Bellevue vs Woodinville - 9.29.26

bellevue 4 - 0 Woodinville

39th min 1-0 Saleen (Aanya)

41st min 2-0 Kasia (Saleen)

42nd min 3-0 Kasia (Saleen)

72nd min 4-0 Hailey (Aleah)

Now every year when the Kingco regular season schedule is released, I quickly search for when Bellevue has Homecoming. I circle the two games leading up to the dance, take a deep breath, and prepare for the unexpected. It happens. every. year. It's not that we necessarily lose the games in the run up to Homecoming, it's more that unexplained things happen. It's like the Bermuda Triangle of soccer weeks. Or a Black MIrror episode about a multiverse swap of personalities where everyone looks the same, but something is oddly different. Distracted. vacant stares. Flat. Low-energy. Locked in the Sunken Place from Get Out. I don't know. Just off. Not ourselves. So I shouldn't have been surprised by our first half performance against the visiting Woodinville Falcons. It looked like us, was a pretty good facsimile of us, but...not quite. 

So with about ten minutes left in our scoreless, slow, and sloppy first half, I started daydreaming about all of the training sessions I remembered after poor collegiate team performances: training sessions when the ball bag remained unopened...training sessions when we had to physically drag exhausted teammates across the line with a fistful of jersey to make time in fear of having to do yet another grueling full field sprint if we didn't...training sessions that usually ended flat on our backs, starting at the sky barely able to move an eyelid, hearts in our throats, and chalky paste in our mouths..that's what I was daydream-planning to recreate at Wednesday's practice just before we scored one of our best goals of the season in the 39th minute. A sweeping move of speed, patience, teamwork, and accuracy. It started with a lovely switch of play by Ava in midfield to an overlapping Aanya galloping into open space, one-touch (!) wall pass with Elina, cut-back cross, a clever "dummy" in the box by Serena, and finally Saleen arriving late to smash the ball into the back of the net. Glorious. Just glorious. Halftime whistle 1-0 Bellevue.  

Needless-to-say, the goal significantly reduced the amount of steam coming out of my ears. But in the halftime team room, I did calmly share my fitness daydream about the benefits of collective athletic suffering at post-game practices. It's not that I wanted more goals (of course I did), it's not that we needed to win the game (but of course we did), I simply couldn't stand that we were playing so far below our potential. Yuck. Just yuck. So I made my thinly veiled threat about unopened ball bags at practice tomorrow, and politely requested a second half with completely different energy than the first (different = some). 

And so we collectively discovered that our team likes practicing with soccer balls. In the very first minute, Elena hit a long goal kick into midfield (something we specifically asked her to do at halftime). We didn't win the initial ball, but Maggie pounced on the second and slipped a simple square pass to Talia at right back. Talia took one-touch to settle, and passed a simple ball with the second-touch up the sideline to Kasia who was checking back to the ball. Kasia spun her defender with one touch, and passed a simple ball to Mack already running into space. Mack sent a simple one-touch pass up the right side for Saleen who was also already anticipating the pass. Saleen took one-touch to dance around her defender and cut back a precise cross that Serena again dummied at the near post allowing Kasia to finish the move by drilling a first-time shot to the near post. Magnificent!!! One and two-touch soccer with movement. I love Serena's run from the left wing to support the crossing options, and Kasia's hustle to get into position, perfectly balanced with Serena's checking run (near post, PK spot targets). Kasia could've simply jogged at midfield, self-satisfied in the fact that her clever spin turn had helped unlock the Falcon defense. NOPE! After making that pass to Mack at the centerline, Kasia sprinted 50 yards to get on the end of Saleen's cross!! And was rewarded with her first goal of the '26 season. I think my shouts of joy are still echoing at the stadium. 2-0 Bellevue. (was it too obvious how many times I used "simple" and "one-touch" in that paragraph) 

And less than 60 seconds later, the coup de grace. From the Falcon's kick-off, we pressed as a pack, and as Woodinville passed to their right (our left side), Kasia tucked into the big zone at midfield rather than marooning herself too wide right or too upfield (all defense in soccer is team defense...small spacial adjustments are everything!)...and the Woodinville center back sent a wayward pass towards a waiting Kasia stationed in the perfect position. And get this: did Kasia trap the ball, then decide what to do? Perhaps Kasia gladly received the gift and tried to dribble 2-3 defenders to show-off and rub it in? NO!!! She made a first-time pass into space to Saleen. Immediate transition offense. No delay. No indecision. No over-dribbling. Just a simple 10 yard one-touch pass that split the unprepared Falcon backline and freed Saleen to run unmarked down the right wing. And again, Kasia didn't admire her artisty, she dashed into the box in support at full sprint (as did Mack, Serena, and Ava..all covering the proper zones...near, far and PK spot), Saleen crossed, the ball took a kind deflection towards the top of the box...and...a trailing Kasia stroked home a beauty into the side netting from 18 yards. 3-0 Bellevue. Wham. Bam. In two minutes of a substitute appearance, Kasia had two delicious and game-changing goals. That's what taking your opportunity looks like. Awesome. Well done Kasia. 

We continued to play glittering soccer for most of the second half. If not for several fine saves from their goalkeeper, and Mack almost breaking the right goalpost from 25 yards, the scoreline might have gotten out-of-hand. Instead, we added a fourth in the 72nd minute from a Saleen corner, Aleah did her best to crest-trap a shot across the line, and Hailey was in the right position at the right time and helped the ball along to its final destination in the net. 4-0 Bellevue final score.

One of our pre-game goals was to return to the stingy defense we displayed in our first four games of the season. Late last season, the team made a deal with me that if they secured a shutout, then I'd do a mediocre middle-aged cartwheel after the game. Our second half against Woodinville reminded me of that pledge. Mission accomplished. Zero goals allowed. And said mediocre cartwheels were performed.   

Next we welcome our neighbors from Newport High School to Bellevue Stadium. It's been several years since we've played our cross-town friends, and I hope our team is ready for the challenge. No Sunken Place. We want our team, from this universe. Nanu Nanu.  

See you on Thursday. 

Peter