Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
~MAC~
The Washington Spirit is a very physical team, which means we have to play tough. They’re doing a great job of pushing us off the ball and the refs don’t seem too interested in calling anything. Coach Watts yells again about using their whistle. I swear he’s going to get a card before this is over.
A defender is coming at me. I can see her out of the corner of my eye as I dribble down the field.
I’m headed for the goal, and she’s doing her damnedest to stop me.
But I’m not going to let her push me around.
Her shoulder comes hard into mine. I move a bit, but I keep my composure and remain with the ball.
I can see her out of the corner of my eye.
She’s going to do it again. I decide to pull back a bit and see if I can get around her.
Pulling the ball back, I watch as she moves a bit ahead and gets ready to double back.
There’s a defender behind me, which I didn’t realize until it was too late.
She ends up clotheslining me and knocking me to the ground.
I lie there for a moment and look up at my teammates, who are crowding around me.
I can hear Watts going crazy. I’m wondering if the foul wasn’t called.
I stand up and look over at Cassie, whose eyes are narrowed with concern.
“Are you good?” she asks.
“Yeah, I’m good,” I say, breathing heavily. Lucas is on the sideline, watching me. Probably waiting to see if he needs to enter the field. I give him a thumbs-up and he nods. “That was in the box she called a PK, right?”
Cassie shakes her head.
“Motherfucker,” I whisper shout. I can’t have them hear me swearing. They aren’t calling fouls the way they should be, but I’m sure they’ll call a foul on me cursing.
“It’s going to be a free kick,” Maria, our right wing, tells me.
“Of course it is. What does it take to get a good call here?” I mutter.
“Motherfucking miracle,” Maria replies.
We bump fists and I turn to the ref. She’s pointing at the spot where the ball should be placed.
“Okay, okay,” I tell her. “It should be a PK though,” I mutter under my breath.
“What was that?” she asks me. Judging by the pleased smile on her face, she would do anything to card me right now.
“Can I get my ten yards, please?” I ask her. The players should be ten yards from me when I get a free kick. They never line up that way, so most times you have to ask them to move back a bit so that you have good clearance.
“Sure can,” she replies, walking up to the wall of Spirit players so that she can move them back.
I look over at Cassie and wink. Free kicks like this have always been my strong suit.
I’m a strong player when it comes to nailing a free kick, or a PK.
My percentage of making them is definitely higher than missing.
I take a deep breath and look at the wall in front of me.
All of them are glaring at me. I just smile sweetly at them because I know that pisses them off.
They do it to be intimidating. They want you to fall off your game with their glares, but it doesn’t work for me.
The whistle blows and I send the ball flying.
It goes past the goalie and into the net.
The Blaze players go crazy and so does some of the crowd.
I swear I can hear Danny’s whooping from the press box.
I want to look up, but I don’t. Instead, I embrace my teammates as we celebrate taking a one-nothing lead.
Lining back up, we get ready to keep on playing the game.
We’re already into the second half, and only one goal has been scored. My goal. I serve the ball up to Kelsey and she takes to the net and scores another one, putting us up two-nothing.
We’re on a roll!
Later in the game, I’m going shoulder to shoulder with a defender.
She’s laying on me and, of course, the ref isn’t doing anything.
I doubt she’ll stop the game and talk with her like she should.
Instead, she lets it play on. Sometimes that’s fine, because I like it when they let it be a little physical and let us play.
But this is becoming a bit ridiculous. She pushes and pushes me, and I’m at my breaking point, which is probably what she wants.
But I can’t keep my head about me when I can’t even stay with the ball long enough.
I’ve had to pass ball after ball to my teammates because of all the pressure of her laying on me.
Finally, I’ve had enough. The play ends and I give her a good shove. I hear a whistle blow, and I mutter to myself, “Of fucking course.”
The ref comes over and holds up the yellow card in my face. I just nod.
“Thank you!” some players and fans call out.
“Fuck off,” I mutter.
“Ref! Ref, did you hear that?” one of the Spirit players asks.
“I didn’t stutter,” I say.
Cassie comes over and leads me away from the players and the ref. “Coach,” she calls to Watts. I know she thinks it’s time to get me out of the game, and it just might be.
Nate reads the situation well and pulls me from the game. I look over and see Cori is ready to take my spot. I don’t fight and I don’t get upset about it. I jog over to the sideline, shaking my head.
“Go get ’em, Cori,” I say, giving her a high five as we switch places on the field.
“Good job, Captain.” She winks as she heads out onto the field.
“Come here,” Coach Watts calls, and I jog over to him.
“Sorry, Coach. I lost my cool out there.” I figure the best course of action is for me to apologize to him. I’m not that sorry about it. “She pushed my buttons, and I’d had enough so I pushed her a bit.”
Nate chuckles. “Yeah, you pushed her alright. Thankfully, you only earned yourself a yellow card.”
I nod. “Not the best show of leadership out there,” I admit, lowering my head.
He pats me on the back. “It’s okay. Everyone gets frustrated from time to time. Just hang in there, alright?”
I nod again and head to the bench once Coach has gone back to watching the field.
Lowering myself onto the bench, I look at the clock.
Thankfully, there’s not much time left, because I hate sitting out.
Usually, I’m the last one to get subbed out.
Which isn’t the best for our subs who sit on the bench, but I love to play.
I’m no good at being a spectator when it comes to soccer.
“Great job, Captain,” Laura says, coming over to sit with me.
She’s one of our forwards who doesn’t see a lot of field time.
It makes me sad because she works really hard, but that’s what it’s like sometimes.
You join a team, hoping to stand out and hoping to get some field time, but it doesn’t always happen.
That’s what happened to me during my freshman year of college. I sat on the bench more than I played.
“Thanks. I know I should have kept my cool,” I tell her, ready to apologize to the team for my card.
“Ah, I wouldn’t worry about it. That girl was asking for it, and the ref wasn’t doing anything to stop it or calm anyone down.
Jesus, I’m surprised you didn’t punch. I would have.
” She laughs. “Don’t act like you have to be perfect.
You scored out there and served a beautiful ball to Kelsey.
You were a great leader. We all lose our cool from time to time. ”
I get ready to protest, but she holds up her hand to silence me.
“I think part of the problem of why you’re not always having as much fun out there as you should be or why you look so stiff at practice is because you’re putting too much pressure on yourself.
Whether or not the city likes us isn’t just on you.
It’s on all of us. And even if they don’t like us in the first season, I’m sure they’ll get used to us.
Cromwell spent too much money to just walk away from this team.
Just remember, it’s not all on you. Next time you hit that field, remember why you started playing and find that joy again.
The rest of it will come naturally to you. ”
I look over at Kelsey and smile. I had no idea the whole team could tell how stressed I’ve been or how much pressure I was putting on myself. Sighing, I turn and give her a hug. “Thank you, Kelsey. I had no idea how much I needed to hear that.”
“I do what I can,” she says with a shrug.
“You do more than that,” I tell her.
The buzzer sounds and the game is over. We shut them out 2-0. We all spring from the bench and run to hug the players who are coming off the field. After, we shake hands with the Spirit players, and I find the player I pushed in the sea of jerseys.
“Hey, sorry about that,” I tell her.
“No worries. It’s all part of the game.”
We hug and then I head back over to my team.
“Great show of leadership there, Captain,” Andie says, high-fiving me.
“I thought I owed her an apology. I lost my cool, but I don’t want to get a reputation as that player.”
“Yeah, I think the card gives you some street cred. Did you not notice the way your team cheered for you?”
I laugh. “No, I must have missed that.”
“You miss a lot of things when you’re busy stressing about the future of the team all by yourself.”
“I’m the captain,” I start to say, but then I remember what Kelsey told me. “You know, we should give Kelsey some minutes. She’s a wise one. She could even be a co-captain. And I think she’s earned it.”
“Yeah, she is. And I think she’ll get some soon. We need to be better at subbing. But I don’t think we would necessarily make her a co-captain. We have been looking at adding another captain to take some of the pressure off you. But unfortunately, probably not her.”
“Field time for her would do wonders for me. She really helped me just now.”
“Good, I’m glad.” Andie heads over to the coaches to listen to the pep talk we’re being given.
I wander over and catch the tail end of it.
“Blaze on three,” I call out, making sure to be there for my part of the huddle. We all call out Blaze and the huddle breaks up.
“Hey there, rule breaker.” Danny is leaning over the railing. He looks sexy as hell wearing a Blaze T-shirt and jeans, the navy-blue fabric stretching across his broad shoulders and showing off his muscular chest.
I move over to him and lean up so that he can hear me whisper. “Hello there, sexy.” The words come out of my mouth before I can stop them.
Danny chuckles. “Good game. I enjoyed watching you tonight. Even the little push. Way to take no shit.”
“Thanks,” I say. “Did you get anything new for your article?”
“I don’t want to talk about that. I’m staying at the same hotel as you, so if you want to get together after the team goes to bed, come see me.” He wiggles his eyebrows at me.
“I think I just might do that.”
He leans farther over the railing and runs a hand down my cheek. “We have to be careful. I don’t want anyone to notice, but man, I can’t tear myself away from you right now.”
“Why can’t you tear yourself away from me now? You’ve watched me play before.”
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, is all.” He pulls back.
“Uh-huh.” I shake my head. “I’ve gotta go see some of the fans.”
“But I’m your biggest.”
My mouth falls open in shock. “I thought you hated me.”
“I think I’ve shown otherwise,” he calls after me as I walk away.