Attached - Mallory Pugh/USWNT

Chapter 31

April 15th, 2022 - USA vs England - 22nd minute 

No one's POV: TV broadcast

"We have LaRue streaking down the field, finds Lavelle, who finds Morgan, Morgan takes a touch and...oh man. She's taken out." Said Sebastian. 

"Alex Morgan is down, and a yellow has been awarded to the British defender James. Holding her left foot, that can't be good." Said Julie. 

"And obviously with that yellow a penalty kick has been awarded. But let's check the replay on that." 

On the replay, Alex Morgan's feet were kicked out in a horrible slide tackle. 

"Medical staff on the field now." Sebastian said as a bunch of people went running on. 

"Possession on this game has been a perfect 50-50 so far. USA needs to get the ball past the midfield and connect those passes." Julie said. "And here's head coach Vlatko talking to Sanchez and LaRue." 

"Sanchez has been so electric this game. She's everywhere she needs to be and more. she hasn't let a ball go by her and hasn't had a bad pass." Said Sebastian. 

"There's Hatch warming up as Morgan stands up and gets walked off....and off goes Hatch's pinny and jacket. There goes Ashley Hatch to the midfield." 

Hatch subbed in and Lindsey Horan got ready to take the penalty kick. 

"Lindsey Horna on the penalty spot...there she goes....and in! USA 1, England 0!" Yelled Julie. 

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32nd Minute - 

"Rachel Daly of England taking the ball down, beats Horan, beats Sauerbrunn, takes the shot, past Naeher! USA 1, England 1." Said Sebastian. 

"And there's that leadership from LaRue again. All the way back to comfort her defenders." Julie said. "First time really zooming in on her...man look at that eye and the bruises on her arms. It takes a really insanely tough player to come play a big game like this after everything that happened to her. Much much respect to her." 

"Such a respectable player, honestly. Great player, even better person. She's certainly my tournament MVP whether she scores tonight or not. Morgana LaRue has certainly earned her spot on this roster going forward." 

"I agree." 

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34th Minute - 

"Here we go, teams rest at midfield. Hatch starting the ball, back to Sanchez. Sanchez to LaRue high, OH!" Sebastian said. 

"And they'll call it LaRue's Revenge!" Julie laughed after Morgana put the ball in the back of the net. 

"LaRue is just so good at getting revenge. We saw it after Iceland scored a goal, we saw it just now after England scored!" 

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April 15th, 2022 - USA vs England - 34th Minute

Morgana's POV: 

I wasn't about to let England think they were coming back, I had to fix it. 

So I did. 

Sanchez played an amazing ball to me, that I ran on to. I broke my defenders ankles, then took the shot. 

USA 2, England 1. 

I ran to Ashley first, and I squeezed her. The cheering from the crowd was deafening. When I left go of her, I put my hands into a heart, which made the stands roar and Mal came up behind me and hugged me, so did Hatch and everyone else. 

"Goal! #22, Morgana LaRue! 34th minute. Assisted by Ashley Sanchez!" Said the announcer in the stadium. 

I got the chills as she said it. I'm not sure why, it just felt so good. 

It was a mix of a lot of different things. 

I pressured high right away, and I beat a girl to a past from her teammate, but my foot got a bit in the way of hers, making her fall over. 

"What the hell!" She yelled as the ref blew the whistle for a foul. 

"I'm sorry." I said, and offered her my hand. She slapped it away and got up on her own quickly. 

I walked away, but she followed me, and when I turned around because I was in the spot I wanted for the free kick. 

I was facing her, and she pushed me backwards a bit. 

"Why the hell did you do that? Did you think you could just trip me? What's wrong with you?" She said. 

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." I said. Kelley, Mal and the ref came running over as the girls kept shoving me. 

"Leave her alone. Go get in the play and leave my player alone.: Kelley said, and I felt Mal grab my arm and pull me away a bit. 

"You're okay." She said as the girl yelled at Kelley, who was walking away and the ref was standing right there. 

She dropped a few F bombs, and the ref took out the red. 

"She's playing the F-ing victim again like she did after she got beat in a fight." Said the girl. 

Kelley whipped around so fast I thought her neck would snap. 

"HEY! Sh-" Mal started to yell, but I put my hand over her mouth before anything else could come out. 

"Kelley. Kelley. Kel. Leave it alone." Lindsey said. 

"Kelley stop." I said. "Don't say anything. Look at me. Don't say anything." 

She took a deep breath and walked away. The ref was talking to the girl still, and ehe was still yelling. 

"Well this is going to be a good highlight reel." I sighed as the girl finally got off the field. 

"No one insults you like that." Mal said under her breath. 

"Don't do anything stupid." I said under my breath to her. "Get in position." 

She ran the other way, and a player went up to the ball to kick it. 

She kicked it into the mix of people, Abby Dahlkemper heading it out to Lavelle, who dribbled a bit into space, then found Pugh, who sprinted past all the defenders and finished cleanly. 

"DAMN PUGH!" I yelled as I ran to her to give her a hug. 

"I told you no one insults you and doesn't get punished." Mal said. 

"Goal USA! #9, Mallory Pugh!" Said the announcer. The crowd went wild "In the 41st minute of play, assisted by Rose Lavelle!" 

There was a decent amount of extra time because of Alex's injury and the fight, but there were no goals in that time. 

Halftime, USA 3, England 1. 

I have camp this week, so I'm going to update twice this week hopefully! Also I'm almost ready to start publishing my Ashley book so I'm excited about that! Enjoy!