11/27/2021 Bellevue vs Liberty 11-2-21Bellevue 4-0 Liberty
a 7th min Nova (Alex) 25th min Alex (Bekah) 50th min Mia (Halle) 53rd min Halle (Alex & Mia) a My pre-game talk was mostly about savoring the moment. Playing in a championship game is a rare occasion, regardless of whether it's for your club or school. It just doesn't happen very often. I'm old. But I can remember every final that I got to play in or coach. It's a moment. It's indelible. An opportunity to make a little bit of history that can never be erased from the record books, or our memories. And the Kingco Tournament Championship game had the added bonus of giving the winner an automatic bid to the 3A State tournament and a bonus of ten days to rest and get healthy. So there was a lot to play for. a Once the opening whistle sounded, our overall play wasn't our best, but our finishing was sharp, and that's a trade-off I'd be willing to make every time. We overwhelmed the visiting Patriots 4-0 with good finishing, and can now add Kingco Tournament Champs to our list of titles after earning the Kingco Regular season Championship last week. That's 2 for 2 won for trophies available so far, with the only opportunity left for our girls being the final jewel in the high school triple crown: competing for a State title. a After a very shaky start (yes, nerves are real), we took the lead after 7 minutes with Hinana calmly picking up a pass from Gaby, playing Alex into space with a simple pass and...well, we know what happens when our left winger has a bit of room to run...60yards later Alex finessed a cut-back cross to a streaking Nova who smashed a wonderful first-time shot past the Liberty keeper. 1-0 Bellevue. Then in the 25th minute, Gaby again found Hinana's feet at midfield, and Hinana skillfully switched play to an overlapping Lily who raced at the last defender before slipping the ball to Bekah...our right winger took a very good first touch towards goal and then cut-back a delightful cross that Alex blasted with a first-touch bomb from the opposite wing. Boom. 2-0 Bellevue and a beautiful team goal that covered the entire field in the build-up. a Despite the 2-0 scoreline at halftime, we hadn't played our typical brand of flowing possession-based soccer. But finals are often choppy affairs, and the result can be determined by a few key moments. For example, Amirah made a spectacular save in the 34th minute to preserve our lead diving to her right at full stretch to keep a Liberty volley from finding the back of the net; and it must be noted that the Liberty attack was uncharacteristically wasteful on two other chances that really should've narrowed the deficit. But we'll always take a shutout, regardless of whether it happens from holding the opposing team to zero chances, or just holding our breath. A shutout is a shutout. So two exquisite goals and several goalkeeper saves saw us with a clear advantage at the halftime break. a And we began to play better. Our rhythm in possession improved as Vivian, Kate, Halle, Kendall and Hinana began to dictate tempo from midfield and the chances began to flow. Many of you probably noticed that there were a few changes to our roster for the playoffs. Two of our stalwart senior players are currently recovering from serious injuries and aren't cleared to play yet, so we called up several JV players to provide cover and contribute to our post-season run. One of those players, Mia, had joined us twice during the regular season with brief cameo appearances. In those limited varsity minutes, Mia had scored once and unselfishly assisted on another. And so Mia earned her minutes tonight from taking her opportunities earlier in the season, and what did the freshman do with her playoff opportunity? Scored our third goal in the 50th minute with a precise one-touch finish after a headed assist from Halle; and then created our 4th goal by back-checking to win the ball, beat two Liberty defenders on the dribble before dishing Alex into space on the left, sublime first-time cut-back cross, first-time finish by Halle and the game was effectively over. 4-0 Bellevue. Opportunity taken. Well done. a There were more good individual performances all over the field, with everyone contributing to our success regardless of whether it was in a starting or substitute role. Our senior class continues to be extraordinary and is the biggest contributing factor to our late-season success. These girls have each other's back. They are supportive, hard-working, fun-loving and willing to do whatever role is assigned to help the team. I'm so proud of what they have accomplished so far, and even more proud of HOW they have gone about their soccer. Championship games are rare and memorable. And I'll remember the class of 2022 and our pair of Kingco Championships forever. a But our story isn't over yet. a We have earned a State tournament birth and now must wait until Sunday, Nov 7th for the brackets to be released based on our final RPI and seeding committee allocations. But posting a 7-game winning streak (6 shutouts) to finish our season, seeded #1 in Kingco, and winning our tournament should be enough to get us a BYE into the round of 16 which begins on Friday, November 12th, with the quarter-finals being played the next day. Final locations and exact times for State games are TBD. It could be on Bellevue turf, or could be at Lakeside, Gig Harbor or Spokane. We'll know for certain on November 7th. But it really doesn't matter. Whether it's on home turf, or somewhere else; whether we receive a top seed, or something less than what we think we deserve; it doesn't matter: I'll take our team against anyone in the state, anywhere, anytime. Bring it on. Comments are closed.
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