and Coach, her face having lost all trace of its redness. “However, it would require a new formation for some on this team. Liya, may I use your white board?” When Liya simply handed her the board, Civia said, “It’s a 3-3-1-3 and one with speed on the front line being important.”

Everyone was silent as she quickly drew on the white board. When she appeared to finish, she looked to her right.

“Brett, would you hold the board for me so that I can explain?”

He stepped to her and accepted the board, then held it up facing us. Coach and the rest of the assistants moved toward us so that they could see the board.

“First, no changes are required of the back line other than...” [she looked at Meka and grinned] “not allowing that annoyingly good left wing another crack at Hope. Gracey is here on the right side of the midfield, but her primary defensive task is helping Kim with Tanaka. Of course, to do that well, she’ll need to restrict her movement on offense to keep an eye on her charge. Katie needs to be center half. At least, I see no need to change the rest of the D at all and changing too many things could get us in trouble. Obviously, we cannot have both Brits in the midfield, but I can see two options for the decision as to which, if either, to retain in the midfield, at left half. If we want her to have heavy O duties, then that means one thing, but if she is to have heavy D duties, then that’s another. I suggest a stronger focus on O in the hopes of helping to overload that back line. That way, we can keep Rachel more firmly on D, which may be important if we’re going to push hard on O.”

She looked up at Coach.

“I agree, so draw it out with an O focus.”

“Beth would retain her playmaker job, just as on the premier team. Rhee would move to the middle, and we’d want a very fast left wing, and one with some ball-handling and crossing skills. I think that speed is the important factor, as while that back line is good, it’s not got blazing speed. Since we have a number of girls with blazing or nearly blazing speed, I suggest we use it.” She continued to talk while she drew arrows and dotted lines on the board, saying, “Rapid counterattacks, lobs and chips over the top, or simply hauling ... butt by someone with strong ball-handling skills.”

There was silence ... for about 30 seconds, then Coach said, “That’s interesting. Some of my previous thoughts mesh with this, but this is more coherent. Thanks, Civia, and a very heartfelt attagirl to you.”

Civia beamed.

Coach stepped up front and turned to the team, saying, “Does this make sense? Does anyone have questions?”

“I don’t have questions ... yet,” said Katie, “but I suggest Jess move to left wing and Jules take the left half slot. Those two work together well, but Jess is a bit faster and has slightly better ball-handling skills.”

As I could see Jules nodding her head, I responded, “I agree. However, if we’re going to be running this much, then we need to figure out who will be giving various of us breathers.”

Coach took over at that point, assigning Makayla, Jimena, and Addiah as the first three subs for O positions, primarily as they were the fastest.

Coach continued with, “Beth, I want you on the field as much as possible. If you approach getting winded, give me the high sign and we’ll get you a breather. Addiah, this is nothing against you, but I’ll put Jess at playmaker if Beth comes off. She’s got more experience, but also importantly, you’re faster than she is, and I want you on the front line when you’re in the game.”

“Okay, Coach.”

“Thanks for your willingness to do what is needed, Addiah.” She looked around, then said, “This could work. Three of our designated five O players are used to this formation and the three of them work really well together. I want you three to dredge every scintilla of skill and experience that you have working together and make this work. I’m also tightening the screws on your sister’s sense of responsibility. Gracey, we need that left wing silenced. I don’t care where she goes on our half of the field; you go with her.”

“Yes, Coach.”

“Whoever’s on the other side, Jules ... whomever, work with Katie and figure out how to cover. Katie, you’re the midfield captain. Be aware and make the call.”

Katie and Jules both responded, “Yes, Coach.”

“To complete preparations, should we get a goal ahead, particularly if we’re past the 70-minute mark, we’ll go to full D as we did the last time. What does that mean? Anyone? Actually, not anyone. Jordan?”

I grinned internally as I turned to look behind me at Jordan. She looked surprised, but swallowed hard, glanced at me, and responded.

“Umm, would we change formation? If not, I’m not certain.”

“We would.”

She nodded, saying, “We would switch back to our regular formation. Rhee would trade places with Beth, I would go in for Heather, and any starters not on the pitch would go back in.”

“Correct. For however long our season lasts, that will be how we do full D. There may be the occasional replacement of Jess or Jules. However, after today, we’re essentially done after our first loss, so we’ll be using starters for all positions other than right striker when we’re in full D. Jordan’s D skills are just too much stronger than any other front-line option we have. Well, other than Rhee.”

I was still looking at Jordan, so watched her manage to both beam and be embarrassed at the same time. When I turned back to Coach, she was looking right at me.

“What was your kickoff plan?”

It was based loosely on The Thing of Beauty. Rhee kicked off to me and I sent the ball back to Katie and followed my pass downfield. Katie passed it to Gracey. We kept it going for a minute or so, passing to the side or back, or slightly upfield, but kept the ball moving among the midfield and back line other than Meka, even to Hope. Petaluma was pressing us, but we managed not to lose the ball and kept it moving in a slow version of tiki taka ... until we had sucked most of their back line up close to the centerline. When that happened, the next pass went on the ground to Meka, at which point Rhee, Heather, and Jess began streaking upfield. Meka booted it long as the front line blew by all but their right center back who had lain well back. Rhee controlled the ball immediately and ran at their center back while Heather cut across Rhee’s path between Rhee and the center back. As Heather was clearing out of Rhee’s way, Rhee set up to hit a rocket; the center back charged her. Shortly before the defender reached her, Rhee tapped the ball hard on the ground to the left of and just inside the penalty stripe where a charging Heather sent a lovely outside-right bend just inside the right post. Equalizer!

Most of the rest of the second half was a contest to see which team would collapse from exhaustion first. Coach made substitutions to get breathers for the front line and for Jules and me. She had Jess rotating through left wing, sweeper, and the bench, while Makayla, Jimena, Lucia, Addiah, and Nicole were subbed in for, variously, Jess, Rhee, Heather, Jules, and Katie, but with Rhee and Heather getting breathers only one at a time. I was surprised when Coach sent Jordan in, rather than Jimena or Makayla, to give Heather a break. I think Jordan was surprised, herself, although Coach also sent Rhee back in at the same time, in the 76^th minute.

Petaluma’s next surge upfield nearly broke us. Jess, Rhee, and I all got sucked into D as Petaluma’s back line joined the fray. Jess had moved into roughly the center half position, as Nicole, in for Katie, had been sucked to the right to help cover for Gracey who was focused solely on Tanaka. I had cut off the passing lane from their center half, who Rhee was harrying, to their left half, who had gotten away from Nicole. Somehow, the center half managed to get a pass through to Tanaka about six yards outside our penalty box. Their left half continued upfield along the sideline with Nicole in hot pursuit. With a teammate outside of her, Tanaka turned to the inside. Gracey, understandably, committed hard to stay in front of her, only to have Tanaka cut back outside; Gracey had overcommitted, slipped, and dropped to one knee while Tanaka headed upfield. Kim slowed her down and forced Tanaka farther outside. Their left half responded by cutting inside behind Tanaka, who flicked the ball inside toward the left half.