Varsity - Bellevue vs Sehome 9-7-24

Bellevue 1-0 Sehome
24tth Anna (Nora)

As some of you know, my middle daughter is an equestrian competitor in "Eventing," which is essentially a horsey triathlon. You may have seen some video highlights from Versailles a few weeks ago at the Olympics. Eventing is best known for its cross-country courses in which the rider and horse have to navigate several miles of fences, mostly at a gallop, over fixed walls, ponds, shrubberies, and other visually tricky obstacles the course designer has created to test the courage and ability of each team. As a rider progresses up the levels, the courses get more challenging. Decisions have to be made quickly and the fences are purposefully arranged to be optical illusions. You know, stuff designed to terrify a horse and rider on the course (and their parents), like a fence perched at the apex of hill, with a steep 10 foot drop on the opposite side with nothing but a murky pond in the landing area. During competition, some horses get (understandably) spooked and refuse to jump. But most leap into the unknown, landing in the seemingly scary pond that they discover is only a foot deep and not nearly as terrifying as they originally thought. It's a test. A scary test, but a passable test if the horse and rider trust each other, prepare diligently beforehand, and then run the course with determined confidence.  

And so we began our high school soccer season, leaping over our first infinity-ledge fence into the unknown. Last night was the first obstacle in our 15-fence cross-country course, and it was much trickier than it looked on the map. Sehome is a 2A school, so it would be easy to assume the bigger school would have an advantage. Nope. It was obvious from the kick-off that the Sehome squad was athletic, quick, skillful, and well-coached. And although we emerged from our first test with a passing grade, a 1-0 victory, the host team gave us everything we could handle. and if not for several brave saves from Rebecca in goal, and narrow misses from both Sehome wingers, the result could've been different.

The game began at a frenzied pace, with little rhythm, but lots of frantic running. For several of our players, last night was their varsity debut. And as you go up the levels, the tests get trickier, and on-field decisions have to be made more quickly. Opponents are bigger, faster, and stronger. Spaces are tighter. But the game is the same. Eventually, we settled down and began to link multiple passes, and not surprisingly, scoring chances followed. In the 24th minute, Nora pounced on a Sehome clearance and sent a clever curling diagonal pass over the Mariner backline. The Sehome keeper raced out of her goal to collect, but the side-spin of the ball, and the quick and brave running of Anna from the left wing earned us an excellent goal as our pink-shoed triplet opened her varsity account by beating the keeper to the ball and rolling in our opening goal of the 2024 season. 1-0 Bellevue.  

The remainder of the game see-sawed back and forth and it wouldn't have been a surprise if it ended in a 5-5 high-scoring deadlock given all of the chances created at both ends. But our team was very disciplined and kept a good defensive shape throughout, covering for each other with balance and toughness, and not leaving gaps for the speedy Sehome wingers to exploit. And despite the offensive side of our play being a bit disjointed and technically sloppy, we still created plenty of chances. Saleen was unlucky to hit both posts and the crossbar over the 80 minutes, and we had several clear chances from corners where our directional guidance systems on offensive headers need re-calibration; however...we got the result. And we are thankful for it.  The final stats reflect the overall flow: Bellevue with 16 chances and 9 corners, and Sehome with 10 chances and 3 corners: a slight statistical advantage, but certainly not overwhelming.   

Our next game is next Tuesday for our home opener against one of Wesco's best teams, Shorewood. Last season, Shorewood was the 2nd seeded team in the State tournament, and will surely provide a good challenge.

Another opportunity for our girls to gallop to an infinity-ledge obstacle and bravely leap into the unknown. 

And we're off and running.