Bellevue vs Eastside Catholic - 9.10.26

Bellevue 1 – 0 Eastside Catholic

36th min EC OG

Eastside Catholic is among the 3A favorites this season. They are organized, athletic, skillful, good in the air, and press in packs that make it difficult for teams to sustain possession rhythm (understatement alert). That's why we scheduled them. It's a very good test for both teams to have a "late November" style game in early September.

I'm not sure if we passed the test, failed the test, or accidentally smudged the answer key we had written on our forearm and then anxiously stared at the clock until the time expired. But regardless, we will be better because of the experience.      

As some of you know (and probably suspected if you didn't), I keep game statistics. For the last ten seasons, I have populated a detailed spreadsheet with game data for teams and individuals: shots, minutes, starts, goals, assists, corners, shutouts, yellow cards, descriptions of each goal for, and against, and even opposition formational info (4-4-2, 3-5-2, etc.). Sometimes it's useful when we play teams from year to year to see variances. For instance, last year we played Eastside Catholic during this same gameday on a beautiful evening on the plateau. During that game we created 19 shots / 4 corners versus 2 shots / 1 corner for EC. Tonight, on a similarly beautiful night for our home opener at Bellevue Stadium, we took 1 shot / 0 corners and conceded 9 shots / 2 corners. 

I'll let that sink in. One shot.

And somehow, we won both games.  A dominant 5-2 victory a year ago, and an extremely fortunate...like lottery-winning, discovering-oil-in-your-backyard, being-born-with-perfect-pitch. loving-parents, good-aesthetics, a healthy-constitution, and generous-billionaire-uncle type of fortunate, 1-0 win.  

The lone goal was scored by the dreaded OG ("own goal"). And not the type of OG where we are putting the opposing defense under tremendous pressure and a precision cross is accidentally deflected off of a defender into the net...nope, this was the type of OG that nobody really wants to score. The EC defender mishit a backpass to her goalkeeper from 35 yards and the ball dribbled slowly across the goal line. It was a terrible moment for that defender. I feel for her. And after watching the video replay tonight, this EC team earns my sincere respect. Not just for their overall quality of play, but for the character revealed in a difficult situation. As soon as that ball rolled across the line, two EC defenders ran at a full sprint 30-40 yards towards their agonized teammate to give her a consoling hug. Full sprint. genuine hugs. arms around shoulders.  

We can learn lessons from our own play. Our own contributions, stellar play, errors, etc.; but we can also learn lessons from our opponents, and how that EC team surrounded their player after she made a mistake is a lesson I hope we can all take. Mistakes happen, character is having your teammates-back in a difficult time. At full sprint with a genuine hug.

Our team's performance was strange. We controlled the game for the first ten minutes, pinning EC in their own half and smothering their players with committed pressing and great team defense. But then, EC got back into the game, and the field seemed to tilt steeply towards our defensive third. At one point I asked our assistant coaches to let me know when we completed a series of three consecutive passes...I was never notified. We were poor. Jittery. Our first touches bounced awkwardly. Unpressured passes went out-of-bounds. We suddenly thought that blind upfield boot-ball lobs were part of our team culture. Sigh. Then the OG happened and we went into haftime with a 1-0 lead despite not taking a single shot. 

We made a tactical adjustment at half to better manage their speedy dual forwards and equalize some of the spaces where EC was creating overloads, shifting to a formation with three center-backs. The good news: our tactical adjustment worked defensively. We were much more stable in the second half. The less good news: we still couldn't create any sustained possession or consistent offensive flow. 

Just a few days ago I couldn't have gushed any more about how well we played against Tahoma in our second half: movement, quick confident passing, creative dribbling, switching points of attack, patience and poise. We have that in our locker. Well, against EC we were the opposite. It is a weird juxapostion, like cartoonishly simple good vs evil characters in popular culture: Harry and Voldemort, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, evil Spiderman and Spiderman, Gollum and Frodo, Austin Powers and Dr. Evil, Katniss and Snow, Roadrunner and Coyote...that's how stark of contrast our play against EC was on Thursday night compared to Tuesday at Tahoma. We want to be Neo, not Agent Smith in the Matrix.   

And yet. We won. the. game. 

So we humbly, very humbly, take the result and move forward, counting our blessings:

Blessing #1. Our team defense is excellent. As I half-jokingly told our players early in our pre-season, "I guarantee we'll never lose a game if we prevent the other team from scoring."  Facts. Like our Blanchet and Tahoma games, we continued to play committed and tough defense against EC, bravely blocking shots, throwing our bodies into tackles, and staying organized despite our complete lack of possession. One goal conceded in our first three games is a good ratio. 

Blessing #2. Our Goalkeeper Union is strong. We are blessed to have two excellent goalkeepers. Even when our offense is sputtering, strong goalkeeping can keep us in games so we'll always have a chance. Well done Elena in your first three games at Bellevue. Katelyn, we are excited for your upcoming return. Our keeper sorority will always give us a chance.    

Blessing #3. We support each other. Even when we weren't playing our best, we never took it out on our teammates. No finger pointing. No excuses. No eyerolls. No sadgirl body language. Just perseverance, competitiveness, and positivity. That attitude will take this team a long way.

Blessing #4. The passage of time / short memories. Yes, the unrelenting march of time has some downsides, but the fact that the distance from our EC performance gets longer with every passing micro-second, seems like something to be thankful for.

Blessing #5. We are a very good team. We have extraordinarily talented players. And we will get better. Our next opportunity to play a game that we love is in a few short days.  

Next week we have an odd schedule as our gamedays shift to Monday and Wednesday (this week only). On Monday we play our final non-conference game against Metro power Holy Names at Bellevue Stadium at 7:30. And on Wednesday, we travel to Pop Keeney Stadium in Bothell to play North Creek in our Kingco League opener.

Sincere thanks to the supporter group last night. The atmosphere was excellent.