“Get back, get back!” my coach yelled as a small scrawny girl with hair down to her waist kicked the ball almost all the way down the field, the sluggish forward waited for the ball to get back down to the ground so she could take two or three dribbles and score.
“Tweet!” the whistle blew calling the striker offside! We could not afford to have that happen again, it was the championship game in a tournament we had been waiting to compete in for months. I wanted to win this game more then anything. Soccer is my passion, my life, my everything!
“Come on guys lets do this!” Sophie shouted as Caroline passed the ball to Mikaela. There was a small gap in the middle of the field that Mikaela thought she could dribble through, she was beating players left and right until a girl who towered over everyone, even the ref, knocked her over.
“Ahh! Ahh” Mikaela let out a piercing screech. The ref knew Mikaela must of been injured by the way she was crying.
“Coach, come on the field.” The ref yelled with an almost raspy voice, this was his 12th game of the weekend and his voice was almost gone.
Coach Jed jogged on the field, you could tell he was worried by the way he was cracking his fists. He knew that with Mikaela injured it would be a bigger, more aggressive battle.
Her knee had been bothering her for the whole tournament but having a direct fall on it made it so she could barely walk off the field without the help of coach.
“Good job Mikaela, stay strong!” Claps and encouraging remarks came from the crowd of cheerful, hopeful parents.
After Mikaela got to the bench the ref resumed the game, now back to the battle.
“ Go Liese, go!” I heard many shouts faintly, I was so focused on the game I started to tune almost everyone out. Defenders couldn’t catch me when I was speed dribbling through almost all the players, I was in the box but there were no open shots or passes, except for one opening I noticed. I was winding up my leg so I could get the most powerful shot when all a sudden I’m on the ground and everyone is stopped. Did I score? What happened? Why is the game stopped? All I knew was that I was about to shoot then somehow got knocked on to the ground. I didn’t feel any pain though, I was fine but it must of been a dirty enough tackle that we got a penalty shot because the next thing I knew was Caroline was getting ready to shoot.
“Come on Caroline you got this!” I yelled when she was placing the ball on the white spot. Caroline has the most impressive most powerful kick on the team. Even though she does have the most excellent shot would the pressure get to her? I mean it was the championship game in a tournament that we have dreamed of winning, right then it was up to her to help us reach victory. On both teams the players, coaches, and parents were all at the edge of their seats, gnawing on their fingernails anxious to know what the outcome would be. Nobody could bare to watch, but you know everyone did.
Caroline took about four steps back, so she could get the most possible force out of her shot. If I was feeling that apprehensive then I wonder how she must of felt being the one taking the shot, the winner of this tournament depended on her. I would crash and burn if I had that much pressure on me, I would not be prepared. What if we win, that’d be so awesome! But what if we lost, the team would hold it against us forever. How much more nervous could I get. I could barely stand still, Caroline needed to shoot soon or I would of lost it.
She started running towards the ball, her foot wound back. I was expecting a huge forceful shot in the upper right corner but instead Caroline surprised all of us. Her shot was powerful and on the ground straight into the left corner, the goalie dove but she knew she had no chance.
I was finally at ease, I could not believe this, we were one step closer to being the champions.
Yeah Caroline! Wooh!” cheers filled the field and everyone was praising Caroline, her beautifully placed shot was perfect! After the penalty shot, the other team gave up, they knew that there was no way that they could score. There was only 5 minutes left and nobody would get through our defense, we hoped. We had so much momentum and hype but the other team was ready for the game to end, who knows what would’ve happened if they never gave up.
The final whistle blew and our whole team shrieked in excitement. We won! We were the champions!
“Great job girls I knew you could do this!” Coach Jed shouted with pride. 12 girls
drenched in sweat had the biggest smiles on their face. We all tasted the great victory and it was the best thing that any of us had ever felt. For the first time, my team was victorious.