Varsity- Bellevue vs Lake Washington 10-24-24

Bellevue 3-1 LW (Senior Night)
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39th min Mia (Saleen) from FK
69th min Saleen (unassisted)
70th min LW goal
76th min Kaitlyn (Saleen) corner

"Don't worry about a thing, 'cause every little thing, gonna be alright." 

Bob Marley loved soccer. It's true. Perhaps he wrote the lyrics to Three Little Birds after playing a final regular season game in his Jamacia Sunday league, needing a result, plus help elsewhere, to qualify for a championship...and then having everything be...alright. 

After a wonderful ceremony to honor our 15 seniors (thank you Stacy and all of our parent volunteers), we knew our mission: we took the field needing a win against LW, and for Liberty to drop points against Woodinville. Typically for a senior night, we put all of our seniors in the starting line-up. however, squeezing 14 players into 11 field positions turned out to be impossible. I tried. So instead, we tried an alternative way to honor our seniors. Every senior on our roster had started at least one game this season, except for three. So we started those three seniors and were conventional with the rest of the line-up regardless of class. 

And we started brightly, sharing the ball and earning two quick corners from great work by Morgan at striker. However, after the first ten minutes, the game devolved into a midfield scrum of looped long clearances, contested headers, loose trapping, and wayward passes. Just when it looked like we would enter half-time in a goal-less deadlock, Saleen cleverly noticed a slightly misplaced LW wall and keeper positioning and fired a free-kick to the near post that the Kang goalie was just able to keep out but only as far as Mia who raced in and roofed the rebound into the back of the net. 1-0 Bellevue on the stroke of half-time.  

Despite the goal just moments earlier, the make-shift locker room in the shed was mostly quiet. It felt like someone had let the air out of our emotional tires. Which makes sense. Senior night is always a wonderful and joyous night, that is also an early goodbye to our beloved teammates and friends. It's an emotional investment from everyone: underclassmen who design the t-shirts, decorate the locker room, and stand in an honor-guard as the seniors jog hand-in-hand and twirl.; parents who have stood on countless sidelines for a decade or more; and for the 15 seniors who have built four years of shared soccer memories into what I hope is a community that lasts well beyond their graduation. So yeah, we looked a bit mentally tired. Understandable.   

When I asked for a self-diagnosis and the first word from the team was "sloppy."  Well put. Good diagnosis. I agreed. So we pledged to do our best to clean up our soccer and took the field for the second half. The good news was that LW hadn't generated a single shot and our team defense was rock solid as it has been for well over a month. As I have written many times in these recaps: fluidity and finishing can ebb and flow across a season (especially with weather and quality of turf), so if you want to compete for a championship, team defense is the most reliable cornerstone. And our foundation is strong. 

We were marginally better in the second half, but not by much. But again, we weren't allowing any chances at our end either so Mia's goal seemed like it would be enough to get us the result we needed. But then in the 69th minute, Sofia punted to midfield and Mia flicked a header into space that Saleen gathered 50 yards from the LW goal...and then our sophomore talisman did her thing, weaving past Kang defenders before depositing a left-footed shot into the lower right corner. 2-0 Bellevue. Insurance goal. Three birds singing on our doorstep. As we prepared to clear our bench with substitutes, we...conceded? Less than a minute after our insurance goal, a phantom free-kick was awarded about 40 yards from our goal on the LW right side, and...well we didn't cover ourselves in glory in our defending and the ball found its way across the line after allowing a big bounce in our six-yard box. Ugh. So we hit "pause" on the player rotation and found ourselves back at our panic stations. Fortunately, in Kaitlyn, we have one of the best headers of the ball in our league, so after earning a corner in the 76th minute, our senior center-back secured all three points with a towering header into the upper corner of the goal from a Saleen corner. One of our best goals of the year at a perfect time. Hurrah and celebration. 3-1 Bellevue win.

We did our part, but what about the help we needed...Liberty had to tie or lose for us to host the Championship game on Bellevue turf. Coach Annika had been streaming the Woodinville vs. Liberty game from our bench and Woodinville was leading 1-0 late in the game...but then Liberty tied it. 1-1 at the regulation whistle, and Kingco rules require two golden goal overtime periods. So the coaching staff stuck around on our sidelines, alone in the Bellevue stadium, glued to the Woodinville action. The first overtime ended 1-1. So far, so good. finally, we got the help we needed as the second overtime mercifully ended with no changes in the score. A tie. With that result, Bellevue finished as the best-positioned 3A team in the Kingco CrownCrest league (third overall behind Woodinville and Skyline), one point ahead of Liberty.  

So we get to play at least one more game at our beloved Bellevue stadium. Saturday, November 2nd we will host the 3A Kingco Championship game against Liberty at 5:30pm. Winner to State, loser to a consolation game for the final chance at a State tournament qualification. Since that game is 8 days away, we gave the team two days off from practice (it is Homecoming after all). We will resume next Tuesday and begin preparations for Liberty next week. 

"Rise up this morning, smiled with the risn sun, three little birds, pitch by my doorstep, singin' sweet songs, of melodies pure and true, saying this is my message to you...

don't worry about a thing, cause every little thing, gonna be alright."

Rebecca, Sofia, Kendall, Kaitlyn, Amy, Maddy, Emily, Anna, Faith, Mia, Alyson, Leah, Arianna, Morgan, and Savannah, thank you for making everything alright during your four years of Bellevue soccer. You will be missed. 

A big thank you to all of the family and friends who supported our team tonight (including our football team who were there at kick-off). It matters.    

On to the Kingco championship game. Birth in the State tournament at stake. See you then.