Chapter 82

November 4, 2017

Dear Ms. Diary,

Tournament day began cold and calm, but the temperature was forecast to rise to the low 60s. We had to leave the house well before sunrise to get to school for our bus-boarding time of 7:15, itself before sunrise. Dad took us in Sandy’s car, which he would leave at school. Carol and Sandy would follow a little later and would pick him up, along with Gracey’s and Liya’s moms and Civia’s parents and take them to the tournament site in the Sprinter.

We arrived shortly before 9 and the sign-in time of 9:15. The first two games would begin at 10. The consolation match would be at 1, and the championship match at 3:30, with part of the second half being played under lights. The game against West was not ever in doubt, despite that many of the starters played little of it. We won 3-1, with Zala getting West’s goal.

“Gather ‘round.” When we were around and quiet, Coach continued with, “Good game, backups! We got all of you in the game, as hoped, because, as we noted at practice, we might get very few of you in the next game. I am told that, probably to no surprise to anyone here, Petaluma beat Boynton. Civia said that most of Petaluma’s starters played most of the game. That may help us, as we discussed at practice. I’ll let her tell you the rest of it, after which I’ve got my old job back.”

There was much chuckling.

“Petaluma won by the same score we did, 3-1, with Tanaka getting two. She looked very good, and I’ll be glad when she graduates in spring.”

There was much chuckling.

“There was no suggestion of a different O strategy, but we didn’t expect them to give us advance notice. Once they got a two-goal lead in the middle of the second half, they pulled Tanaka, almost certainly to give her a rest. However, they didn’t begin to sub out the starting midfield or the rest of their front line until very late in the game, so I’m not sure that resting Tanaka will do all that much for them. In fact, other than their right back, who came out at the same time as Tanaka, their back line stayed in the game nearly to the end. That suggests to me, that they wanted her rested, too, which may give us a hint about their O strategy. Of course, it could be a ruse, but I don’t see much benefit in making us think that they’ll push her up the right sideline. It’s a ploy that we considered and have an answer for, but we’re just allowing for it, rather than changing our whole strategy.

“The goal Boynton scored, which was the first goal of the game, came off a very pretty corner-kick set piece. In fact, it was eerily similar to the three-pass play we designed at practice. Whether Petaluma will have learned their lesson, I don’t know, but we could certainly still try it. Who cares if everyone would think we borrowed it from Boynton?

“In summary, Tanaka and their right back will be a bit more rested than the rest of their starters. They provided no strong clue as to a possible different O strategy against us, and they played very much as they did against us twice this fall.”

“Thanks, Civia, for an excellent report. The first attagirl goes to Beth, who hogged the only offensive highlight among the starters, by sending that oh-so-pretty pass to Makayla on a very well-timed and -placed run. Of course, I rewarded Beth by taking her off the pitch at my first opportunity.”

There was much laughing, including from me.

“Attagirls go to all the backups, particularly those that we cycled through the back line: Smythe, Marla, Abby, Suzanne, and Rose. All five of you did a bang-up job after our starters worked their butts off for all of 20 minutes.”

There was much chuckling.

“Attagirls also go to Addiah for her nice assist for Makayla’s second goal and to Lucia for her first time on the scoresheet for her sweet assist of Jimena’s goal, for which she also gets an attagirl. Like Makayla’s, that was a well-timed run, Jimena, and Lucia gets bonus points for seeing Jimena go from the other side of the pitch. Neither Jess nor Jules could have done that any better.”

I, along with many teammates, turned to look at Lucia, whose blush was noticeable despite her skin tone, which is on the lighter side of Hispanic, quite similar to Gracey’s.

That blush deepened when Meka put an arm around her and said, “I agree with Coach. That was one of the best assists I’ve seen all season, and I know that even Beth would agree.”

“I do,” I responded. “That was perfect. Just seeing her taking off was good, but Jimena could not have asked for a better cross.”

Jimena replied, “What Beth says. You put it right where I needed it. That was stunning, Luce.”

“It was,” Coach said, “which is part of why she got the bonus points. To finish up, with two goals and a lot of time spent tying up Ann De Jong, thus enabling such things as the goal generated by Lucia and Jimena, the game ball goes to Makayla Jones!”

Once things quieted down, she announced, “The parents have provided lunch for us, and I’m told that one of them will be waiting for us outside the locker room to lead us to it. Don’t dilly-dally eating lunch, but don’t wolf it, either. Feel free to watch the consolation match, but LET... ME... KNOW ... if you’re going to do so. Also, no one goes alone to watch it. No one. Regardless, be back here NO... LATER... THAN... 2:30. TWO... THIRTY.” She eyeballed each of us one at a time, then smiled and said, “Let’s go find out about lunch!”

After lunch and some fun hanging around talking with the team and parents, we were all present in the locker room at 2:30 when Coach called the rally.

“Thanks, everyone, for being here on time. The first order of business is you girls deciding whether you want to play the next game with the long-sleeved undershirts that we used this morning. While it’s about 60 degrees now, it’s predicted to drop into the mid-40s by the end of the game. Everyone on the field other than the goalie has to have the same uniform, as I know you know, so team members will vote, and majority rules. If the vote is in favor of wearing them, that’s fine. The backups spent a lot more time playing in them this morning than most of the starters, so the starters’ shirts might not be quite so ... stinky. Of course, the starters will get most of the playing time this time. That may or may not be important or relevant to the vote. Does anyone want to say anything that is relevant to the vote?”

Meka queried, “May we start without them, then add them at the half?”

“Yes.”

“I’d be happy to vote for that option,” Meka said. “Does anyone object to half-and-half?” When there was little response, she added, “Don’t be afraid to state your mind. While I may be the captain, I would prefer to know what you want.”

Abby replied, “In the interest of time, I think we should vote yea or nay by voice vote for the half-and-half option and if there is not an overwhelming winner, then we decide how to proceed from there with a tallied vote.”

Meka grinned at Abby, saying, “That’s an excellent idea. Does Liya run the show, or will you, Coach?”

“Have at it, Liya.”

Liya stepped forward and stated, “All those in favor of the half-and-half option say ‘aye’.”

The response sounded at least close to unanimous, but Liya asked for nay votes, anyway; there were none.

Coach thanked Liya, then asked, “Do we all remember our jobs in the Tanaka defense? That is, except for Kim and Gracey, who better darned well know what their jobs are!” Coach talked over the resultant snickering, saying, “Do we need to go over it quickly?”

I looked around, as did Coach, Meka, and Katie, to see if anyone looked uncomfortable, like she were uncertain. Virtually to a girl, they were all smiling or presenting thumbs up.

“Excellent. Despite no one speaking up, I do want to re-state a few points.” There was a bit of groaning, but Coach ignored it and said, “Gracey will be Tanaka’s primary shadow, but she will be trading off every five to ten minutes with, alternately, Kim and Jules. Position trades will always take place when any action is taking place well away from Tanaka and, preferably, during play stoppages, such as the ball out of bounds or free kicks of any sort. Gracey will trade with Kim, first, trade back with her, then trade with Jules, and trade back with her, with the current shadow initiating all position trades. If Tanaka crosses to the other side of the pitch with her shadow, whichever of the two of them is in the right midfielder slot at the time will fall back to fill the hole left by the shadow in the right-side D.

“Jess, or whomever is subbing for her, has the priority on covering their right back if she comes forward on O. Civia’s only tasks during this game are to watch our midfield and its response to Tanaka and make any substitution she feels is required. She has authority to have any midfielder – or anyone else – to sub in for either Jess or Jules ... or Kim or Gracey. If she taps you, she will tell you who you’re going in for and remind you as to that position’s responsibilities. Is that clear?”

There was a host of “Yes, Coach” and similar responses. Coach looked around the room slowly, catching the eyes of each of us.

“All right. Let’s get out there and get warmed up!”

At 3:34, the ref blew her whistle and Petaluma kicked off. The first 20 minutes or so were scoreless, as the teams traded going up and down the pitch. During one of Gracey’s turns at shadowing Tanaka wherever she went on our half of the pitch, Tanaka got off a shot. However, it was in traffic, and Kim blocked it after the ball traveled only ten feet or so. Our O generated a couple chances in that period, but my left-footer was just wide, and their goalie tipped Jess’s screamer up and over. During the rest of the first half, we generated a couple more chances, but neither was as close as those first two.

A bit past the 25-minute mark, as Petaluma’s center half and center forward were moving the ball upfield, Tanaka moved crossfield to our left side. As I ran downfield in order to provide D help if needed, I was so pleased to see Gracey stay with Tanaka across the pitch and to see Jules drop back to fill that hole. When I heard Jess yell out, I looked over my right shoulder and saw her running with Petaluma’s right back as that girl made a run up the sideline. Things got a bit congested for Petaluma ahead of me and to my right (our team’s left) and their center forward, who had the ball at the time, seemed to become flustered with our responding D. She tried to force a pass to Tanaka, but Rachel anticipated her and intercepted it as she blew past Tanaka and her Gracey shadow. I reversed direction as I saw Rachel look at me, then controlled the ball when she passed it to me. I was approaching the centerline when I heard Meka yelling behind me.

“Lay right! Lay right!”

I didn’t look, just flicked the ball with my outside right hoping that whatever Meka saw and was planning, that what I did would work for her. After I flicked it, I turned to my right and saw her approach the ball and then whack it hard on a rising trajectory. I looked ahead, my vision chasing the ball then moving ahead of it to see the lay of the Petaluma D.

“Ah,” I said to no one in particular.

Their goalie was sprinting toward her goal, but she was not going to be in time, as the ball sailed over her head on a now-falling trajectory and right into the middle of the net. We took the 1-0 score to the locker room.

“Gather ‘round!” When we settled, Coach said, “Our Tanaka defense is working, and worked very well on the lead-up to our goal. Gracey stayed with Tanaka as she crossed the field, Jules filled in behind her, and Jess marked their right back on the run that was obviously associated with Tanaka crossing the pitch. They were apparently trying to overload Rachel, but she turned the play back on them by intercepting the foolhardy attempt to force the ball into Tanaka. Attagirls for each one of you. After that, it was wonderful improvisation. I saw Rachel’s pass to Beth and wondered about that. After the fact, I think I figured it out, but I’d like to know for sure.

“Rachel, Beth is our O quarterback, so a pass to her in that situation was eminently reasonable. However, with most personnel of both teams on our left side of the field, you might have been able to carry the ball well into their half. Why didn’t you?”

“I was going to, but then I saw Meka start hauling ass upfield. I glanced farther upfield to see if I could see what Meka saw that made her decide to take off. When I saw their goalie well upfield, I understood, and I knew that Beth would probably have a better chance of giving Meka what she was going to need than I could, so sent it quickly up to Beth, as Meka was closing in on her.”

“Excellent. That’s what I figured out after the fact. Attagirls to, first, Meka, then Rachel, for seeing the opportunity. Beth already told me that she just answered Shameka’s call, as she didn’t know at the time why Meka called for the ball. Attagirl to Beth for trusting her teammate and then, probably without realizing, for putting the ball virtually on Shameka’s foot. A final attagirl to Shameka for putting the ball squarely in the middle of a wide-open net from half the pitch away.

“I’d like you seven to be a little fresher for the second half. In the meantime, attagirls to both Lucia and Taylor for performing Jess’s and Jules’ jobs well when you gave them breathers. An extra attagirl to you, Taylor, for your credible job at your stint of shadowing Tanaka. What did you think of that job?”