Junior Varsity - Bellevue vs Skyline 9-24-24

​Bellevue JV 0-4 Skyline
 
10th min Skyline goal
12th min Skyline goal
14th min Skyline goal
45th min Skyline goal
 
The Bellevue JV girl’s soccer team hit the road for the first time on Tuesday night, debuting their white uniforms. Road games are always tough, especially the first of the season. Routines are different, the field is different, angles are different. It’s all new. Toss in a tough team and a hot turf and it didn’t add up well for our girls.
 
Skyline has about 500 more students then BHS and celebrates a very robust girl’s soccer program. They are strong, deep and fast. A roadmap for success. It was a tough task for Bellevue on this night.
 
The game started fast and furious and we struggled to keep pace. While Skyline was linking passes and moving freely, we had difficulty keeping up and we didn’t see much of the ball. As we have all season so far, we continued to see our technical ability drop when the game gets fast. We lose our poise on the ball and give it away far too easily. When our technical skills let us down, it makes it difficult to string passes together and get into a flow. I know I sound repetitive, but it is our bugaboo.
 
With teams that press hard, as Skyline did, our time with the ball is limited and chances were scare. Turnovers and slack positioning cost us three goals in the first half. A couple of injuries didn’t help us either.
 
At halftime we talked about how we could combat Skyline’s press and get more of the ball. We agreed we needed to clean up our control, step up our intensity and continue to fight. We knew it was going to be a challenge coming into this game but we just couldn’t get out-worked. We decided to put the first half behind us and go and win the second half.
 
We lost Serena to a head injury and Addie W’s repaired knee began to act up so the bench was thin. Everyone had to buckle down and do their job. Any relief would only come with the final whistle. Despite giving up another goal, the second half was much better for the Wolverines. There were glimpses of possession and ball control but just not enough to get a goal. Talia gave us a glimmer of hope but was only able to hit the post on a nice breakaway and the follow up was just wide. Oh so close.
 
There were exhausted faces and weary legs at the end of a tough fight. Kudos to Skyline, they are a great team. But cheers to our girls for continuing to fight under tough conditions. We never gave up and that means a lot. I know we can get better, and we will. We will take our lessons learned from this game into our matchup with Issaquah on Thursday. Another road game. Another tough battle. Chins up. Onward we push. See you on the pitch.