Just a Random Girl (Hailee Steinfeld x y/n)

Chapter Ten - Tournament

y/n's POV
The first game of the PAC-12 tournament is today and needless to say I was nervous. My ability to be a great keeper will determine if UCLA advances or not. Arizona, ASU, Oregon State and Utah didn't qualify this year.

The first round...
UCLA vs. Cal-Berkeley
USC vs. Colorado
Washington State vs. Washington
Stanford vs. Oregon

Hailee has been extremely busy lately and said she couldn't make it to the game which made me extremely sad. I know Liv and AG are going to be there, I just wish Haiz was going to be there too. I throw on my bright pink goalie jersey and shorts and put on my shin guards and cleats. I walk out of the locker room with Lauren who's hobbling around with crutches since she tore her ACL. She tries her best to calm my nerves but I fear of messing up everything for my team. Gia and Kai meet me at the edge of the field and we jump the line which was a ritual we picked up from playing so long together. I stretch and warm up in goal. I block shots well coming from my teammates letting none of the pass me. I start to feel less nervous but I am silently freaking out. Coach gives us all a pep talk and hands me the captain band. I give a small speech and our starting eleven runs onto the field.

The whistle blows and Cal starts with the ball. It moves up field before Gia steals the ball and passes it to Kai who crosses it to Anna who takes the first shot of the game in the third minute bouncing off the crossbar. In the eleventh minute Cal gets a throw in and it goes flying into the box and I easily catch it. I punt it upfield and it lands perfectly at Kai's feet. She dribbles past the defender and shoots. The ball soars into the right side of the net, she scores in the fourteenth minute. UCLA leads 1-0. In the thirty-second minute Cal gets past all the defenders and I am faced with a lone forward who comes dribbling towards goal. I keep my eyes on them the entire time. I watch her body movements, I saw her hips starting to pivot left indicating her shot was towards the left post. She made contact with the ball and I dove and caught the ball landing on the ground with a thud. I got up regaining my breath and I rolled to ball to Gia. The ball slowly moved up field and right before the halftime whistle UCLA took another shot at goal and it bounced off the post. The second half started and no substitutions were made. In the fifty-seventh minute I watch the ball soar over all the defenders and it goes towards goal. I jump and tip the ball over the crossbar and it lands on top of the goal net. I sigh with relief and yell at the defenders that, that was real fucking close and they need to pay more attention. The cross came in from the corner kick and a Cal player went for the header but I caught the ball. Her forward momentum kept going though and she ended up elbowing my forehead. I fell to the ground with a pain at the top of my head. I feel something trickling down my face and I realize it was blood. No card was given because there was no malicious intent. The team medics rushed over to me and immediately start evaluating me for a concussion. I was cleared and they started to clean the cut on my forehead wiping all the blood off my face. They wrap a big bandage around my entire head and they give the ref a thumbs up. They hand me another pair of goalie gloves and I get ready for the game to resume. I kicked the ball upfield one of our midfielders controlled the pass and played a through ball to Kai. She took the ball upfield and in the seventy-third minute the ball finds the back of the net and UCLA is leading 2-0. UCLA quickly regains possession and the midfield works the ball upfield. It goes onto the left side of the pitch and our left winger sends in a beautiful cross. The ball is headed out of play and a corner is awarded in the eighty-fifth minute. Anna takes the corner kick and the ball flies into the mosh pit of players and one of our center attacking mids finds the ball and heads it. The ball flies past the hands of the goalie and UCLA leads 3-0. We go into stoppage time and UCLA maintained possession until the whistle blew indicating the game was over.

UCLA beat Cal-Berkeley
USC beat Colorado
Washington State beat Washington
Stanford beat Oregon

Semifinals -
UCLA vs. USC
Washington State vs. Stanford