Varsity - BHS vs Shorewood 9-9-25

Bellevue 4-0 Shorewood

7th min Ava (Saleen)
50th min Paris (Nora)
52nd min Saleen (Ava)
59th min Serena (Aanya)
 
FTJ. 
 
Many parents and players have asked me what the mysterious "FTJ" means on the back of our white practice jerseys. Each pre-season, our new captains select what goes on the back of those jerseys and so it was no surprise to me that Nora and Raina chose "FTJ" since that was one of our rallying cries during our "Club Perfect" State Championship campaign when they were freshmen. And even before that, FTJ has been a program motto since my first season at Bellevue.
 
When she was a teenager, my wife worked at a summer camp. The leader of that camp was a woman named Gail, who became not only her manager at the camp, but like a bonus-grandmother-figure who was at every holiday meal, family gathering or wedding over the next several decades. Gail is one of those women who embodies "Canadian nice:" she is kind, empathetic, polite, thoughtful, and generous. But Gail is also very tough. Very tough. The type of Canadian who would gleefully check you into the boards with a little extra intensity because that's just part of the game. Metaphorically of course. Gail maintains very high standards.   
 
Gail's favorite mantra is FTJ, and I borrowed it from her. There are lots of people in the world who can do 80-90% of a task, but the last 10% is what separates merely good from great. Writing 90% of an essay gets you most of the way there, but grinding over edits on the last 10% until it's actually good can take just as long as the previous burst of creative productivity (am I dating myself from a world before chatGPT?). Anybody can throw clothes into a laundry machine and push a button. But did the laundry get properly dried? Did it get folded? Did it get put back where it belongs or dumped into a clean wrinkled heap on the floor? Those last tasks are just as important as the impulse to push the button on the laundry machine.  Finish. the. job. When a team is winning a tight game, and playing beautiful soccer until the 70th minute, sometimes it takes an equal amount of grind, perseverence, discipline and grit to get through the last 10 minutes of gametime to secure a victory. Those last 10 minutes can take as much mental and physical effort as the previous 70. So we always aspire to Finish the Job.  FTJ. 
 
And against Shorewood on Thursday night, our first road game of the season, we did exactly that. Shorewood has won the Wesco 3A league title for at least the last three years. They are a good program with very good coaching. But from the kick-off, we announced that we were up for the contest by jumping on a loose ball and creating a scoring chance within the first 10 seconds. And it got even better. We opened the scoring in the 7th minute with a beautiful team goal. From a Shorewood goal kick, the keeper boomed the ball towards midfield, our centerbacks won the ball and confidently dropped the ball back to Katelyn in goal to maintain possession. Katelyn calmly cleared her lines with an accurate first-time pass to Mack in space on our left wing. Mack took a great first touch and passed to Nora centrally, who turned and sent a ball upfield to Saleen at striker. Saleen beat her defender and slipped a wonderful ball to Raina at the back post...who...passed back to Saleen who then set up Ava for a tap-in blast from two yards out.  1-0 Bellevue. Very unselfish play from our junior striker and senior winger to set up our freshmen midfielder. With crisp two-touch passing we traveled from our goalkeeper to our striker to an opening goal in seconds. Yes please. It was a glittering start, and we played very well for the balance of the half, creating 15 chances on goal but without adding another tally. 1-0 halftime.
 
In the 50th minute the insurance goal finally arrived. Paris controlled the ball on the left wing, found Saleen's feet wide, two-touches and a simple drop to Nora centrally, two-touches and a simple forward pass on-the-ground back to Paris who had continued her original run. Paris beat a defender on the dribble in the box and slipped the ball past the onrushing keeper. 2-0 Bellevue. Soccer can seem so easy when we are passing with one or two-touches and moving into good spaces. Then we add some flair on the dribble in dangerous areas for a sumptuous team goal.  And two minutes later, we added another. Talia began the move by harrassing her opposition forward into a give-away which Ava gladly accepted at midfield. Two touches and a simple direct ball to Saleen's feet on the left wing and our junior forward glided past her defender, with flair, and smashed a left-footed shot into the side-netting. 3-0 Bellevue. The final goal came in the 59th minute. Again the movement started with good defending as Talia anticipated an entry pass, won the ball, and calmly passed to Paris on the left. Paris spun her defender and found Aayna running into the space Paris had created on the left. Simple ball to feet and Aanya raced past her defender, with flair, before sending a perfect curling left-footed cross into the box where Serena tapped it in at the near post. Gorgeous. 4-0 Bellevue. Final Score. Game statistics told a very different story than our battle with Sehome last week...Bellevue shots/corners were 25/1 vs 2/1 for Shorewood. It's an imbalance I'd love to repeat as often as we can.
 
It was an excellent team victory. We played solid, aggressive team defense keeping our shape without allowing our axis to get stretched. Shutouts are cool. It's difficult to lose a game if we don't allow the other team to score. And that statistic takes everyone's focused contribution down to the final whistle. It's not enough to just get part of the way there, the last few steps across the line matter. Great team win.