Bellevue vs Mercer Island 11-7-19

Bellevue 2-0 Mercer Island
 
I'm going to keep this recap brief. No really. Instead of reflecting too long on our gritty 2-0 victory over MI, the coaching staff is quickly shifting our focus to our next game in the district playoffs. We play Holy Names at 5pm on Saturday at Nathan Hale HS. The winner will advance to the state tournament, the loser will be out. 
 
So here we go: the first 40 minutes were entirely forgettable. Ugly soccer by both teams, although we did create 7/3 shots/corners vs. 1/0 for MI. But it didn't feel like either team was playing their best soccer after hard-fought games on Tuesday (MI beat Juanita 3-2 on a last second corner). Everything was a bit slow and reactionary all over the pitch. The 2nd half was much better. We started brightly and began moving the ball through midfield and to our overlapping fullbacks with a bit more pace and confidence. And we got our reward in the 55th minute as Hinana slipped a ball into Chloe to finish strongly with her right foot. Yes, you read that correctly. Chloe has a right foot. And she used it expertly to smash the winning goal past the MI keeper. Well done Chloe. Just 2 minutes later we added to our lead, Paige feeding Courtney on the right wing, and Court crossed a dangerous ball towards Chloe that the MI defender could only redirect into her own net for the dreaded OG. Great cross by Court. Great pressure by Chloe. And commiserations to the MI defender who didn't have much of a choice given the pace and accuracy of the cross. If you play long enough as a defender, you will know what that feels like. It isn't great. And a shame that it had to happen in an elimination game. But we'll gladly take it.    
 
And that was about it. In the end, the statistics read like a landslide: 16/4 vs. 6/1 shots/corners, but the actual game was tighter than that. But in the playoffs, when elimination is on the line, I don't care much about the aesthetics, but care very much about the final result. And the girls got the result. Credit to them all.  
 
On to Holy Names for the last remaining spot at the state tournament. 
 
Highlights:
We won.  2-0.  The season continues