Superheroes Play Soccer

Chapter 4: Stunts and Grunts

It was the first game of the brand new season. Starters had been announced earlier, and it seemed as though Carli would be taking the captain band today. It'd start out with Hope as the goalie. Pugh, Dunn, and Pinoe as forwards. Lloyd, Long, O'Hara and Morgan as midfielders. Then Johnston, Sauerbrunn, and Klingenberg as defenders. Right now, I sat in the locker room with my back to the wall, my feet laying up on the bench and crossed at my ankles. My earbuds were in as I watched one of my very first games in highschool. I couldn't help but giggle, seeing to it as to exactly how much I've grown. I heard voices entering the room, as Hope, Ali and Kelley walked in side by side.

"Whatcha doin nooby?" Kelley giggled as she skipped over to me, looking down at what I was watching. I couldn't help but give a chuckle, as I showed her my phone.

"Baby J, back in freshman year. It was my first big game, we were in nationals. Here, watch this." I say, as I unplug the earbuds from the phone, and positioned myself so that all four of us could watch. In the video, a teammate passed the ball just a bit too ahead of me. I slid in to kick the ball, and happened to catch the cleat of a opposing team member. The ref blew the whistle as I stood, and I saw her reach for the yellow card. Just as the ref began to walk towards me, I started to jog away from her. The ref blew the whistle, and walked after me. Before long, I was sprinting around field trying to get away from the yellow card.

We all laughed at the video, Kelley patting me on the back.

"That's hilarious, I'll keep that in mind today for the game." Ali giggled, slowly walking over to her locker.

"Yeah, me too. Imma be mid field, and when someone gets the yellow card I'll just look at you with an eye wiggle and a wink." Kelley laughed, also walking off towards her locker. With that, I stood up and grabbed my belongings from my locker, and walked out towards the others that'd be sitting on the side lines.

The game started about 40 minutes later, with Finland taking the ball first. As the game went on, it was a lot of back and forth action. Nobody really got too good of an opportunity, until the 34th minute. Hope had just caught a ball that a Finland player had shot from about the mid line. She kicked it a bit further then mid field, Kelley heading it to the ground and passed it to Lloyd. Lloyd faked out the first defender, then passed to Pugh who was speeding along the left side line. With her quick speed, she delivered a beautiful kick in, that Pinoe kicked into the bottom right corner of the goal. The game continued to drag until half time, us leading 1-0. We jogged to the locker room, and got ready for a small prep talk.

"You girls are playing well, it seems like things are going a bit slow. Don't be afraid to spice it up a bit, add a little fun into it. Play it safe, we don't want any fouls. The plan is to keep the same players in for a bit longer before we go for subs. Break." Jill said, and everyone broke circle and was ready to head back out.

Kelley and I walked out together, both of us stretching a bit. It was cold here in Pennsylvania. It was probably no more than 38 degrees, and you could feel the frost on the turf.

"Yooooo I feel like a penguin!" Kelley said, doing a funny walk as she stuck out her arms, pretending to waddle. I giggled, then jumped around a bit.

"Penguin?! PENGUIN?!! I CAN BE A PENGUIN!" I yelled, playfully smacking at her arms. As we were allowed to run out the tunnel, I took full advantage and sprinted out of the tunnel. I jumped the few stairs, then continued to run out towards the sidelines. As fans cheered, I dove for the turf, and just how I had wanted, I slid the rest of the way on my stomach like a penguin. But to my surprise, Kelley and a few others were following me. Kelley slid, along with Pinoe, Moe, Kristie Mew and Kriegy. We all laughed, along with the fans before I made my way back to the bench. The game started back up, and it was just reaching the 50th minute when something happened. Allie had went for a tackle, and one of the opposing mid fielders had attempted to jump over her but actually ended up landing both cleats to Long's mid shin, thanks to the grip of the frosty grass. Me along with the rest of the benched players stood, with covered mouths as Allie cried out in pain. It didn't take long for the medic team to be out there, and got her to the side lines. Jill glanced around, and then grabbed my shoulder.

"You ready for your first cap kid?" Jill asked me, and immediately my eyes widened.

"Really?!" I exclaimed, feeling the excitement fill me. She nodded, and patted me towards the field. I jogged out, and ran up to meet Lloyd, Moe and O'Hara who were smiling as bright as me, giving me high fives.

"Alright kid, I want you to try your best to spread out in mid field. It doesn't really matter where at, since we're everywhere." Carli explained, giving me a pat on the shoulder. I gave a nod, taking a deep breath as I glanced around at my teammates. All of them were smiling at me, and as I glanced back at Hope, she winked at me and gave me a thumbs up. With that, the ref blew the whistle, and Kling had the throw in. Johnston headed the ball and dribbled it a bit closer to mid field, then kicked it down to Crystal who grounded it, and kicked it ahead. Two defenders ganged up on her, so she kicked it back to Kelley for safety. The defenders were beginning to play aggressive, as they began to sandwich her. Kelley quickly kicked the ball from between the two defenders, then ran towards Lloyd who then kicked the ball to my feet. I dribbled it a bit to the mid line, then glanced at Kelley.

"Hey Kel, I have a joke for you." I smirked, as I did an around the world to fake out the defender coming at me.

"Oh yeah? Go for it."

"Why did the ball cross the line?" I asked, doing a 360 dance cross on the ball, dribbling it back to mid circle.

"I don't know, why?" Kel asked back, slowly jogging away from me.

"Because the goalie was off her line!" I yelled, then powerfully kicked the ball from my position. The ball zoomed past the defenders and into the middle of the net, resulting in me laughing a bit. Next thing I knew, Kelley and everyone in the entire stadium was yelling and cheering, except for the opposing team. Everyone was hugging me, and ended up tackling me to the ground. We all shared laughs, and I began to jog around when all of a sudden a defender from the other team ran up to me, ramming her shoulder against mine. I lost balance and found myself falling back, but quickly rolled to my feet.

"Easy there rammy Tammy." I say, holding out my hands to try and calm her down. Suddenly the defender was joined by one of their mid fielders, who was much bigger then me. Kelley ran over, putting a hand against the female to try and push her away from me. Suddenly the tall midfielder drew back her arm, and without hesitation I spin Kelley and I so our positions changed, and I took a punch to my right jaw. I stammered a bit, before the first defender hit me again which knocked me back into Kelley's arms. I expected Kelley to lash out, but it wasn't Kelley. Hope rammed into both of the girls, knocking them to the turf.

"Knock if off!" Hope yelled, anger lacing her words. The taller girl got up and I knew she wasn't happy, so I stepped in front of Hope. I was kicked directly in the gut, and I could feel the cleats sink into my flesh as I crumbled to the ground. By now whistles were blaring and everyone was trying to break it up. Someone grabbed me by the arm and pulled me up, another person grabbing my other arm to help me off field. It was Alex and Tobin. I looked back, and Carli was holding back Hope as Pinoe was restraining Kelley.

To be continued.