11/27/2021 Bellevue vs Liberty 9-21-21BHS 3-2 Liberty
a 3rd min 0-1 Liberty FK 20th min 0-2 Liberty lob 33rd min 1-2 Bekah (Kendall) 63rd min 2-2 Nova (Bekah) 78th min 3-2 Nova (Lily) a "Alright, we did not die today. I call that an unqualified success." -Fear from Pixar's "Inside Out" movie. a One of the many reasons I love soccer is that in 80 minutes it can contain all of the emotions of life (but in the relative safety of a playing field with defined boundaries and referees who do their best to keep the game fair); and last night I had the full cast of characters from PIxar's Oscar-winning movie Inside Out playing their roles inside my head for the entire evening, and in order of appearance: anger, disgust, sadness, fear, hope, and joy. a The game was barely 3 minutes old when the referee whistled a soft foul against us 30yds from our goal ("we should lock the door and scream the curse word we know---it's a good one" --Anger). The resulting free-kick was hit solidly and LIberty took an early lead 0-1 before either team could even build a rhythm. And at the 20th minute, it got worse for the Wolverines. We uncharacteristically gave the ball away at midfield, then mis-hit the clearance attempt directly to the Liberty forward who casually lobbed the ball in from 25yds. 0-2 Liberty. ( "Okay, caution, there is a dangerous smell, people. Hold on, what is that?" --Disgust). The frustrating part was that we weren't even playing poorly. We just allowed two uncharacteristic goals at inopportune times. But it got even worse. It should've been 0-3 a few minutes later as the referee inadvertently blew his whistle rather than allowing advantage, calling back a third Liberty goal that really should've counted. At this point, frustration, sadness and dark humor were dominating the script ("Remember the funny movie where the dog died? --Sadness). a However, even during these difficult 20 minutes when Liberty was playing glittering soccer and maintaining good possession, we were creating plenty of great goal-scoring chances ourselves. We just weren't converting. But in the 33rd minute we finally got on the scoreboard as Kendall intercepted a pass deep in Liberty territory and dribbled directly at their center-backs before placing a perfect ball into space on the right-wing for Rebekah, who calmly tucked the ball away at the near post. Hope lives!!! 1-2 Liberty. ("Who's your friend who likes to play? Bing bong, bing bong!" -Bing Bong). a We had a lifeline. And the momentum shifted solidly from white to navy. From that point on, we controlled the game. The equalizer came in the 63rd minute as Rebekah drove down the right-wing before unselfishly squaring a perfect pass to Nova to redirect home and knot the score at 2-2. ("Take her to the moon for me. Okay?" --Bing Bong). And as the coaching staff was scribbling line-ups for overtime with only two minutes left in the game, Nova scored the match-winner, dribbling past four Liberty defenders in a move of beautiful and unbridled confidence ("Do you ever look at someone and wonder..."what's going on inside their head?'"--Joy). Extraordinary goal. Pandamonium. Fist pumps. Hugs and high-fives. But also well earned. a And just like last week versus Juanita, Ashley had to make a series of important saves to close the game out before the victory was official. Coaches love goalkeepers who are willing, and brave enough, to throw themselves at the feet of charging forward to preserve a win. 3-2 Bellevue. The final statistics were 21/3 vs. 8/3 shots/corners, but the game felt much much closer than that, with many of our shots coming during a purple patch for us in the second half ("Oh No! These facts and opinions look so similar." --Joy). Liberty are a very skillful team who have a distinct and positive style of play. It is a privilege to play them twice per year in Kingco, and I suspect we might even get a third game (maybe even a fourth?) before the season is over. a On Thursday we welcome Kingco newcomer Hazen to Bellevue Stadium. Coach John and I have agreed to a coach-take-over of the pre-game music for the JV and Varsity games...just this once...but be prepared for a bit more variety before our girls take the field on Thursday. a Finally, we have our annual BUFC clinic on Friday from 5-7p. Our players will arrive at 4:30 and act as coaches for 80 soccer girls ages 5 to 11. It's one of my favorite community-building things we do, and I'm looking forward to seeing our Wolverine role-models provide soccer instruction to the next generation of Bellevue players. Comments are closed.
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