Varsity - BHS vs Bothell 10-14-25

Bellevue 0-1 Bothell

9th min. Bothell goal

"It's a Trap" --Admiral Ackbar in Return of the Jedi before being surrounded by tie fighters in a surprise dogfight for survival

We watched a lot of video in preparation for our Bothell game. We watched Bothell beat a good LW team 4-3 last week, and then demolish Eastlake 3-0 without seemingly getting out of first gear. It was clear from scouting that Bothell was a quality team (they are tied for first place in our league, so that's an obvious insight). And yet. It felt like a trap game. Trap games are games either after a big win (Issaquah), or just before a big game (Woodinville), that doesn't get the respect it deserves. Taken for granted. And therefore, mental focus isn't quite as sharp. Given the overall strength and parity in our league, the margins are very thin. Again, we prepared just as hard for Bothell as we did for Issaquah, we knew how good they were. They play tough, organized, disciplined, team-oriented soccer. and yet....we were...flat. Quiet. Distracted. Oddly disconnected.  

As head coach, it's my responsibility to prepare the team for each challenge. Find the right words, the right analysis, the right motivation, the right line-up or substitution pattern. And something in our preparation against Bothell, or my pre-game words, or our video-review session, clearly wasn't good enough. The coaches could feel it from the warm-ups. We were lackadaisical. Our finishing was poor. Our set-up passing was perfunctory, not crisp. Our back-four warm-up was flat-footed. It was all just a bit...off.  
   
Again, I can't emphasize this enough: Bothell's quality wasn't a surprise, we knew they were an excellent team, well coached and committed, and that they deserved our respect...and yet...trap game. 

And that's on me. 

There were positives. Despite the lackadaisical warm-up, once the opening whistle sounded, we worked hard. Our effort never wavered, and for that I'm thankful. Earnest effort will always give us a chance, even when we don't have our best stuff. We outshot Bothell 18/7, with a narrow 3/2 corner and 56% possession advantage. Statistically, we'd take those ratios every game. But in the end, Bothell caught us in the 9th minute with a quick throw-in. We got on the wrong side of our mark, their player charged into our box and cut back a great ball for their star player to finish from 12 yards...It was their first shot, and only one of two in the entire half (the next being a little stress-free dribbler in the 35th minute).  

And that was that. We created lots of chances. Enough to win the game. But we didn't. And that was frustrating. It was like we were trying to chop wood with a dull axe. We took the normal amount of swings to split the log in half, but we couldn't get the job done.

So now we recover and go again at defending Kingco league champs and 4A State Finalist Woodinville on Thursday (again, the quality of our league is relentless). It's a rare game in which JV and Varsity play simultaneously, one at the high school and the other at Pop Keeney. 

Our league playoff destiny is still in our control, but the gap has narrowed. We lead Liberty by 4pts with three games to play. A two game combination of wins by Bellevue, or losses by Liberty will secure us the #1 seed and a likely match-up with Mercer Island in the semi-finals. Regardless, our first game of the Kingco playoffs will be October 30th at Bellevue Stadium. And our second game of the Kingco playoffs will be on November 4th (with an optional game on Nov 8th that we don't want to play in, but will if required..).

The last turn in any race takes the most concentration and energy. Let's lock-in together and finish the regular season with quality and confidence.