Junior Varsity - Bellevue vs North Creek 10-10-24

Bellevue JV 6-0 North Creek
 
16th min Serena (Tara)
24th min Addie N
30th min Talia (Tara)
34th min Moriah (Alexis)
38th min Addie N (Emily)
68th min Kendall (Serena)
 
Confidence in sports is a funny thing. It appears in many different ways. There is a swagger before a game and an attitude, ‘we’re going to win this game’. There is confidence within a game where a team dictates the action and takes it to the other team because they know they are the better squad. Then there is confidence that is absent at the outset of a game but grows when things start to go your way. And finally, confidence pops up out of nowhere like a light bulb coming on.
 
The latter is exactly what happened Thursday night as the North Creek Jaguars visited Memorial Field for a KingCo JV soccer game.
 
The Bellevue girls’ first 15 minutes last night was not our best soccer. All our pregame talk was about coming out with energy, focusing on our technical skill and creating dangerous chances. Instead, we were forcing the action, couldn’t possess the ball and looked out of sorts. Ugh.
 
Then it all changed in a blink of an eye. A throw from the NC goalkeeper skipped off the turf at midfield and bounced off Tara’s shinguards and ping-ponged off several NC players. The final ricochet found Serena, who didn’t hesitate, grabbed the ball and headed toward goal. She juked a defender to get the ball on her preferred left foot and slid a shot into the far post to open the scoring. Boom! We had our first lead in a game since Sept 20 against Eastlake.
 
And just like that, a new Bellevue team appeared on the field. It was as if I substituted all 11 girls for new players. Suddenly there was confidence overflowing the pitch. We started to connect passes, the communication began and we took over the game. That one goal changed everything. Strange but I wasn’t complaining.
 
The flood gates opened up just seven minutes after that first goal. Addie N stripped the ball from a Jaguar defender who was streaking up field after a short goalkick. She expertly poked it away, created a bit of space and hit an absolute rocket from 20 yards out. A diving NC goalkeeper had no chance. Talie got in on the action next. A nice little one-two combination between Addie N and Tara opened up some field for our crafty midfielder to feed a wide-open Talia at the top of the penalty box. A nifty turn and a low, hard shot found the net.
 
From there Moriah and Addie N both added to our score tally with two terrific goals and we coasted into halftime with a comfortable lead. There wasn’t much to talk about at the break other than to compliment the team on the turnaround and applaud some terrific goals. We knew goals weren’t important from here on out, so we wanted to build more confidence on the ball and practicing maintaining possession. The second half was more good soccer as we shuffled players around, played people in unfamiliar positions and moved freely about the field. It was fun.
 
Then it happened.
 
We’ve been trying all season to find opportunities to reward Kendall, our fearless junior leader, a chance at a goal. We had come up short earlier in the season but last night felt like the perfect chance. I slotted her at striker midway through the half and the team new the task. After a couple of close calls that fell tantalizingly close, Serena slipped a splendid through ball between two defenders to send Kendall toward goal. One of just two juniors (healthy) in our entire program, Kendall knew what to do. She out-raced the helpless Jaguar players and lashed a bullet of a shot the NC keeper could only barely get a hand on. The ball rippled the net and the celebration was on. A great goal and well deserved.
 
I told the girls I would cancel Friday practiced if they won the game. Apparently, they are sick of me and really didn’t want to practice. A great win all around.
 
More tough games next week as we tangle with the other two 3A teams in our league. We host Inglemoor on Tuesday and travel to Liberty on Thursday. I hope to see everyone out there supporting the team. Have a great weekend. Go Wolverines!