9/21/2024 Varsity - Bellevue vs Eastlake 9-20-24Bellevue 1-0 Eastlake
4th min Nora (Maddy & Mia) In the timeless battle between Wolves and Wolverines, our girls displayed just enough feral ferociousness to earn our first-ever win in the newly formed Kingco CrownCrest division. (Hyperbole is fun. Perhaps less so when describing more serious topics like pharma ads, fishing trips, job interviews, and politics, but I digress...). In reality, our first-ever regular season game against Eastlake wasn't ferociously feral, but a fair, competitive, and good-natured match between two determined teams. Yes, there were flashes of tough physicality, hard tackling, and stout defending, but that's what we should expect playing in a league of mostly 4A opponents. The game started brightly for our girls as we took the opening kick-offs and applied good counter-pressing pressure deep in Eastlake territory. And in just the 4th minute, our pressure led to our winning goal as Mia intercepted an errant Eastlake square ball and raced toward the Wolves' defensive third, attracting all four of the remaining Eastlake defenders. With that much attention, the wise move was to spin out of the pack of Wolves, drop a simple ball to a wide-open Maddy who made an equally simple entry pass to Nora at the top of the box. Our tricky midfielder did the rest, smashing a shot into the upper right corner for an early 1-0 advantage: a great team goal that showed how devastating our press can be when we combine it with quick counter-attacks, simple passing, and composed finishing. The rest of the game followed a similar pattern: sustained Bellevue possession with occasional dangerous counter-attacks from precise long-balls aimed at Eastlake's speedy wingers. At least three times Eastlake was able to get behind our backline from a long-ball that required goalkeeping heroics from Rebecca to keep our shutout intact. The final stats were 20/6 shots/corners for Bellevue, to 5/0 for Eastlake. We did a good job limiting Eastlake's chances, but the chances they did have were Defcon 5-level of intensity. But we held on to the final whistle, managing the game in the waning moments with clever throw-ins and shielding in the corner to secure the victory. There were several gutsy individual performances from our girls last night, but like last week the kudos need to be shared by the entire team. Our collective defensive work-rate, organization, and commitment have been excellent up and down the pitch. We have rotated our roster as deeply due to our injuries, knocks, and heavy legs, and every player who stepped onto the field has contributed positively. Next week we go on the road to play 7-time 4A state champion Skyline on Tuesday. and 5-time 4A state champion Issaquah on Thursday. The two schools are Washington high school girls' soccer royalty: the best of the best. We will treat them with the respect they deserve, but we are eager to establish our own reputation for girls' soccer excellence. Our games next week will be played on the field, not in the history books. Thank you to the parent alumni group who attended our game last night. We appreciate the support from our friends, families and supporters. Comments are closed.
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