Junior Varsity - Bellevue vs Lake Washington 10-24-24

Bellevue 0-2 LW
 Every year I am amazed how fast the JV soccer season goes. It seems like tryouts were yesterday. But here we are.  15 games in the books for 2024. Unfortunately, the season ended on a sour note as the visiting Lake Washington Kangaroos handed us a tough loss in our final game Thursday night.

Each season you have a couple games when you’re the better team, a couple games you squeak out a victory or tie and a couple of games you feel you should have won. Last night, I felt we should have won. Although the game was pretty even with lots of back-and-forth action, I felt we had the upper hand in offensive pressure. As well as we played on Tuesday night, we couldn’t quite match that game’s quality. We struggled, again, in the final third and failed to get any real chances in the first half. Yes, we had lots of shots, but nothing to really scare the goalkeeper. Our defense was its typical, stout self so we went into halftime scoreless.

We talked about sharpening up our ball handling and trying our best to connect passes. However, it was the Kangaroos who came out firing. They looked like the Tuesday Wolverines: sharp passing, good possession and they were winning the 50/50 balls. Was it the Senior Night crowd starting to fill the stands? Was homecoming on our minds? Was our final game weighing on the players? Tough to tell, but we lacked a little something in the second half.

Lake Washington broke through in the 70th minute when their midfielder lofted a hopeful ball toward goal. Katelyn, in goal, did her best to back peddle and tip the shot over the cross bar. Unfortunately, the push came up inches short and the ball fell softly behind her just inside the goal. It was a great effort but an unfortunate result. The nail in the coffin came just five minutes later. As we pushed for the equalizer, we got stretched a bit by LW. They played a nice one-two and sent their winger deep into our end. A pinpoint cross eluded a couple of Bellevue defenders and found their striker just inside the penalty area. She didn’t waste her chance and slide the ball past a diving Katelyn. 2-0 bad guys.

So, we finished the season 7-7-1 (5-5-1 in league). We scored 33 goals and gave up 32 scores. It was a rollercoaster for sure but the improvement in the last six games is something we can take pride in. There were contributions up and down the roster the whole season. I’m proud of the girls.

I want to thank everyone who helped put this JV season together, especially Stacy Heinemann who did a lot of heavy lifting for us. Thank you. I could not have done it without you.

​It was a great, fun season and I hope everyone got a little something out of it. I hope you all will help support the varsity team as we begin the playoff journey.