Varsity - BHS vs North Creek 10-7-25

Bellevue 4-0 North Creek

24th min 1-0 Saleen (Emerson)
38th min 2-0 Kasia (Ava) from corner
65th min 3-0 Saleen (Nora)
79th min 4-0 Kasia (Maggie)

Just before kick-off in our game against the visiting Jaguars of North Creek, I brought our roster to the referees and engaged in the usual pre-game chit chat...and...spent the next 5 minutes crowded around the referees phone watching the Mariners secure their game 3 win over Detroit in the ALDS. Then I walked across the field to welcome the North Creek team and coaching staff, and their assistant coach, unprompted, said, "Mariners won!!" and we exchanged high fives. Add this to the pile of evidence of why I love sport. At its best, it can be a connective tissue of culture and society (like music, art, etc.). It brings people together regardless of background or politics. Even if those people are about to compete against each other in the high stakes world of high school soccer. 

And then the soccer started. Despite a clear possession advantage and several scoring attempts early, it wasn't until the 24th minute that Emerson took a free kick from deep in our defensive third, a perfectly weighted long ball 50 yards to our right wing, that Saleen ran onto dancing around several defenders, before depositing the ball at the near post. 1-0 Bellevue. In the 38th minute, Ava took a superb inswinging corner and we finally had a willing far post volunteer for headers, with Kasia smashing it on goal not once, but twice for our first team header goal of the season. Excellent way to finish the half. 2-0 Bellevue. 

Overall, our pivot midfielders, Ava & Nora, were awesome against NC, smothering most Jaguar attempts to link play through the center of the pitch. And in the 65th minute, it was Nora who anticipated a cut inside by the North Creek midfielder, stepped into the tackle with conviction, and won the ball with a single touch to a waiting Saleen who was only 30yards from goal. Quick transitions can be devastating for defenses, and the North Creek backline got caught flat-footed as Saleen slalomed through the center backs and beat the keeper with a deft shot to the far post. 3-0 Bellevue.   

Finally, with almost the last kick of the ball in the 79th minute, Maggie won the ball at center back and burst forward into midfield. Center-backs who are technical and confident enough to bring the ball into midfield are a nightmare for a defending team. It creates an imbalance, and so one of the defenders peeled away from their normal positioning to confront Maggie, and Maggie wisely passed into the gap the defender abandoned towards a fleet-footed Kasia, who out-paced the remaining center-back and finished with the coolest, simple, low, firm shot past the onrushing keeper. Textbook finish. The most difficult finishes, when done well, look simple afterwards. And 4-0 final score to Bellevue. 

The game statistics were eerily similar to our game at Eastlake: 32 / 5 shots and 5 / 2 corners for Bellevue / North Creek with our team maintaining a 57% possession advantage.

Getting critical after a domineering 4-0 win is likely a fool's errand, but I'll play the fool: our first half wasn't very good. We were a fraction slow in our decision making: our pass vs. dribble vs. shoot decisions in the attacking third need to be much better. What do I mean? We are forcing shots when we should pass, we are passing when we should dribble/shoot, or we are dribbling when we should pass or recycle, and after dribbling a bit, we then try to force the pass that was initially "on"...that is no longer "on." Teaching the technical work on how to pass, dribble, or shoot is relatively easy, teaching decision-making is more challenging. It's the grammar rules that enables poetry. It's like teaching a student the notes and scales on a piano, and then expecting that same student to compose a symphony. There is an intuition or art to building good team-decision-making in possession. A rhythm. Again, we weren't terrible against North Creek, this team gives full effort every time we step on the field. We just weren't very sharp. And our decision-making was just slightly...off. We were playing chopsticks when this team has the talent to play Mozart (or Jon Batiste? or even Billy Joel).   

The optimist viewpoint is that good teams still get results even when they aren't playing their best. So let's go with that. Our second half WAS better than our first even though the scoring was evenly distributed. Good victory, and on to the next.  

On Thursday, we travel to Issaquah (for the second consecutive season, sigh), to play the 5-time state champion Eagles. First place in Kingco, and the #1 ranked 4A team in the state by RPI. It will be a challenge, but I know we'll be ready. See you then.

Peter 
     
ps. Well done to Hailee in her varsity debut last night. We like to reward good play on JV with varsity call-ups, and Hailee has been excellent all season and earned her opportunity. 

pps. Last game I praised the Eastlake keeper...but last night was even better because the North Creek keeper had herself a game. Easily the best we've faced (with apologies to the LW duo?) with one spectacular diving save after another. Stellar play whether it's from our team or the opposition deserves a shout out. Well done North Creek keeper. And again, like last week, I emphasize that both coaches were proud of their respective keepers after the game, as Katelyn came up with big saves against the few shots she faced to keep the momentum with our team. Good goalkeeping is the cornerstone of any successful team.