Bellevue vs Mercer Island 10-28-21

Bellevue 5-0 Mercer Island
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19th min Nova (Bekah)
29th min Bekah (Halle)
40+2min Hannah (Emily)
43rd min Nova (unassisted)
46th min Kendall (Alex)
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Oh what a night. Even an atmospheric river that relentlessly poured throughout the evening couldn't waterlog the pure joy of our senior night. We were absolutely buoyant. Waterproof. Our 5-0 statement win against the Islanders was the best possible gift we could've given to our senior class. It was a fitting memento for the 13 players in the class of 2022. In the last three years of our rivalry, we are 5-1-1 against the girls in maroon and white. For a rivalry that has see-sawed back and forth during my time at Bellevue, this group of girls have done a lot more "seeing" than "sawing."  a 
As I told the girls before the game, despite the dramatic conditions, it was still 100x better than the windy cyclone we endured on Tuesday at LW; it might have been wet versus MI, but it wasn't hurricane windy. We could still play composed possession soccer with a little rain (ok, a lot of rain) on a good turf field. And we did. Nova opened the scoring in the 19th minute, centering another dangerous corner that the MI keeper could only parry to Bekah in front of goal, Bekah's instinctive touch took her slightly away from goal at a very difficult angle and with her back to goal; however, Nova's angle of attack as she raced in from the corner was perfect, she called off her teammate and fired in a low hard shot that found the back of the net. It was a tremendous example of why onfield communication is so important, if Bekah doesn't unselfishly cede the right-of-way to Nova we don't score, but instead we open the floodgates with the critical first goal. 1-0 Bellevue. 
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Bekah was rewarded for her unselfhness on the first goal, by bagging our second in the 29th minute as Halle slipped a ball to our winger's feet on the right side. Bekah still had a lot to do as she beat 3 MI defenders on the dribble and rifled a low precision shot to the far corner for a 2-0 lead. And then we moved on to possibly the best highlight of the night, as Hannah received an excellent cross from Emily from the right side and roofed the ball into the upper net past the helpless MI goalkeeper in the 2nd minute of first-half stoppage time. One of the many reasons this team has been so special is their unbridled support for each other on, and off, the field. Whether that is making signs for JVC players during their pizza night, decorating the locker room for their seniors, or the pure bench-clearing joy that erupted when Hannah scored her goal against MI on senior night. It was a special moment that I'll remember forever. 
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With the game firmly in hand at halftime, we decided to use the first 10 minutes of the second half to experiment with some tactical changes that might give us more formational options in future playoff games. The results were encouraging: in less than three minutes Nova had scored our 4th, pouncing on a poor MI backpass to easily increase the lead. Three minutes after that we added a beautiful team goal: Nova back-checking to win the ball at midfield, squaring to Alex on the left to run freely into space before centering to Kendall for a first-time composed finish; a text-book counter-attack of fluidity, pace, and beauty.  5-0 Bellevue. All goals scored by seniors. Our 6th consecutive win, and 5th shutout on the bounce. No new injuries. Despite the driving rain, the evening couldn't possibly have gone any better from a team perspective. 
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It was a great rivalry week for the entire program too. Our excellent JVC team defeated the Islanders 9-1 on Monday and finished their season with an impressive 13-1-0 record, easily the best in the Kingco conference. Similarly, our JV team beat the Islanders 4-0 and finished their season undefeated with a 11-0-3 record to win the Kingco JV league easily. It was coach John Hunter's third undefeated season in a row for Bellevue. To paraphrase DJ Khalid, "All [they] do is win, win win, no matter what..."  Congratulations to both Bellevue teams, the future continues to be very very bright.  
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So now the Kingco playoffs are set. The #1 and #2 seeded teams, Bellevue & Liberty, meet next Tuesday at BHS to determine the Kingco Tournament Champion with the winner earning the first Kingco bid to the state tournament. We know the Patriots well and respect their very skillful brand of soccer. It will be a very good and competitive game, a worthy title match. If we win that game, we will have our first state tournament game on Friday, Nov 12th in the round of 16, with the quarter-finals scheduled for Saturday Nov 13th. All times and locations TBD.  If we slip up versus Liberty, we would have one more chance at earning a state bid in a consolation final next Thursday, Nov 4th at BHS stadium. Winner goes to state as the 2nd Kingco team, loser out. 
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I love tournament soccer. Anything can happen. And I'm excited for this current group of Bellevue girls to begin their post-season journey next Tuesday. Here we go. ​