Junior Varsity - Bellevue vs Woodinville 10-1-24

Bellevue JV 2-3 Woodinville

7th min Woodinville  goal
32nd  min Addie W (Addie N)
38th min Woodineville goal
43rdh min  Emilie (Addie N)
54th min Woodinville goall
 
Heading into the 2024 JV soccer season, we knew it was going to be a challenge. As we have talked about extensively, KingCo shuffled the entire league and based the divisions on a 3-year pedigree and not school classification. So that meant most of our games would be against bigger 4A schools with robust programs. Throw on top of that a very young JV team this year and that makes for a demanding season.
 
So how do we stay motivated when results don’t go our way, and we find ourselves on the wrong end of some lopsided scores?
 
Improvement
 
How can we as a team and each individual player, improve game to game? That is the challenge I want our girls to tackle. If we can get better each game and feel like we gave our best effort, the sting of defeat doesn’t hurt quite as much. Afterall, the goal for each of the players (I hope) is to eventually land a roster spot on the varsity team. In order to make that happen each player has to take it upon themselves to work hard in practice and improve their skills and help the team succeed. That is our mission.
 
Heading into Tuesday night’s home game against Woodinville we knew it was going to be a battle once again. But I was curious to see how the team would bounce back from our deflating loss last week to Issaquah.
 
The team came out with good energy and the first few minutes we quite even. We were connecting passes, being patient on the ball and winning tackles. It was unfortunate in just the 7th minute that an unlucky clearance gifted the Woodinville winger open space down the wing to send a low cross to the far post. Her teammate outraced us to the ball and bounced her shot off the crossbar for the first goal of the game.
 
But the team didn’t drop their heads and sulk about going behind, they instead upped their intensity and really started playing well. As Peter said at halftime, it was the best we’ve played since the first couple games of the year.
 
It paid off in the 32nd min with a very nice team goal. Aleah got it started when she took a ball from our goalkeeper Leia and promptly fell to the ground. Instead of panicking, she calmly, while on her knees, wrestled the ball away from the Falcon’s striker and flicked the ball to Tara. Tara then saw the Addie connection ready to pounce and slipped a ball to Addie Nemoto some sixty yards from goal. Addie saw her namesake Addie Wingard start her run toward goal and hit her with a nifty through-ball. AW did the rest. She beat two defenders with a skilled cut back and slipped a hard shot past the keeper. Boom! 1-1.
 
Momentum was on our side and we steamed toward halftime. Then it wasn’t.
 
Woodinville used five quick passes to go the length of the field where another unlucky clearance bounced Woodinville’s way. A layback pass and a looping shot found the back of the net just as time expired in the half.
 
At halftime we talked about this being one of our better efforts and how it was ours to win. Emilie took that discussion to heart just three minutes into the second half. It began when AN made a great run down the right flank, spun her defender and sent a pass to a streaking Talia in the penalty area. Talia couldn’t quite corral the pass and a Woodinville defender gathered it up and headed up field. Luckily for us her first touch got a little out of reach and Tara was there to challenge for it. Her deflection bounced kindly to Emilie. She took one touch and hit a rocket from 25 yards out and rippled the net for our second goal. A great shot. 2-2
 
As the half wore on and with the scored tied, both teams began to tire and spaces began to open up. Usually, a good sign for us to really dictate the game by connecting passes and maintaining possession. But Woodinville fought us hard for each ball and it paid off for them in the 54th minute. A failed Bellevue clearance once again was our downfall. It fell to the feet of a Falcon midfielder who was able to get a blistering shot off to the far post that just eluded our diving goalkeeper.
 
As much as we tried we just couldn’t quite find that one moment of brilliance to get an equalizer and the Falcons came away with the win at the final whistle.
 
It was a great effort from the team. Everyone contributed in this game and a big shout out to our three JVC players who came out despite illnesses and put in some good minutes. It was great to see the team improvement from our last game which is what we wanted to see from everyone.
 
We’ll try not to get distracted by the scenery when we travel to Mt. Si on Thursday for our next match. The gauntlet continues. See you on the pitch.